#Chinese Micro Drama

[vivianstravelblog]

Chinese Micro Drama Compliation 10: Wang Yige

I realized that I had watched three Chinese micro dramas starring Wang Yige (王已歌), so I decided to compile my reviews for them into one blog post. Warning: there might be spoilers! REVIEW #1: 禁慾大佬撩寵小廠花/小可憐靠生子寵冠電子廠 (2024) 禁慾大佬撩寵小廠花 which I also saw online as 小可憐靠生子寵冠電子廠, is my first Wang Yige drama, and I have to admit that I didn’t notice him much in this one. Below is my previous review, which…

[tytangfei]

"Why do you always avoid looking at me, my empress?"

ARE YOU THE ONE (2024) - EP. 25 CHANG HUA SEN as ZI YU & YUAN YU XUAN as SHI XUEJI

[thedreamerstoryteller]

That handsome fascinating sexy man of Shen Du threatens Yan Xing to show his absolutely dangerous and awful soft side:

Me:

Also me if I were Yan Xing:

[wanghedi]

I dont want to jinx it but esther yu's new drama kind of looks sickening. It looks stunning... u literally cannot fuck with guo jingmings eye for beautiful sets and effects and costuming and actors he is really shitting all over other chinese directors on that front sorry... like hes a dogshit writer and literally did not beat the plagiarism allegations legally but by god everyone looks so gorjus and movements look so fluid thru his camera lens like god giveth and god taketh for real if he just had a writing partner i would fuck with him so hard. Pls god do not fumble the bag with the plot of esthers new drama bc like fantasy ancient chinese female assassin?? i need this to be good and if this blow up and its the show of the summer and esther is the lead in the show of the summer for two consecutive years. Then Brother she is IN.

[accio-victuuri]

xiao zhan - WWD article on his capsule collection with tod’s

TOD’S INTERSECTION: Tod’s is launching its second collection with Chinese actor, singer and the brand’s global brand ambassador Xiao Zhan. Bags, shoes, ready-to-wear and accessories feature the exclusive logo Tod’s· X, symbolizing the intersection of paths.

While the first collection was launched in 2022 when he was Tod’s China ambassador with then-creative director Walter Chiapponi, this is the first designed by the performer with Matteo Tamburini, who succeeded Chiapponi at the Italian brand at the end of 2023.

“The creativity and ideas came in naturally,” said Tamburini of the collection, “capturing the essence of Tod’s whilst introducing elements inspired by Xiao Zhan’s unique interpretation of modern simplicity and his understated fashion taste.”

The capsule, created by Tod’s Italian craftsmen, comprises the Di Bag Swing in brown and natural gray tones, with a classic saddle-stitch detailing and its reverse handle design; the Tod’s X phone bag in a micro version; the T Vintage sneakers in two color combinations, brown/white and gray/white; a scarf with similar natural color hues, and the double-layer collar shirt.

“I believe that the intersection of different styles and lifestyles meeting and blending through these objects makes for a beautiful experience,” said the actor. “I recall my encounter with Tod’s as such a beautiful moment. The brand’s approach to life, that relaxed, effortless elegance combined with a deep passion, resonates with me deeply.”

The collection will be available starting Thursday on Tod’s e-site worldwide and in a number of selected brand boutiques. A dedicated campaign will be launched mainly digitally and out-of-home.

The artist became Tod’s global brand ambassador in February and has also fronted communication campaigns for Zenith, Gucci, JD.com, Li-Ning, Tencent Video, Budweiser and, most recently, Boucheron. He is a member of the Chinese boy group X Nine and rose to prominence in 2019 with his performance in the TV drama “The Untamed,” later available globally on Netflix.

[candidsoup]

Soup watches Shuang Tu (Soul Sisters)

This mini-drama (micro-drama???) of 15-min episodes is absolutely ridiculous, but somehow it's holding my attention. Maybe it's the surprisingly blatant gay. Check the box for woman inexplicably disguises herself as a man via clothes and literally nothing else and no one notices. (Not even a fake mustache!)

The first few episodes have included: getting saved but then immediately roped into a contractual marriage, hiding my gender, narrowly avoiding consummating my marriage and almost stabbing my love interest, being WEIRDLY SEXY ABOUT IT, longing gazes, poorly timed slapstick humor and SOUND EFFECTS, so many sound effects, ?????, everyone is poor hahaha I guess, ?????, GAY STUFF, how is this allowed (bc it's a low-budget mini-drama?)??

