The plummet of Taiwanese dramas

[kookful]

TV Drama Industry in Taiwan.

Jenny Wu

I am a serious couch potato, kinda born that way...

I grew up watching Taiwanese TV dramas every single week, and I was so attracted to our Taiwanese idols, especially an actor called Ethan Juan(阮經天). I could still remember at that time, I even set a countdown for the next episode of his drama Fated to love you(命中注定我愛你). But when I turned into high school, my watching habit has changed. I started to watch American series, British dramas and also Korean idol dramas. The first American series I watched is The Big Bang Theory. At that time, leisure style of storytelling is so fresh new to me compared to the Taiwanese always-romance dramas.

Since then, my video pocket list becomes Modern Family, Sherlock (BBC), Game of Throne, etc. As a teenage girl, I still need to “re-hydrate†some romance material once in a while. But the choice will be Korean drama rather than Taiwanese.

Until last year (2017), a voice just suddenly hit into my head. Where have Taiwanese dramas been? Even though we still can see few Taiwanese high-quality short films or movies came out last year. But it just can’t compare to the period at the 2000s, the blossom of Taiwanese drama industry.

The first Taiwanese TV show on television could be traced back to 1962, it’s a unit plays released by the TV station called TTV(å°è¦–). In 1969, the other TV station called GTV(中視) has developed series drama which made every single episode connected. When this kind of drama hit the market, it soon raised a sensation. Then in 1971, the third TV station called CTS(è¯è¦–) has come into the market as well.

These three TV stations still well-known to people in Taiwan nowaday.

When Cable Broadcasting and Television Act(有線電視法) issued in 1993. Cable TV stations were legal to be broadcast on television. Audiences then got a lot of channels to choose, no need to be just only TTV, GTV or CTS. This law made the market more competitive. If they want to survive in that brutal environment, they have to produce more, with more creativeness.

During that period, we had made lots of successful soap operas, idol dramas and else for teenagers, adults, and elders.

These days, we all know that Taiwanese drama industry is walking down slope. People are more willing to spend their time on watching foreign series or shows. But according to the broadcast popularity on TV, top three are all Taiwanese soap operas. Why is that? As you can see the chart below, the rate of people watches TV shows on television is only 19.99% while 41.35% watch it on the internet (mobile phone or laptop). For instance, we use a cell phone when we are commuting, and use a computer at midnight break after an exhausting workday.

 

Data from影視廣播產業趨勢研究調查報告-電視產業(2016/10/31)出版

Then I go browse around the video sites. All I can see on the main page are either American series, British dramas or Korean dramas, Chinese series. Taiwanese dramas just a few, or you even need to go search keywords to look for one.

The market of the TV drama has changed dramatically, due to the reasons of the technology innovation and the information explosion.

In the early days, the internet was not that widespread. What we saw and what we listened are chose by the TV stations beforehand. Foreign shows need to get a permit to broadcast in our country. So the TV stations could choose what they think is reasonable to broadcast. This somehow gave our local TV stations a sense of monopoly. Without any comparison, we audiences thought our local dramas were great, and they, the TV stations itself, thought they were great as well.

But when the wireless internet becomes more common in the society. We are now able to put all dramas at the same height and tell exactly what the much better one is.

To my shallow knowledge (again), I figure out three main stuck points for the dramas industry in Taiwan.

1. Low budget for the productions.

According to The Editing Association of R.O.C. (中è¯æ°‘國剪輯å”會). The average budget per episode for Taiwanese drama is 2 million NT dollars while the Korean average budget is 17 million NT dollars. It’s almost 9 times higher than ours! (FYI, Chinese drama budget is 7 million NT dollars per episode, 3 times higher then ours.)

It is easy to imagine that without money, films crew can barely do nothing. Hiring actors and actress is money, renting equipment and places is money, building scenes are money. And of course, time is money, too. If the crew needs to make good use of that tiny little budget, means that the scriptwriter can’t get enough time to brainstorm the good plots, and all the workers included have to compress a lot of time and delete a lot of details that could make the quality much more better than what we see now.

