Hong Kong films liked to shoot in Taiwan.
First, the Taiwan market was their sugar daddy; second, Taiwan had richer locations; third, Taiwan gave preferential policies to Hong Kong films, like the tax rebates mentioned earlier.
Now moving production to the mainland—the market still needed development, but the locations were far more varied than Taiwan’s, production costs were much lower, and if you threw in preferential policies, it would become a strong draw.
Chen Qi’s proposal covered the interests of China Film Group, the Guangdong Provincial Film Company, the Guangdong provincial government, the Ministry of Culture—every angle had been considered.
If there was a shortcoming, it was that the quota was only twenty films a year; the Hong Kong side felt that was too few.
But that was the choke point.
The people in the Hong Kong delegation were sharp-minded; some were even thinking of switching to invest in mainland real estate.