There was definitely a pun on the name of Bai Yun Xi. I'm guessing that her name sounds like "shameless," they did not explain that. In fact that the subtitles are kinda garbage half the time and might have been were machine translated. There was a line about "a hamster with a belt??" that I believe was referring to a baby boy being born and I can only think, does that mean what I think it does? Also, when I tried watching on the iQIYI app on my TV, the subs appeared with a transparent background, OVER the burned in Chinese subs, so it was exceptionally hard to read them....

I don't really understand the political plot or what Gu Jin Yu is looking for, OR what the heck is going on economically that Bai Yun Xi + co have to rob or start a new business to make money bc they're broke (what was generating income for them before?) but I'm just watching for the WAIT THIS IS GAY moments. Also, end of episode 3? ABRUPTTT is its middle name, what was that. But I don't care. I'm having fun. I can't wait for Gu Jin Yu to do the big "gender reveal" and for Bai Yun Xi to still be into her afterwards.... Wondering how that is going to work! But I think it will!

Anyway here's a couple more specific observations as I was going along:

Episode 4: Okay, EPIC dolly zoom just for a guy eating a really tasty food item

GIIIIRRRLLLLL

I've seen 4 episodes and I still don't understand the plot, but some group is trying to frame some other group and then there's just mundane things like trying to start a successful food stand. And then, cue the cute romantic music. I don't know, but it works for me since the episodes are so short. It's going to be pretty easy to binge this. 18 episodes are out now on iQIYI, and there will be 24 in total.

After I finish this and Fangs of Fortune, I really want to cancel my iQIYI sub because I'm paying for it AND Viki, so I really hope no other show premieres to iQIYI exclusively and fucks with my plans. Please. Help me.

[meraki-yao]

God, he must be so overwhelmed being in that huge city far from home and alone. I know he's a grown man and he is working but it's always better to have someone close on these long and tiring journeys 🥹

See, I kind of have a little more complicated perspective on his trip to China

Taylor travels a lot (I think in September we saw him in Australia, New York, London and Spain?) and I think he mentioned he loves doing so, so to some degree I think travelling comes easier to him

But China is different from all the other places we've recently seen him travel to. I have some authority to say this as 1, I am Chinese (ethnicity-wise, I am living in Hong Kong), and used to visit family in the mainland (geopolitics are weird) at least once a year 2, I check on the RWRB Chinese fandom from time to time (still mostly here, I consider myself to be a western RWRB fan, being a Hong Konger is weird and fun in that regard) 3, racial micro-aggressions and colourism is a common issue in China that everyone just goes with (I am mad about that) 4, I know Chinese celebrity culture and how different it is from Western celebrity culture. I was so anxious for him the moment he landed at Shanghai airport because I was worried the different perception of both his race and him as a celebrity/him as Alex would hurt him in some way. I kid you not, I was worried the whole time, even if I know he's a grown man and there's functionally nothing I can do.

In a way it did and it didn't, I guess? There were a couple of issues that I personally had with the GQ event, but those are more my subjective opinions. And there was an incident two days ago that I cannot for the life of me find a reliable retelling, so take it with a pinch of salt, but what happened was there was an... art event? That Taylor attended at a restaurant? I think he co-designed something, either a plaque or a shirt. It was a private event, but one of the guests leaked the invite online, so people knew he was going there at what time, and then a crowd gathered at the restaurant and even though it was relatively peaceful and police were there to keep them in order, it's still a crowd in front of a restaurant. They didn't get to meet him, he had to leave through a back door, and later on Little Red Book said he had a change of plans. Again there are like, two contradicting narratives I could find and I pieced this together to the best of my ability, so please take it with a pinch of salt. However, I will say the whole gathering at a place where a celebrity would potentially show up is the norm in China. It's not good, it will cause inconvenience, but it is how it is.

But on the other hand, on the day of the GQ event when we saw him on the boat and everything, people were showing him so much love. People were shouting "Welcome to China" from the bridges, some people took the day off just to travel to the venue to see him, and a lot of them prepared gifts and cards for him. I heard some really fucking awful Twitter drama was happening to him at the same time (and no I don't want to hear about it) so it was relieving in a way to see him get so much love in real life. And Taylor was incredibly sweet, signing books and photos and phone cases. This would never happen with Chinese celebrities (because everything is monetized), especially with firstprince or TayNick photos. (because even shipping and RPS shipping is monetized! It's so fucked and I'm mad about it!)

