Exciting New Screen Projects

More than 300 companies from over 30 countries and regions are attending the three-day International Film and TV Market which opened yesterday at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

Many of the participants are major TV production companies such as China Central Television, Shanghai Media Group, Warner Bros. Television and Disney Channel. Some others are professional buyers.

A highlight of opening day was SMG Pictures releasing its new broadcast and production plans for reality TV dramas.

Among the 10 or so reality-based productions to air or start shooting soon are Rise and Fall, which provides insight into the business battlefield, family comedy series The Happy Announcement of Daughter-in-law, and the second installment of A Story of Lala\'s Promotion.

Wang Liping, a top local scriptwriter in her 40s whose light-hearted family drama A Beautiful Daughter-in-law Era won Best Foreign TV Series at the 2010 Tokyo TV Festival, also received an offer from SMG Pictures to be the company\'s Art Director.
Wang\'s new projects will continue to focus on the modern mother/daughter-in-law relationship, as well as bittersweet stories about different generations of an ordinary Shanghai family.

Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), a free-to-air commercial TV station in Hong Kong, also held a press conference promoting its latest period drama Beauty At War II. The drama - starring Sheren Tang, Ada Choi, Christine Ng and Moses Chan - is about how Kunqu Opera artists strived to survive in the Qing Dynasty Palace.

The producers said it took around eight years to make this sequel to the hit series Beauty At War. The new series will continue to display the intrigue and juicy details of imperial life, as well as the in-fighting between the queen and dozens of concubines. The drama will be slated for release later this year.

Look Vision released its new production plans for two spy thrillers, Red Channel and Deal with the Devil, as well as two family dramas, Defend the Grandson and Prenuptial Agreement.

Cast members of film and TV shows were also invited to the transparent studio booths set up by new media companies including Youku, Tudou, Sina and Letv for interviews and interaction with audiences.