Demand for training programs rises

Yin Gang is proud of the contributions his company, Cine Asia (Shanghai) Ltd, has made to the movie industry.

His source of pride doesn't come from the establishment of theaters, but from the professionals his theater solutions and services consultancy has specifically trained to run them.

Yin has established a wide network of human resources throughout Chinese movie theaters, cultivating and training many of the industry's managers over the past decade.

"From the very beginning, our services included management training in response to our clients' demands because they had difficulty recruiting qualified employees," said Yin, president of Cine Asia.

His timing couldn't be better.

Box office receipts on the Chinese mainland exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.61 billion) in 2010. Many experts called the explosive increase in ticket sales and the number of screens a sign of great times for the silver screen industry.

But over the last two years, the increasing shortage of theater managers has led to huge demand for training programs.

The discrepancy between supply and demand led Chen Guowei, former China president of Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) Ltd and former vice-general manager of Wanda Cinema Line, China's largest theater chain by box office revenue, to establish Guowei Management Training Institution in 2010.

Having worked in the sector for 20 years, Chen aims to contribute to the industry's development by reducing that gap. His training system offers four kinds of courses — general theater management, film marketing, theater operations and general skills.

So far, his company has held theater management training programs for about 10 terms and has built partnerships with a dozen institutions, including the radio, film and TV bureau of Hunan province and China Film Stellar Theater Chain.

"Most of our trainees are senior managers from various theater chains," said Li Yunling, a lecturer of ticketing operations and box office management at Guowei. She had worked in operations for five years at Wanda Cinema Line, China's largest theater chain by box office revenue, and helped the company drive ticket sales.