I am still concerned with just how much work he had and how tight his schedule was (on the 7th he changed into 5 outfits, did a photoshoot in the morning in the black blazer, photoshoot and meeting with fans in the afternoon in the casual set, early dinner party and blue carpet in the white suit, water carpet and red carpet in the brown suit, then dinner party in the lilac suit, what the fuck, especially when apparently no other guest had this tight a schedule) and I was extra concerned when he said in the live stream that he came alone (I already suspected that when he arrived at the airport and the police were keeping order instead of private security) and I kind of think the whole trip could have been better organized or done in a way less demanding for him

But with that being said, I am incredibly proud of him and grateful for him for coming to China and doing all these events. It feels like a step. And I completely admire him for going through all of this in such a different, foreign environment on his own. As much as seeing the boys and RWRB content makes me happy (and frankly, helping my shitty mental health), I do hope he has a good rest when he gets back. I think this trip took a toll on him even if he (hopefully) enjoyed it.

Chinese RWRB fans are joking that as much as they want Nick to visit as well, with how intense Taylor's schedule turned out and how introverted and tired Nick is, he'd be "swimming back in England" after a day 🤣

[hesitationss]

i'm hoping to do pitching events and apply for creator grants soon, so i'm asking a bunch of friends for feedback plus i am curious to see which idea tumblr likes too! i'm currently trying to figure out which one to focus on since they are all at similar stages of development. if you want, you can also share your thoughts about why you picked the one you did! descriptions for each concept under the cut.

Dirty River

Pitch: During the occupation period, a 16 year old is living with her mom in a pacified village where the military force is stationed to crush the guerilla army. After a near death experience in a the nearby river, a ghost-like monstrosity begins to torment the occupying imperialists.

Comp: Pan’s Labyrinth dir. Guillermo Del Toro x Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli) x ATLA (blood bending and painted lady episodes)

Audience & Genre : Young Adult with some mature themes (poverty, war, death) | Horror (Ghost story, Folk Horror), Drama, Historical Fiction.

Extra Info: Takes place in a mountain village in fictious 1940s china. the monster is a ghost woman made of eels. plot b is that the protagonist is being pressured into marriage, in a sense, the vengeful eel woman is her saviour. it's partly a retelling of puteri gunung ledang who made impossible requests of a sultan because she was not allowed to formally refuse his advances.

Swimming Lessons

Pitch: Elementary school student Winny Yee has been signed up for swimming lessons after her family receives a low-income qualifying membership at the YMCA. Attempting to recover from almost a decade of failed swimming attempts, she takes her first kicks and tries not to sink.

Comp: This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki x Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and [GN adaption artist] Emily Carroll

Audience & Genre: Middle Grade w slightly mature themes (poverty, social anxiety, puberty, gender) | Social Realism, Coming of Age

Extra Info: Winny has an undiagnosed developmental disorder that is somewhat mild so she doesn't receive support which is why she feels she is always "behind". Mature themes include things like growing boobs, precocious puberty from implied family and poverty stress and feeling anxious about occupying a changing body. Set in the Pairies.

Summer Flood

Pitch: Chinese-Canadian coming of age family drama - At the start of summer, 20 year old Kiana Hom and her family move back to her childhood home to care for her ailing grandfather after a frightening trip to the emergency room.

Comp: Bone by Faye Myenne Ng x This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki x Driveways dir. Andrew Ahn

Audience & Genre: Young Adult/Adult | Coming of Age, Family Drama, Social Realism, Multicultural

Extra Info: Social realism topics include eviction, micro-agression from White Canadians, their elderly Indigenous neighbour being neglected by Accessible Transit, medical care neglect, mother-daughter tension, but overall learning to adapt and find joy despite adversity. Set in the prairies, like 2006?. Basically: cleaning up your hoarder grandfather's neglected house which is your childhood home and the memories that accompany that.

Skinning House

Pitch: Late 80’s - Childhood friends are re-united when Lucy’s neighbourhood is displaced from gas leak explosions. The large house of her family’s friend is one of both magic and horrors. Featuring - Witches, werewolves, queerness, hauntings/gothic themes, romance, coming of age.

Comp: Tithe by Holly Black x Mooncakes by Wendy Xu & Suzanne Walker x Mamo by Sas Milledge

Audience & Genre: Young Adult | Coming of Age, Fantasy, Horror/Gothic themes, Urban Fantasy

Extra Info: Lucy is the protag, but her childhood friend Cam is being magically tortured by their father who treats them like an animal since their mom (witch) turned them into a werewolf and went missing. Lucy, also a witch, is being hunted by something inside the house. Late 80's in a developing prairie city beginning just before winter.

thanks!!!! <333

[baiyu-universe]

Bai Yu projects updates (Jan. 19, 2023)

News:

Bai Yu will be performing in a micro film and singing at CCTV's 2023 Spring Festival Gala. The show starts at 8 pm (GMT+8) on Jan 21 (Chinese New Year's Eve) and can be watched on Youtube.

