II. Requirements for Film Production

The law systematically regulates the qualifi cations of various subjects engaged in film activities.The Regulations on the Administration of Movies that came into eff ect on February 1, 2002, stipulates that before obtaining a business license, the application for the establishment of a film production entity shall be examined and consented to by the administrative department for film under the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the applicant is located before submitted to the administrative department for film under the State Council for examination and approval. In the past, it was necessary for an entity other than film production entities to obtain a one-off “License for Producing A Film” in advance. Only after filming more than two films, the entity can apply for a License for Producing Movies that can be used repeatedly.The Film Industry Promotion Law issued by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on November 7, 2016, which came into force on March 1, 2017 canceled the administrative examination and approval of film production entities and the approval of the License for Producing A Film. The requirement of shooting a film is that the outline of the screenplay or the screenplay conforms to regulations, but the projection still needs to obtain a P ermit for Public Projection of the Film. Before actually filming a movie, a legal person or any other organization shall directly file the outline of the screenplay with t he film administrative department of the State Council or the film administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, and obtain the archival filing certifi cation issued by the film administrative department of the State Council or the film administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government; and if any major theme or any theme in national security, diplomacy, ethnicity, religion, or military, a mong others, is involved, the screenplay shall be submitted for examination according to the relevant provisions issued by the state. If the outline of the screenplay or the screenplay conforms to the regulations, the film administrative department of the State Council shall issue an announcement of the basic information on the film to be shot, and the film administrative department of the State Council or the film administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall issue a archival filing certification document or an approval document.

Before the film is shot, the screenplay (outline) shall undergo the archival filing. The film production entity puts forward an application for archival filing to the China Film Administration or the provincial administrative department of film that implements the territorial examination, and the accepting department issues a R eturn Receipt on Archival Filing of Film Screenplay (Outline). If the accepting department has the opinions for alteration of the film screenplay (outline) that is put on archives or does not agree to shoot the film, it shall notify the film production entity in written form within 20 working days in general situations, which may be extended by 20 working days under special circumstances.

However, where it is a film involving any signifi cant revolutionary or historical event, a major theoretical documentary, or a film produced through China-foreign cooperation, after the film screenplay is reviewed by the provincial film department, it shall also be reported to the China Film Administration for project approval in accordance with relevant management regulations.

In practice, the film production entity shall provide the following materials to go through the formalities for archival filing of a film screenplay (outline): (1) a report on archival filing of the film to be shot; (2) a plot outline composed of no less than one thousand Chinese characters. If the above-mentioned screenplay needs examination, a film literature screenplay in triplet shall to be provided, and the opinions of the relevant administrative departments at the provincial or national level shall be obtained; (3) the agreement (letter of authorization) on the copyright of the film screenplay (outline).

The China's law stipulates that in the absence of a clear arrangement in the contract, a film production entity shall have the copyright in accordance with the law over the films it has produced. In addition to film release, the production entity that actually produces films can also make duplicates of the films it produced; distributes all through the country the films permitted for public projection it produced as well as the duplicates of such films; export the films it produced permitted for public projection as well as the duplicates of such films.