The Ministry of Culture held a spring party for local audiovisual professionals on Feb. 7 at the Taipei Grand Hotel. The guest of honor, President Tsai Ing-wen, pledged financial support for Taiwan's film and television sectors.
President Tsai promised to establish a platform to pool together funds and resources for audiovisual professionals to develop and present their works, as well as to assist them in entering international markets as part of efforts to boost Taiwan's global image.
Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun noted that as film and television are important sectors that represent the culture of a nation, it is the Ministry's goal to stabilize and enhance audiovisual content and output, ensure that producers have sufficient funds to put their ideas into practice, and export Taiwan's cultural and humanistic values through quality audiovisual works.
In the near future, the Ministry will invest in projects based on content that transform local stories into consumer-oriented films and television shows. The process will encompass analyzing cultural data, translating text, and verifying auxiliary copyrights and original content licensing, added Minister Cheng.
Moreover, the Ministry will collaborate with the National Development Fund, financial holding companies, banks, insurance companies, and venture capitalists to establish a professional investment and financing system. The upcoming "Professional Cooperation Office for Audiovisual Investment and Financing (影視投融資專業協力辦公室)” is expected to hold roughly NT$12 billion in funds.
The office will offer professional courses to train new talent in the audiovisual industry, and actively search for investment cases. It will also provide consultations and introduce an evaluation mechanism for intangible assets to help audiovisual professionals obtain funding.
In addition, the Ministry will cooperate with the Financial Supervision Commission to advocate nationwide support for Taiwan's audiovisual industry, making it a focus of corporate social responsibility to encourage listed companies to invest. It will also establish incentive mechanisms to stimulate more financing for the local film and television sectors.
The long-term goal will be to set up a revolving fund for audiovisual investment and professional intermediary organizations. The latter will be responsible for incorporating private and corporate resources, conducting investment planning, and prompting interdisciplinary collaboration to support quality, Taiwan-made audiovisual works.
Read the original Chinese press release here.