Bai Yu will sing I Won't Extinguish in the Wind at 2023 China Internet Audio-Visual Gala. The show will be aired on 24th starting at 8 pm (GMT+8) on all major platforms.

The 1st Chinese TV Drama Annual Ceremony will be broadcast at 8:00 pm (GMT+8) on Jan 23rd on CCTV 1 and at 18: 30 pm (GMT+8) on Jan 28th on CCTV 8 and will be streaming on CCTV's online platform as well. Bai Yu is nominated for "Breakthrough Actor of the Year" for his role Xun Xu in The Wind Blows from Longxi and the final 13 awards will be revealed at the ceremony.

Take Us Home is set to be aired at Q1 of 2023. The drama has already obtained airing license last year.

Rumor (take it with a grain of salt):

Bai Yu is rumored to star in a tragic romance drama That Untold Story based on a novel of the same name by Twentine. The ML is a taxi driver/disabled undercover police and FL an antique restoration artist.

[whattheabcxyz]

2024-04-26

Singapore

Daughter of Chinese tycoon snaps up $84m GCB in Bin Tong Park - it was previously owned by former hedge fund manager Nitin Sibal who purchased it at $37.6m in 2020

Palliative & hospice care capacity ramped up

Cardboard coffins gaining ground here among the eco-conscious

HDB resale prices climbed for 16th straight quarter in Q1, with more flats sold - so much for "affordable housing"!!! 😒

Agriculture

Fish feed from soybean processing runoff spurs hopes of cheaper fish - another reason not to eat farmed fish!

Health

We're all now made of plastic... & BPA

Politics

Censors in China clamp down on micro-dramas - all this strict control & clamping down on stuff just shows how insecure Xi Jinping the CCP is 💩

Lee Hsien Loong to meet Jokowi in Indonesia

Science

Research network to study ovarian aging & its link to women’s health

Education

More universities in Singapore using AI in class but some students have mixed feelings

Avocado plushie shrine spotted at NUS - students hoped it would give them good grades 🥑

Architecture

^ No, not ancient ruins, but those of a mini golf course in the 1980s that was never completed

Society

US: Murderous former teacher released from jail on parole - America, where killers get a 2nd chance!

Travel

New 255-room hotel under Hotel Indigo brand to open at Singapore's Changi Airport T2 by 2028

Japan town to block Mount Fuji view from certain sites to deter troublesome tourists

...& in the meantime, record tourist numbers are clogging up Kyoto’s public transport

[livingfictionsystem]

Review for 'Yellowface' by R.F. Kuang

June Hayward, an aspiring author with only scarce flops to her name, best friends/frienemies/rivals with Athena Liu, successful Asian-American Indie darling, has a lot of possible reactions to witnessing Athena's sudden and accidental death. Stealing Athena's unpublished draft about Chinese labour camps and claiming it was her own was certainly a *choice.* This book was honestly a treasure. It's a blunt, biased, yet uniquely savage view into the world of cultural appropriation, media backlash, and publishing. It's also a treat for anyone who loves to follow petty cancellation deep-dives and general drama; I was reacting verbally like I was watching a football game for my entire listen-through.

I love how many infinite shades of grey there are in June Hayward's first person POV. On one hand, fellow struggling creatives could understand the bitterness at being overlooked and the temptation to launch oneself dishonestly into notoriety on a wave of trends. Fame-hungry creatives can be absolute sharks. Her sarcastic and exasperated take on everything is jarringly relatable and actually pretty witty. She wasn't completely irredeemable; she did write supposedly half of the book based on Athena's notes and 'unreadable draft,' did extensive research herself, and even donated money to related charities. On the other hand, you see June change her name to 'Juniper Song' ("Hey, it *is* my legal middle name!"), using phrases like "reverse racism", and thinking things like, "Oh, I think have some Cherokee genetics on my mom's side I could use for a new book idea."

It really has a Bojack Horseman-esque way of exploring how publicists twist things for 'the right spin.' How commodifying everything from diversity to drama is just part of the game, some sort of socio-political mental chess.

The POV followers the MC's reputation's endless rollercoaster rising and falling as her house of cards collapses. Multiple angles are addressed on both sides, anything from claiming that Asian trauma is being 'gatekept' from the poor misunderstood white writers, to digging up June's 5 year-old posts responding positively to a Wonder Woman film and saying it was 'proof of a white savior complex.' Then you have elderly Chinese immigrants thanking June with tears in their eyes about how much her book means to them, while the right wingers are defending her on Twitter.

It was all incredibly realistic and modern, to the point of my leaving a review of a book on Goodreads is feeling extremely meta. No one is likeable or sinless---only fascinating and multi-faceted. The POV leaves room for the reader to pivot from having anxiety about June getting caught, to looking forward to the truth being revealed.

