Ingenious and Beijing-based Hejing Culture sign $200m co-production agreement

20 Jun 2016   |   4 min read

Ingenious Team

In the first major tie-up of its kind between a UK media company and a Chinese fund backed by private and government investment, Ingenious, the London-based backer of last season’s Oscar contenders Brooklyn and Carol, as well global blockbusters Avatar and Life of Pi, has formed a joint venture with Hejing to produce and co-finance a slate of independent films in a deal worth $200 million.

This initial venture marks the first step in what Ingenious and Hejing hope will be a long running partnership between the two parties.

The deal comes just two years after a landmark UK-China co-production treaty was signed by Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey and SARFT’s (State Administration of Radio, Film & Television) Vice Minister, Tong Gang.

Ingenious has developed a reputation as a leading player in the global film and television industry over the last 18 years.

The global market for entertainment content is experiencing an exciting period of change – from the seismic shifts in individual consumption patterns to the unprecedented growth in China. Any long-term global growth strategy has to involve an alignment with the right kind of partners, and we couldn’t be more delighted to be working alongside Hejing to continue to bring high-quality entertainment to global audiences.

Neil Forster

CEO at Ingenious

As a leading culture company under the SARFT system (Chinese state administration for radio, film and TV production), Hejing has played a very important role in saving traditional Chinese culture by editing and republishing some of the most distinguished Chinese books from ancient times.  Now that we have collected and have ownership of such important Chinese stories and their associated rights, it’s time to go international and show the world the charm of Chinese content and Chinese story-telling.

We’re so honoured to launch this programme of internationalisation by partnering with Ingenious, a wonderful film company with an unbelievable track record. I truly believe we can co-develop some great western and eastern film and TV projects together.

Zhang Aiyi

CEO of Hejing Culture

The UK film industry is one of our greatest success stories, powered by the huge wealth of creative talent that exists in the UK, both on and off screen. It’s fantastic to see collaborations such as this come about as a result of the landmark UK-China co-production treaty.

Ed Vaizey

UK Minister of Culture

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