A summit in China to promote film shooting locations was held on Wednesday in Sanya, Hainan province during the first Hainan International Film Festival.

As one of the key events of the film festival, the summit themed "Special Exhibition: Film Shooting Locations in China" invited top executives, actors and scenery landscape officials to share their experiences and suggestions.

With several factors influencing a movie's success, one is its creator's choice for filming sites. In recent years, filming locations have become a hot topic for film studios, local governments and other relevant parties.

Hainan's Sanya city is no stranger to filming as Hollywood blockbuster "The Meg", Chinese hit films "Personal Tailor" and "You Are The One" have been filmed there.

Liu Yiwei, one of China's most recognized entertainment hosts and the Secretary General of the China Film Director's Guild said at the summit that the scenery attractions can't bring high box office results to movies, and only films with high box office gross can drive the development of scenic spots. 

"Local officials should not intervene in filmmakers' artistic creation by asking them to deliberately promote the filming location."

He added that filmmaking is also a business and Australia has provided a 40 percent tax rebate policy for film production companies to attract them to shoot in scenic spots, "I also hope that domestic studios can receive relevant preferential policies from local governments of filming locations."

Jiang Ping, general manager of China Film Co., Ltd., said that while China has various movie and television towns, with numerous artificial and natural attractions, "but even we have decent hardware, the software should also be great to attract filmmakers and inspire actors. And the software is the services and their quality."

Jerry Ye, vice president of Huayi Brothers Media Corp., proposed at the summit that the filming area should establish a medium- and long-term industrial plans and learn high-quality film and television supporting service systems from mature mechanisms such as the one in Thailand. 

Actor and director Guo Tao praised the event for bringing practical and convenient conditions for the majority of filmmakers, as it will provide more creative inspiration and opportunities for new directors.

Four scenic spots signed agreements with the film studios at the event -- China Film Co., Ltd. to work with Changyang Qingjiang Gallery Scenic Spot in Hubei province, Emei Film Group to connect with Wulong Scenic Area in Yichang, Hubei province, Huayi Brothers Media Co. with Yuan'an county in Hubei province, and New Classics Media with Chiyou Jiuli Scenic Spot in Chongqing.

A national film and TV tourism cultural cooperation alliance was also established at the end of the summit to promote locations with creative value and potential tourism development. The filming locations' development could also help tackle poverty for the often scenic yet undeveloped areas. 

An ensuing film shooting location exhibition will last until Dec. 18, with promotion conferences, scenic location displays, roundtables and other activities to be held in the coming week.

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