June's racism is also extremely well-written and just as contemporary. You see her trying to unlearn, correct herself, pay her dues, even try to protect Athena's memory, but then she'll get desperate and go on an internal rant about how "Karen" is used to discriminate against white women. And the thing is, June's not written as a stereotypical bigot or right-winger. The book has her probably about left-of-centre. She's the kind that's on the side of the disenfranchised until it's time to get defensive about micro-aggressions. The kind who uses the term 'Cis-het' but gripes about how minority creators have this conspiratal advantage.

Definitely read this book. I loved it. An easy 10/10.

Also, with how intimately and accurately R.F. Kuang wrote about experiencing mass cancellation, I have to ask them---are you okay? Show me on this doll where Twitter hurt you.

One of my favourite parts was when June was being cancelled one time and someone stood up for her, calling the mass pile-on a 'lynch mob.' Then there was discourse about whether or not using 'Lynch mob" in this context was racially insensitive, and then there was discourse about race of the person who started the discourse---IT WAS SO REALISTIC.

There's also another really good scene where June sits down with film execs and tries to insist; "I need actual Asian people playing the Asian characters, though. Representation is important." And one of the producers makes a racist joke about Asian accents and the other one playfully scolds like "LOL you can't say that!! :)"

It really had a 'As long as we're all white here, we have a little racism, as a treat. Just to make you feel like you're part of the gang' vibe.

-Xanthe

[vivianstravelblog]

Asian Drama Review: 癡傻千金三叔寵我入骨

~ Spoiler-Free Short Chinese Drama Review: “Miss Unwieldy/Mrs. Pearl and Her Beloved” 癡傻千金三叔寵我入骨 (2024) ~ REVIEW I saw a Yu Long X Yang Miemie CP clip on Instagram and could not deny their intense chemistry. I looked online and saw that they acted in a micro-drama titled “Mrs. Pearl and Her Beloved.” I was ecstatic to find it on YouTube. However, I noticed on the website my drama list that the…

[mamun258]

With an average daily turnover of 80 million, this industry has taken off and created a new profession.

In the past two years, micro-short plays have rapidly occupied the content pool of Internet platforms, leading to rapid growth in market HE Tuber demand for short play scripts and creating a new profession - short play screenwriters. What kind of person is working as a short play writer? From the perspective of a short play screenwriter, what are the current problems in the industry? What direction will the future take?

With the advantages of fast production, low cost, short and concise, and eye-catching, micro-short dramas have rapidly occupied the content pool of Internet platforms in the past two years.

Douyin’s massive engine data shows that as of November 2023, the average daily revenue of domestic short dramas has reached 80 million yuan. According to iiMedia Consulting estimates, China’s micro-short drama market size is expected to reach 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 267.65% from 2022.

Not only in the Chinese market, micro-short dramas are also developing strongly overseas. According to Sensor Tower estimates, as of November 30, 2023, the cumulative net revenue of ReelShort, a domestic short drama overseas platform, has been close to 200 million yuan. In November, the platform's net revenue increased by nearly 98% month-on-month, reaching more than 42 million yuan.

The popularity of micro-short plays has, on the one hand, spawned many short play platforms, and on the other hand, it has also led to a rapid increase in market demand for short play scripts, thus giving rise to a new type of job - short play screenwriters.

Who are the people who work as screenwriters of short plays? From the perspective of a short play screenwriter, what are the current problems in the industry? What direction will the future take? "World Online Business" chatted with a number of short drama screenwriters to understand the current status and challenges of the industry they are facing, as well as their thoughts.

1. “Ten short play screenwriters and eight online article authors”

The micro-short drama has become a hit in the internet writing circle.

Internet writer Duoduo first came into contact with short dramas through promotional clips of short drama platforms on social media. Perhaps due to her work background, most of the short dramas pushed to her by the platform are about bosses. After watching several short plays of the same type, Duoduo discovered that he could accurately predict the direction of the plot, so he came up with the idea of ​​​​changing his career as a short play screenwriter.

"I have studied the popular routines in short plays now when I was writing novels." Before switching to short play screenwriting, Duoduo was already a senior writer for an online writing platform, and was good at writing sweet pet articles. Sweet pet stories are a popular branch of boss stories. The storyline is sweet and the male protagonist always loves his partner infinitely. It has many similarities with the popular short dramas about bosses. Therefore, relying on the experience accumulated in the past, Duoduo sold his first short play script soon after changing careers.

