CJ ENM (Hong Kong) signs Taiwan pact with Central Motion Pictures

Taiwan’s Central Motion Pictures Corporation has signed a production deal with CJ ENM (Hong Kong), a foreign subsidiary of Korean media group CJ ENM. The agreement represents a further expansion of CJ ENM’s Mandarin language production efforts outside of mainland China.

The companies announced Thursday that they intend to produce “an island-based screenplay series in Kinmen” in 2023. They also described the untitled project as “world-leading creator leaders uniting to remake a popular CJ ENM-IP in Taiwan” with intent to sell to a global audience.

The source material was not mentioned. There was also no broadcast or streaming platform. The cast and director are expected to be announced in the first quarter of next year.

The project also includes Deepwater’s development-stage digital support and funding from the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), a government-affiliated advertising organization.

Kinmen is an island barely a few miles off the coast of mainland China off Xiamen but administered by Taiwan. Though Taiwan is democratic and has its own currency and legal system, its sovereignty is claimed by mainland China, which says it will reunite with the territory by force if necessary.

China’s recent policies have widened the gap between the mainland’s film and television industries and those in the rest of the world. They have resulted in Taiwan becoming a growing hub of Chinese-language production for international streaming platforms with multinational audience ambitions.

“We are very encouraged by the warm reception of our first two original series, written in Taiwan in collaboration with Mandarin, ‘Mum, Don’t Do That’ and ‘The Amazing Grace of Σ’, which premiered this year. As such, we are excited to continue our push into Mandarin original content with another great collaboration in Taiwan in 2023,” said Michael Jung, MD of CJ ENM (Hong Kong).

“Taiwan-produced drama series have flourished in recent years, with content quality and buzz constantly reaching new heights. The greatest advantage of Taiwanese film and television works lies in their rich creativity and freedom of expression, as well as relatively cheap production costs,” the company added in a statement.

“Central Motion Pictures Corporation’s film studio in Wai Shuangxi and Central Taiwan Film Studios in Wufeng have been upgraded to the production specifications required by international streaming platforms and large-scale film productions,” said Paul Yang, GM of Deepwaters. “This collaborative project with CJ ENM Hong Kong is just the first step and we look forward to further in-depth cooperation between the two parties in the future.”

“This collaborative project with CJ ENM Hong Kong is just the first step and we look forward to further intensified cooperation between the two parties in the future. We hope that not only will we continue to co-produce creative films and series, but also that through the international influence of CJ ENM (Hong Kong), we can showcase Taiwan’s world-class international film and television co-production capabilities and attract large multinational film and television projects from Thailand and South Korea to work with the Central Motion Pictures Corporation film studio for filming, pre-production and post-production work.”