On April 26, the 7th International Film IP Licensing and Derivative Industry Development Forum was concluded successfully. The forum is hosted by China Film Merchandising Industry Research Institute of Beijing Film Academy and Beijing Red Feather Film & TV Culture Co., Ltd, co-organized by Vianmi International Art Center and specially sponsored by magazine Popular Movies. Many industry representatives, experts and scholars from the film and television IP derivative industry were invited to focus on the technology and future of the global film and television IP derivative industry, and conduct in-depth discussion on the talent training of the industry. The forum greatly strengthened the exchanges and cooperation between film and television IP copyright holders and authorized dealers, and promoted the film and television IP derivative industry for better and faster development. 

The 3rd Beijing International Film and Television IP Licensing Industry Exhibition was also successfully held in Beijing from April 25 to 27.

　　

　　Cui Yan, Executive Deputy Director of the BJIFF Organizing Committee Office

　　

　　Zhang Jie, Executive Director of China Film Merchandising Industry Research Institute, Beijing Film Academy

Zhang Jie, Executive Director of China Film Merchandising Industry Research Institute, Beijing Film Academy, one of the co-hosts of the forum, said in his speech that the forum has been continuously held for multiple sessions since its establishment in 2015. The Institute will join hands with all leading figures in the derivative industry to work hard for the vigorous development of the film derivative industry. 

　　

　　Qian Zhongyuan, Chief Producer of the As One Production

Qian Zhongyuan, Chief Producer of the As One Production, took the Detective Chinatown series as the example to introduce the IP commercialization process of As One Production. At present, the authorized Detective Chinatown IP has exceeded 50 categories and 200+ SKUs, which cover all basic necessities of life to boost films through cross-border derivation. In the future, the IP commercialized cooperation in the whole industry chain will be launched: including short dramas, publications, audio dramas, NFT, artistic co-brand, brand authorization, live entertainment, cultural tourism, etc.

　　

　　Zhang Shi, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of Beihai Weizhou Island Tourist Area 

Zhang Shi, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of Beihai Weizhou Island Tourist Area, introduced the excellent film and television resources of Weizhou Island. As the most beautiful island with volcanoes, Weizhou Island is the location in many film and television dramas and documentaries. Meanwhile, the preferential policies are also available here including the western development, regional autonomy for ethnic minorities, the opening and development of the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone. She warmly welcomed everyone to conduct investment, shoot films and take pictures, so as to create a strong artistic atmosphere integrating Chinese and Western cultures, build a "literary Weizhou Island", fully excavate and give full play to the advantages of island resources and strive to create the most beautiful island for film shooting.

　　

　　Cang Ke, General Manager of IP Commercial Marketing of Alpha Group Co., Ltd.

Cang Ke, General Manager of IP Commercial Marketing of Alpha Group Co., Ltd., delivered a keynote speech themed "Road to Breakthrough in Long-Term Marketing of Children's Film and Television IP". She shared the pain points of the children's film and television IP industry: children's perception of the world is relatively simple; we are short of public topics; parents' recognition decides on their payment decision; the filming schedules for children's animation are not optimistic.

　　

　　Guo Hao, cultural scholar, Chinese color expert, planner of Garden Full Fragrance · National Beauty, a program of CCTV Spring Festival Gala

Guo Hao, cultural scholar, Chinese color expert, planner of Garden Full Fragrance · National Beauty, a program of CCTV Spring Festival Gala, and Zhu Fuyuan, Commercial Director of Beijing Qishuo Film Industry Co., Ltd., delivered the speech themed Cooperate with Chinese Traditional Colors to Strengthen and Extend the Life Cycle of Film and Television Derivatives. They also shared the color cooperation with the projects such as Spring Under Bridge of LINSY and Luoshen Beads of Florasis. 

　　

　　Zhu Fuyuan, Commercial Director of Beijing Qishuo Film Industry Co., Ltd. 

In the blockbuster dramas such as You Are My Glory, Wonderland of Love and Missing You, Beijing Qishuo Film Industry Co., Ltd. has joined hands with traditional Chinese colors to create the character images in the whole dramas through various color combinations and integrations, so that the character images are more textured to strengthen the audience’s impression. 

　　

　　Chen Wei, founder and CEO of 52TOYS

Chen Wei, founder and CEO of 52TOYS, demonstrated the construction and development of Ben Ben (a Megabox in The Wandering Earth II) through a video on the site. He introduced that the Disney Mickey Mouse series, Toy Story series, Disney Princess series, Tom and Jerry series, Crayon Shin-chan series and other popular products that 52TOYS has once cooperated with are all the hot sellers after secondary creation based on the copyright owner's gallery. Therefore, it is not enough to make film and television derivatives continuously cater to the market. We should finally go through the process of educating the market, guiding the market and bringing a sense of surprise for the customers. 

　　

　　Roundtable Forum

In the roundtable forum, Jiang Defu, Executive President of Bona Film Group, Zhang Jie, Executive Director of China Film Merchandising Industry Research Institute, Beijing Film Academy, Zhang Shi, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of Beihai Weizhou Island Tourist Area, Zheng Yang, President of magazine Popular Movies, Qian Zhongyuan, Chief Producer of the As One Production, Sun Rong, Founder and President of Dino Films, expressed their own viewpoints on the current situation and solution of rare professional talents in the film and television derivative industry. 

Jiang Defu said that the film and television derivative industry has an infinite future. The production of films and TV dramas now only aims to convert the literary texts into films and television dramas. Actually, there is more content to be discovered. He called on everyone to focus on the development of derivative industry. Many universities have set up film and television disciplines now, but the real effect of talent cultivation is not so satisfactory. In addition, facing the challenges of artificial intelligence, we should encourage the film and television practitioners to develop into the compound talents with new technologies.