Liu Ling and Duoduo had similar experiences. They both came up with the idea of ​​changing careers after watching short dramas on social media platforms. However, unlike Duoduo, who is a freelance short play screenwriter, Liu Ling is affiliated with a friend's screenwriting studio and is a full-time short play screenwriter.

"I mainly write male novels (novels aimed at men), which are based on the routine of cool writing. Last year, an author friend who had been communicating with each other and learning from each other changed his career to a short drama screenwriter. He worked on the platform for a while and felt that short dramas The prospects were good, so I later found someone to invest in a screenwriting studio and got me involved," Liu Ling told "Tianxia Online Business".

It is not only individual online writers like Duoduo and Liu Ling who have changed their focus from online writing to the field of short play screenwriting, but also many online writing studios.

Li Yue revealed to "Tianxia Online Business" that her online literary studio has been focusing on the creation of IP novels suitable for adaptation into film and television dramas. After the rise of micro-short dramas, this year the studio also began to pursue the trend: on the one hand, retain some The author continues to delve into the creation of IP articles; on the other hand, some authors are trained to try short drama script creation, and Li Yue is one of the latter.

Unlike the gradual transformation of Li Yue's studio, Zhao Cheng's studio is more radical. Starting from August this year, all its contracted authors stopped writing online articles and fully turned to the creation of short play scripts.

The experiences of Duoduo, Liu Ling, Li Yue and Zhao Cheng are a microcosm of the short play screenwriting industry. A large part of the screenwriters currently engaged in short play script creation were transformed from online writers. Among the more than ten short play screenwriters contacted by "World Online Business" alone, eight have had experience in writing online articles.

2. Profit-driven, everyone wants to make money on the trend

"Short plays are variations of online articles." This is a conclusion often made by short play screenwriters.

In Lieu Ling’s view, short plays and refreshing articles are very similar. “Rusty, bloody, fast pace, and many refreshing points are the characteristics of both short plays and refreshing articles. In essence, short plays and refreshing articles The core is the same, but the form of expression is different. People who have written cool articles will find it very simple to switch to writing short play scripts."

Many online article writers choose to switch careers as short play screenwriters. One of the important reasons is that it is relatively easy to switch from writing online articles to writing short play scripts.

The deeper reason is that there is a significant gap in income and creation costs between writing online articles and writing short play scripts.

The "2022 China Online Literature Development Research Report" released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that as of 2022, the cumulative number of online literature writers in China has exceeded 22.78 million, an increase of more than 5 times from 4.19 million in 2012.

In the past decade, the number of authors of online articles has doubled, which has intensified the competition in the field of online articles. Except for "great" level authors who can achieve the myth of wealth, for most new authors, it is not easy to make money through online articles. The "2019 China Online Literature Development Report" has published income data for online article authors. The average monthly income is 5,133.7 yuan, and the proportion of less than 2,000 yuan/month and no income currently accounts for 44.6%.

"After stopping daily updates, my income in the last month was only a few hundred yuan." A few months before switching to short drama screenwriting, Duoduo's income from writing online articles was no longer enough to cover the rent, water and electricity. "Internet articles are too complicated, not only about innovation, but also about word count. Everyone is writing millions of long articles, and a writer like me who writes a sweet article of 200,000 words has almost no room to survive," Duoduo said.

In contrast, short play scripts have become a new source of income. In the short drama industry, screenwriters' income consists of "guaranteed + split accounts". Huge engine data shows that the income of upstream screenwriters is a guaranteed income of 10,000 to 50,000 yuan per drama and a 1% to 2% revenue share from short plays. Based on this calculation, even if the minimum guarantee is not included, for a short drama with an income of 5 million to 50 million yuan, the screenwriter can get about 50,000 to 1 million yuan.

In terms of creation costs, short play scripts are relatively lower. This is intuitively reflected in the number of words. Under normal circumstances, a short drama script of about 100 episodes is about 50,000 to 100,000 words, and the creation period is about half a month to a month; in the field of online literature, a short drama script is only as long as For an opening chapter, it often takes a year and a half to create a complete online article. In comparison, short play scripts take less time and energy.

In addition to the above-mentioned factors, the most fundamental reason for Internet article writers to become short play screenwriters is that they have seen the prosperity of the short play industry and want to make money in the limelight.

"The popularity of short plays is very high now, and it is expected to be even higher in the future. However, the market demand for short play scripts is far from being met, and good scripts have always been in short supply. This is an opportunity, and everyone wants to take advantage of the short play industry. I want to take advantage of the enthusiasm and see if I can make money." Li Yue said.

3. Get together for flash weddings and God of War themes, and the content is seriously homogenized.

Several screenwriters of female channels (with women as the main audience) told "Tianxia Online Business" that they are writing scripts with themes of "flash marriage" and "cute baby". Similarly, more than one male channel screenwriter has said that he is working on a script with the theme of "God of War" or "The Master Descends from the Mountain".

