Hangzhou Earmarks Tens of Millions of Yuan Special Fund to Benefit Animation and Game Industry Companies in 2018

2018-12-05 05:42:44

Recently, the special fund subsidies for animation and game businesses in Hangzhou for 2018 had formally entered the disbursement process. The annual special fund involved a total of 42 million yuan, mainly for post production subsidies of animation game projects, allocation of remaining funds for support projects over the years, sustained investment of industry guidance fund, and support for key projects of Hangzhou animation and game businesses. Hangzhou A.U Cultural Creativity Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Zoland Animation Co.,Ltd., and Versatile Media ranked as the top three, winning 3.83 million yuan, 2.87 million yuan and 2.31 million yuan respectively, as they complied with the policy in terms of award-winning works, publication and distribution, and overseas exhibitions.

Since 2005, Hangzhou has taken the lead in the country in introducing the animation industry support policy. It has established a special fund of 50 million yuan for the animation and game industry, to grant awards, subsidies and interest discounts for the animation and game industry. Since then, the fund has increased, up to 70 million yuan.

In 2017, Hangzhou put forward the Opinion on Promoting Better and Stronger Development of the Animation and Game Industry in Hangzhou (No. 77 document of the Hangzhou CPC municipal committee in 2017), encouraging companies to produce quality works, explore the overseas market, launch capital operation, and strengthen public service. This support was the first time to fulfill the commitment since the promulgation of the new policy, which strictly followed the standards for fairness and justice.

According to the new policy, two original quality animated films including The Floating Planet received a total of 2.5 million yuan box office subsidies. Nine original quality animated works, including The Legend of Qin V, gained over 1.88 million yuan subsidies for new media screening. Nine original quality cartoon publications including Flipping Through Comics won 1.5 million yuan grants for distribution. Fifteen original animated series including Grow Away acquired 1.77 million yuan for TV station broadcasting. Forty original animated works including Draco Monster obtained 6.4 million yuan for winning awards. The new policy, along with the special funds, has further promoted Hangzhou to create quality original animation works.

In this industry support, the award-winning subsidies, grants for overseas copyright authorizations and subsidies for exhibitors occupied the top three of all subsidy categories. The amount of subsidies stood at about 5 million yuan, accounting for more than 55% of the subsidy applications. It fully reflected the guiding direction of the 2017 new policy that encouraged businesses to push forward more quality works, screen them in the new media, and go global.

This special fund support has reflected Hangzhou's determination to guide the animation industry to create quality products and encourage originality. While spurring on animation game companies to show cultural self-confidence, it has actively stimulated them to go global to expand international horizons. This support is fully in line with the guiding direction of the new policy, which is to reward the creation of quality products, encourage the screening with the new media, and facilitate the businesses to go out and actively participate in overseas exhibitions. At the same time, the municipal festival and exhibition office has further made rational use of the industry guide fund, mobilized the market lever, to help the businesses to solve practical problems.

Jin Delong, director of the cultural innovation center of Communication University of China, commented about the 18-article new policy of the animation industry, saying that “This is the most comprehensive, systematic policy that gives the strongest support to best solve the practical problems in the country.”