Zhang Jie said that the talent with single creation cannot meet the needs of film and television industry now. We should adjust the teaching plans and schedules to connect the whole film industry chain. It’s urgent to cultivate the talents of the film and television derivative industry who have mastered all aspects of knowledges including art design, marketing management and law. 

Zhang Shi believes that the derivative economy is the fan economy, and it is necessary to create and strengthen the leading role of branded film and television dramas, especially the crossover and integration between tourism and film and television. "Culture is the soul of tourism while tourism is the carrier of culture." She listed many tourist locations that have been popularized by film and television dramas, such as Jiangmen in Punch Out and Dali in Where There Is Wind, and stressed the importance of integration between culture and tourism. 

Zheng Yang introduced that Popular Movies is a magazine founded in 1950. The magazine has always been trying to achieve breakthrough and give full play to the new features of the old IP. He welcomed all the new ideas from all walks of life. While popularizing the film culture, the magazine will also develop platforms such as new media and Douyin to expand the living space, and establish a film derivative industry committee to formulate professional industrial standards, so as to promote the film and television IP derivative industry as an official media. 

Qian Zhongyuan emphasized that film and television producers should lay out film and television IP in advance, exchange more with suppliers and other partners, take flexible measures for more cooperation possibilities. 

Sun Rong emphasized the importance of gallery development by giving examples of some films such as Railroad Tigers and I Am Not Madame Bovary. She also introduced the obstacles in the derivative industry she encountered in the practice. The pirated products are so widely spread that it’s urgent to improve the system of IP protection; on the other hand, it’s the issue of talents. We are short of talents who can understand not only the content but also the business operations and brand concepts during the film production. We need to cultivate the cross-border talents. 

　　

　　Roundtable Forum

In the roundtable conversation themed on Technology and Future of the Film and Television Derivative Industry, Jin Xin, CEO and Partner of Beijing Kemeworks Creative Cultural Co., Ltd., Kong Weijia, Founder of Beijing Ever Summer Technology Co., Ltd., Chen Wei, Founder and CEO of 52TOYS, Yin Zhi, President of The United Cultural Works Exchanges and Co-founder of Beijing Jiuyu Lingjing Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhang Gengliang, Founder and Chairman of TNT Egg, conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges about how to increase the added value of film derivative products by increasing technological content during the creative R&D and design. 

Jin Xin said that artificial intelligence makes many ideas easier to be realized, but it cannot produce new creations because they still need to be perfected by designers and artists. Therefore, we should not be afraid of artificial intelligence; instead, we should actively embrace them and make use of artificial intelligence to improve our design efficiency and integrate IP with technology. 

Kong Weijia introduced that Beijing Ever Summer Technology Co., Ltd. strives to create an exquisite outdoor life with one-stop service for board, lodging and entertainment. Through the themed camping in the films such as Octonauts 2, Happy Dad and Son and Natsume's Book of Friends, we highlight the characteristics of the films and deeply implant the IP images among the audience. We also bring more cooperative services to film and television companies and IP parties through social attributes, so as to empower the authorization and development of film and television IP. 

Chen Wei believes that excellent secondary creations can help copyright owners expand IP’s influence and commercial values. 52TOYS has always been trying to achieve iteration in terms of product technology and materials including the NFC chips implantation and the adoption of VR technology. 

Yin Zhi said that he has been exploring the business integrating metaverse with film and television derivatives in the past years. In 2022, he cooperated with Bona to issue the digital collection and 5,000 copies with the price of 199 yuan each were sold out within ten minutes. It’s a quite eye-catching achievement. He also hoped to explore with more producers, so that derivative products can really become popular with Chinese characteristics.

Zhang Gengliang believed that the development of derivative products usually falls behind the films, which is a major obstacle to the further development of Chinese film IP derivative industry. He shared that the ideas and logic of developing the derivative products of The Wandering Earth II have become increasingly clear compared with those in the first film. The design of Ben Ben more caters to women and children, and is suitable to produce it as a deformed toy. He also expected that more and more films will shift the development of derivative products to the front-end so as to expedite the IP establishment and dissemination.

The 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese Films proposes to promote the development and authorization of film derivatives, promote the integrated development of films, games and tourism, expand the scale of film consumption and increase the overall income of the film industry. Driven by the continuous supply of excellent content of Chinese films, the consumers will remain strong demand for the film derivatives. The derivatives of The Wandering Earth II become very popular, which proves that the "film + derivatives" model has already taken root in the localization to expand the imagination space of the brand and the toy industry in China.

The 3rd Beijing International Film and Television IP Licensing Industry Exhibition was also held during the forum. Many exhibitors participated in the exhibition, including Warner Pictures, Bona Film Group Limited, 52TOYS, Wanda Mtime.com, Beijing Ever Summer Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Qishuo Film Industry Co., Ltd. All the participants were enthusiastic on the site of exhibition. 

　　

　　The Exhibition 

　　It is said that more than 90% income of the Chinese film market comes from the box office and product placement. The income of film and television derivatives accounts for less than 10%. Therefore, there is still a broad market to be developed for the film derivative industry. The great success of this exhibition has proved that the "film + derivatives" model has not only taken root in the localization but also expanded the development space of brand licensing and the toy industry in China. 

　　

　　The Exhibition

The development of film industry has growing status and influence in the entire cultural industry. The expansion and development of Chinese film derivatives and post-film products will extend the film industry chain and boost the healthy and sustainable development of Chinese films and the whole cultural industry.