Magnolia Forum on TV Drama Assesses Future Directions

Directors, screenwriters and producers gathered yesterday for the Magnolia Forum to discuss development of China\'s TV drama market and the creative challenges facing both ancient costume and modern dramas.

Addressing the forum topic "2013, A Booming Year of TV Dramas: Who\'s Leading the Way," they also discussed the reliance on old storylines, the commercial pressure of ratings and the cost of famous stars.

Yu Zheng, screenwriter and producer of many popular TV productions including Swordsman and Schemes of a Beauty, said Chinese TV drama relied too much on repeating content and stories from the past and needed to change with the times.

Yu said, however, it was difficult to find the right balance between artistic quality and commercial value with ratings affecting the TV drama market so greatly.

Film director and producer Stanley Tong has made TV dramas for the Hong Kong China, United States and Mainland China markets and said he didn\'t think much about the ratings while making his shows."I think and care about how to complete the task with my own abilities," Tong said.

Screenwriter Ning Caishen said that he was looking forward to a new digital era that would have more clear, direct and reasonable ways to analyze the huge amount of ratings data.

Tong also said that the best place for making ancient costume dramas was on the Mainland because of the potential of the Chinese market and the huge cultural and historical resources available.

"Producers should get more latitude and creativity is the most important aspect of dramas," Tong said.

Forum participants agreed that another major problem faced by Chinese TV drama producers and directors was the high cost of an all-star cast. Famous actors and actresses are far more expensive than younger ones, and they are also much busier, participants said.

Wu Dun, a producer for Huace Film & TV, said that many ancient costume dramas could attract a lot of viewers, but there were too many limitations."I think in the future, screenwriters and directors will have more space to make better TV dramas," Wu said.