Li Shaohong: Magnolia Awards Breeds High-Quality TV Dramas

Daily News: What are your feelings about being Chair for the first time of the Magnolia Awards Jury, one of the most prestigious awards in Chinese TV? And what will be your approach to the job?

Li Shaohong: I feel that I am carrying a significant responsibility in this role. If I were one of the contestants, I would expect the judges to be fair and make the best decisions. The overall quality of a production and the impact it has on an audience should be the only criteria, rather than personal preference. What matters, as a chair, is not the authority, but the ability to take every judge\'s opinion into consideration. The judging process should never be about someone\'s personal decision. The chair should be able to weigh up the opinions of the majority, even reverting to a ballot if there are different opinions.

Daily News: Shanghai TV Festival is 18 years old. What are your thoughts about the event and do you have any advice? What influence do you think the annual Magnolia Awards have on Chinese TV?

Li Shaohong: Shanghai International Film and TV Festivals have seen many years and become prestigious brands which have gained in maturity as their influence has grown. The Magnolia Awards have been a guide in a fiercely competitive TV market in which 20,000 to 30,000 episodes have been produced but less than 10,000 of them can be shown. This competitiveness propels us to produce masterpieces to win the opportunity to be broadcast. Awards are one of the incentives to produce high-quality works and prevent crappy ones, leading the TV industry down a path towards perfection in terms of rich content and high artistry. Only in this way can there be competition that will ultimately benefit our audiences.

Daily News: There are 10 Best Drama nominations this year, including Naked Wedding, Two Cities One Family, All Men Are Brothers, Oath for  Life, I\'m a Special Force, The Pursuit of Happiness, Cliff, and A Land in China. What do you think of them?

Li Shaohong: They cover different themes, such as modern, ancient and spy dramas, and represent the standard of overall drama production and audience appeal in both the northern and southern parts of China. But few of them are targeting youth.

Daily News: We know that The Sprouting Blossom is your first youth "Idol drama" production, and it\'s considered the most difficult type to shoot in China. What do you think we should do to localize the genre considering the great impact of these types of dramas from Japan and Korea?

Li Shaohong: "Idol drama" is a loan phrase from Japan and Korea where it refers to utopian, romantic love stories of youth. Our "Idol drama" genre is more aimed at inspiring youth and since there are inadequate dramas for youth, I think we need to advocate for more "Idol drama" on TV. I directed The Sprouting Blossom with young people as its target audience with the cooperation of Hunan TV. The age has nothing to do with the production of "Idol dramas," but the market does.

Daily News: There have been too many dramas recently that feature family affairs between mothers and their daughters-in-law, or even sons-in-law, with similar plots. For example, a couple steals their household registration certificates from home to get married despite the disapproval of their parents. Others quickly get married and divorced, or even abort children, etc. Your Spicy Mother and Daughter-in-law  is also one of them. What do you think about the trend toward similar drama themes and the resulting creativity bottleneck?

Li Shaohong: That theme is actually indispensable in China, because the story probably just happens to you and me. What is inappropriate is that when one theme catches on, the flock jumps onto it. But I believe that the market and TV stations will determine the style of content.