HONG KONG/MAINLAND COPRODUCTION RULES TIGHTEN

We talked about this previously, but this article from the Hong Kong Filmart site seems to be overwhelmingly negative. When CEPA III was passed, it made it easier for Hong Kong to make co-productions with Mainland China. There were rules on content and casting (story must involve China, 1/3 of the cast must be Mainland Chinese) but they weren't enforced.

Well, now they are being enforced and it seems to be having a real impact on low budget Hong Kong movies. Patrick Tong, the managing director of Mei Ah, first says that this isn't a big deal:

"The tightening up of the co-production policies may not be necessarily bad for the Hong Kong film industry."

Then he changes his mind later in the same paragraph:

"Because of the Chinese market, many co-productions have adapted their stories and employed some unknown artistes from China in order to qualify as a co-production. This adaptation has always spoiled the film and neither the Hong Kong audience nor the Chinese audience like the story. As a result, the quality of many co-productions is not good."