The reason why short drama screenwriters group together to focus on similar themes is to seek a stable mentality. Some screenwriters said that as a popular branch of the classic boss-themed short dramas, dramas with flash marriages and cute babies have a strong sense of plot conflict, are short and concise, and have a wide audience in the market. On the other hand, after such themes are put into production, they are easily recommended by the short video platform algorithm to viewers who like similar themes, and the risk of being removed from the shelves is small.

Zhao Cheng told "Tianxia Online Business": "Shuangju is the mainstream of current short dramas. In order to increase the probability of success, current screenwriters often choose to imitate existing successful models. The smarter ones will make minimal innovations on successful models. new."

Under such a trend, whenever a fresh trend emerges in short dramas, it will soon be swarmed by creators from all walks of life, and the cost of imitating and following it is almost negligible. This also intensifies the homogeneity of the content of short dramas. Qualitative.

The result of blindly following the trend is that the guaranteed price of the script is repeatedly lowered. Duoduo revealed to Tianxia Online Business that the guaranteed minimum price of the scripts she created last year was about 20,000 yuan. As more and more screenwriters write about cute babies, the price recently offered by the drama collection platform has dropped to 15,000 yuan. Yuan. If it is a new screenwriter, the guaranteed price for a script of the same theme may be even lower.

For producers, more and more homogeneous content has also brought "creative anxiety."

Zhou Yang's job at a short drama platform that focuses on men's videos is to find, review, and finalize short drama scripts. As a former online article editor, Zhou Yang personally agrees with the principle of “content is king”. In order to provide high-quality scripts, he offered very generous conditions for receiving manuscripts: the guaranteed base price of the script starts at a minimum of 20,000 yuan. Once the script is successfully released, the company will give the screenwriter a 1%-2% omni-channel share based on the script rating.

Despite this, Zhou Yang revealed that since the call for submissions was issued in September last year, there have been many submissions, but only a few satisfactory scripts.

The cliche plot is a common problem in the scripts he received. "For example, the male protagonist Long Aotian pretends to be a pig, eats a tiger and slaps the villain in the face, or the daughter of a wealthy family returns with revenge after being persecuted by the villain. Nine out of ten short play scripts are like this. Audiences are tired of watching similar plots and these routines," Zhou Yang said.

"Tianxia Online Business" observed that news of receipt of scripts is announced in various short drama exchange groups every day, but among them, good scripts are still scarce, and a large number of scripts with homogeneous plots are still being produced continuously.

4. In the 100-billion-dollar blue ocean, where will the short drama go?

In the short-form writing industry, income seems to be a taboo issue, and most screenwriters who make money are secretive about it.

"We never disclose the income of a certain script to the public, let alone all of it." When "Tianxia Online Business" asked Liu Ling about the income of his screenwriting studio this year, he responded.

Although he did not disclose specific income, Liu Ling told "Tianxia Online Business" that his studio has currently scheduled orders until March next year. "We have stopped accepting orders this year and can't finish writing."

On the other side of the short drama's popularity, the disorderly and brutal growth has also brought some chaos.

In order to pursue clicks and payments, some short dramas use borderline and bloody scenes to attract audiences, resulting in a large number of low-quality and nutritionally deficient content in the Internet ecological content pool.

In response to the chaos, as early as late November 2022, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television launched a three-month special rectification of "mini programs" online micro-short dramas. At that time, there were more than 25,300 films that contained pornography, vulgarity, bloody violence, and aesthetic vulgarity. Micro-short dramas with other content were forced offline, and 2,420 "mini programs" containing illegal content were removed from the shelves.

In mid-November this year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television proposed seven measures for guidance and management of the micro-short drama industry, and once again launched a one-month campaign to rectify mini-program short dramas.

Under the new regulations, the industry is developing in an orderly and high-quality direction. In the view of many institutions, the short drama industry is still a blue ocean. According to a recent research report released by Soochow Securities, the market size of domestic mini-program micro-drama will reach 100 billion in the future. iiMedia Research also estimates that by 2027, the market size of domestic micro-short dramas is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan.

Short plays are a blue ocean. This is the default fact of almost all practitioners. But without eye-catching plots and pictures, when the audience is tired of watching routine plots, what should short plays use to attract the audience?

In major exchange groups for short play writers, people often initiate discussions about the future direction of short play. Most practitioners believe that short dramas will gradually move towards in-depth content, focusing on in-depth thinking and expression. But there are also many people who oppose this view.