The worst thing is, even we are already the “less budget competition†№1! We are still challenging our limit. Instead of bringing more attention to reschedule the money and try to increase it. Actually, TV stations continue doing cost down by extending the show’s length at the same budget.

2. Low amount of the outputs.

Due to the reason of the low budget. Film crews are less willing to produce more. In this situation, TV stations decided to buy the foreign dramas, so that they can still get the ratings. For them, if they can still profit by buying shows to cast, why the hell they want to spend their money taking that risk of creating their own?

If our country still overlooks this phenomenon. In the short-run, people inside this industry fear to make any thought into action or they may end up be hand tight. In the long-run, talented moved abroad and the others just quit and change to another field. And drama industry may no longer exist.

3. Talented people prefer work overseas.

As we mentioned. Talented people lost the stage to present and show their hard work in Taiwan. They went seek another opportunity overseas. Some may fly to the US, some may fly to China. Especially China!

Since Taiwan share the same language Mandarin with China. It makes it easier for Taiwanese to fit in and work there. At the 2000s, it was still a period when Asian drama industry still looked up to Taiwanese. The Chinese government tried to recruit our well-known and talented people to work for them with the seriously high salary. For China, they were not only gained a talented person to work for them, but also a good educator to support and raise their own drama industry.

Taiwanese government had underestimated this impact at that time. In the early 2000s, China’s economy didn’t seem to be a topic. As time goes on, the economy of China rise, and it has become more influential towards global. Even the U.S. sees them as a pain in the… Yap! When our government started to sniff something wrong, our talented people were already working overseas for a good, promising future and left a huge hole in Taiwanese drama industry.

So what puts our drama industry into a dead end? Roughly say, around 2010, high-tech has invaded in our daily life. When facetime with your beloved and travel with pictures on Google map become an everyday routine. How is that difficult to grab other countries movie or drama on your mobile phone?

While people find out “Wow, American series have more different types to choose.†“Chinese costume drama is much more on point!†or “Korean actor and actress are good-looking and well-trained compare to us.†Taiwan still produces low-quality idol dramas and soap operas.

If the TV stations remain to buy foreign dramas to play on TV rather than take the risk to build their own good stuff. Taiwanese drama industry will never be back on road again.

Next post I will going to discuss the differences in domestic drama and other three successful drama industry models. (American and British dramas, Chinese dramas and Korean dramas.) And how should Taiwanese government help?

 

https://medium.com/@ss97062400/tv-drama-industry-in-taiwan-3dda8b41a90e

 

[hess]

Great points. Bottom line, all the money is in China now. All the Taiwanese celebrities need to go to China now to promote. Not just actors, also singers, hosts, etc, seems they all work a lot in China now.

[HoneyJN]

Hmm yeah I haven't heard of any popular T-dramas in long time but then it's like what the above user wrote, most Taiwanese celebs are working on Chinese projects nowadays. 

[Fracherin]

Damn i feel nostalgic thinking about those old T-dramas i used to watch as a teenager.

[Lightning]

All those points are valid to varying degrees but I still think they can invest in and make quality dramas that attract audiences and win awards. They will not have the same impact or large audiences as before (apart from a few breakout shows) but they can still be successful.

 

In some ways it's similar to British shows /movies competing with American ones. British ones can't match the output or salaries but the best British productions make up for it in a lot of ways by having less episodes along with with excellent writing and good casting.

 

It's not a lost cause, there just needs to be more of a concerted effort to change direction and improve the situation.

[#goddamnitkongwee]

Too many broadcast channels, just like their university. 

[dillah]

Inability to innovate - same cliche plots, same story lines, and directors who want grown women to act like children and speak with baby voices.

 

And of course the low budget - supposed rich CEO, wearing the same 2 outfits for most of the drama.

 

How come there are no historical T-dramas...

[Lightning]

Inability to innovate - same cliche plots, same story lines, and directors who want grown women to act like children and speak with baby voices.

 

And of course the low budget - supposed rich CEO, wearing the same 2 outfits for most of the drama.

 

How come there are no historical T-dramas...

A lot of Chinese dramas have the same clichés and similar storylines with older actresses playing younger roles, but they are still successful. I think the problems lie deeper than that.