Liu Ling said: "The essence of short dramas being popular is that they are more exciting and the plot does not require overthinking. The audience is not people who want to watch in-depth content." In his opinion, most of the current users of short dramas come here as fans. The key to retaining users lies in whether the plot is attractive. In the future, short dramas may not necessarily go in depth, but they will definitely be more prosperous than now.

*Note: All names in this article are pseudonyms.

[blobofcolour]

I would not have even heard of the micro drama 黑莲花上位手册 Go Queen Go if not for the few articles I came across of how it was taken off Chinese platforms for it's 'extreme revenge tactics'. Thankfully (?) you can still view the already aired parts on Youtube and of course I had to go check it out lol. It's very very low budget but I was pleasantly surprise by how pretty the FL was and I'll say her acting was better than some traffic stars hahaha. That said, I also started reading the novel 昭华乱 it was based on and it was obvious the drama cut a lot of characters and side plot lines cos they could not afford hiring more supporting characters. I eventually couldn't get past the cheap looking sets and cosplay-style acting from the Emperor and drop the drama halfway through ... but really that was only 1.5hours of my life, I've wasted more time on worse dramas.

On the other hand, the novel kept me engaged throughout tho' I'm generally not a fan of palace dramas. Maybe cos the FL doesn't have a love line? She's just on a mission to rise through the ranks for herself and does not get swayed by any feelings for the Emperor or trying to help her birth family (in fact she actively plots for their death). Initially it did read like a palace mission game where the main character beats down one obstacle after another and rest of the characters are pretty tropey like the scheming Empress who acts benevolent, or the arrogant concubine with a powerful family that the Emperor placates etc. But eventually it becomes clear that the real 'enemy' was never the women of the harem. No matter how high they rise, they were always playthings and chess pieces of the Emperor seeking to consolidate his power. FL doesn't have a love line, but I enjoyed her friend-line with Ning Wan Shuang (said arrogant concubine) in the later half of the novel... in fact, I would say she had the most moving arc in the story and I might like her a little more than our FL ;)

Concubine Chen (Ning Wan Shuang) in the drama

The only thing I have to pick about the novel is the ending which was such a fairytale that I was laughing and going really???

Song Zhao finally got rid of the Emperor and eventually ruled the country herself when her son expressed his dislike for the role, which fair enough, there were a few female rulers in ancient China. Then the novel went 10 years later ... and Song Zhao managed to overhaul the system/society to grant women equal rights from education, to participating in the imperial exams, to banning polygamy. Besides a few old and corrupt officials, the general public was totally accepting of this because the country was peaceful and rich!

Okayyyyyyyyyy. Looks around the world in 2023 re women's rights.

Oh, and on the 'extreme revenge tactics' point, yea, the novel does not shy away from many, many painful deaths.

Anyway, I finished the novel exactly on the last day of 2023 and it was a fun ride. :)

[dilirebas]

What dramas are you watching right now?

I haven't been particularly interested in any recent dramas so I'm mostly just waiting for other dramas to air. BUT, The Ingenious One finally starts airing today, so this is definitely the drama that I'll be watching next.

Here are some things that I've watched recently:

B for Busy - This is considered one of the best Chinese films of recent years. I just watched it for the first time and I did enjoy it. Most of the dialogue is in Shanghainese, so give this movie a try if you're curious about what the dialect sounds like.

Lust, Caution - A heartbreaking classic. I never get sick of watching Tang Wei and Tony Leung. (I guess you can also hear some Shanghainese in this film lol..)

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble - I've only seen the first episode and I'm still not 100% sure what this drama is going to be about (I've been avoiding spoilers LOL). It seems like an interesting and well-shot drama but I need to see more of it to decide how I feel.

Succession Season 4 - So far, I think this is a phenomenal season. I know people really liked episode 3 but I actually found episodes 4 and 5 more compelling. Haven't seen episode 6 yet. If you're on the fence about watching Succession, I strongly recommend giving it a try (starting from Season 1, of course). The hype is justified.

Cunk on Earth / Cunk on Britain - This series is so funny, you guys! I know so many people who loved it and I'm so glad I'm finally watching it too. I just finished Cunk on Earth and started Cunk on Britain, but you can start with either one. I think Cunk on Earth has a wider appeal but Cunk on Britain is even funnier if you know enough British history to catch some of the subtler jokes.

Women Talking - Honestly, this film didn't live up to my expectations. I think it takes a horrible situation and gives it an ending that's too fluffy and optimistic. If you look at the actual events that the film is based on, there's no happy ending.

Provoke - I don't usually watch micro dramas, but I really liked this one! Major kudos to the director and the cast.

[xiaosean]

the untamed

美男子 // pretty boy