On Sunday, November 10th, 2024, the International Short Drama Festival was grandly held at the University of California, Irvine.
This event is jointly organized by the International Short Drama Association, UC Irvine, and CAMA (Chinese American Development Association). Bringing together outstanding leaders and innovators from the film and television industry, we have successfully built a rare communication platform for the creation and dissemination of short dramas.
Short dramas, as a relatively concise and dynamic form of storytelling, have quickly gained popularity among audiences worldwide in recent years. Especially in the United States, the attention to short dramas is increasing, and audiences are gradually realizing that short dramas are not just fragmented entertainment, but a condensed artistic expression.
Chen Yong, Vice Dean of the UCI School of Humanities, said in his speech, "Many outstanding talents in the film industry have moved to Southern California in recent years to start businesses and explore new fields of short drama. The rise of short drama in China has also demonstrated China's ability to innovate. For centuries, the film industry has become a universally important human experience, through which we record history, convey religious beliefs, establish and strengthen our identity, and share skills and entertainment. The methods of storytelling have multiplied in various forms and continue to empower storytellers
Mr. Wang Hui, co chairman of the International Association of Short Dramas and the International Association for Cultural Exchanges, vice chairman of the China Television Drama Production Industry Association, and chairman of Datang Splendor, delivered a speech on behalf of the Association of Short Dramas. He said, "I am a long drama producer in China, and Datang Splendor Media is my founding company. We have shot nearly 100 TV dramas in China, why can we turn the company into a listed company? It is only possible to achieve this scale of mass production. With the iterative upgrading of the industry, we used to read newspapers, broadcast, television, and the Internet, from long dramas to short dramas. It has been iterative step by step. We also have to keep up with the pace of the times, so we, including the Chinese TV drama industry, are now very concerned about studying short dramas."
Mr. You Xiaogang, founder, permanent honorary president, and famous director of the China Television Drama Production Industry Association, delivered a speech on behalf of the association. He said, "Short dramas are a new form that has emerged with the development of communication technology. Watching them in fragmented time on the move has become a trend in China. Originally, television stations were the mainstay, and later video websites were the mainstay. Now, audiences have greatly strengthened their ability to appreciate story structure and other aspects. In this situation, you can completely cancel the transition scenes we talked about in the past, such a sluggish rhythm. Audiences gradually realize that short dramas are not only fragmented entertainment, but also an artistic expression
One of the initiators of the International Short Drama Festival, Professor Catherine Liu from the UCI School of Film and Media, said in her keynote speech: "I will provide a historical background, which we can all acknowledge, that new platforms are challenging the way news, creativity, and entertainment are delivered. We see that old institutions, like the film industry and universities, are also being challenged by platforms. I have talked a lot with my artist colleagues, professors, and scholars, and I believe that short drama is not a completely new form. In our independent research with my UCI students, we conducted a large market analysis and found that the film industry is undergoing changes. For short dramas and platforms, people use their phones not only for news and entertainment, but also for the interactivity and sense of participation that young people are more accustomed to.
Archer Zhao, the head of Reel Short HMO, said, "Reel Short represents a new form of storytelling that is best suited for audiences to tell their content in response to the current new communication. This is a great opportunity, from scriptwriting to production to post production and online, as Reel Short is a company with a complete industry chain. We are fortunate to have gained recognition both within and outside the industry over the past two years, as well as recognition from major media outlets and global users. Currently, we have over 70 million users worldwide, and approximately 3 million users watch content on our platform every day. ”
Flex TV, Mr. Jia Songtao, CEO of Mega Matrix&Flex TV, said, "We have a very open attitude now. If you have good scripts, including some production companies, you are welcome to contact us directly. My observations of this industry are consistent. The first data is that the market size is expected to be 6 billion US dollars this year, 5 billion US dollars last year. What is the concept of 5 billion US dollars? It is already higher than the box office market of all domestic films in China combined. This curve is upward. From September to now, the average weekly recharge volume we see is 30 million US dollars. If we go at this level, it will reach 150 million US dollars for the whole year. Even higher, so this market is a real market that exists
Mr. Xie Guangcai, Senior Vice President of Chinese Online, said, "The current short drama market in China had a data of 570 million in the first half of the year, which is more than the number of food delivery brands in China. The order volume for food delivery is 550 million people, so this volume is very impressive. China has only 1.4 billion people, so we still have great potential overseas. Chinese Online is a content company, and we mainly have a large number of online novels. Our short dramas start from the internet, and their appeal comes from online novels. Later, online literature became video based, and short dramas began to develop from this
Mr. Liu Zhi, COO of Stary Group and co-founder/senior vice president of Dreame Short, said, "We mainly started with producing online literature. By 2020, we had become the world's largest paid online literature platform. Short dramas have opened up a good path for us, and the combination of domestic online literature and short dramas has shown us that as an online literature platform, we have greater advantages and potential. Since 2016, we have been producing globally localized online literature content. Through continuous development over the past eight years, we have collaborated with hundreds of thousands of localized original authors in more than 20 languages worldwide
At the forum, Dr. Li Yongyuan, Chief Lawyer of Yingke North America Law Firm, Dr. Cheng Qian, Legal Advisor of the International Short Drama Association and Short Drama Art Festival, Lawyer Hao Qi, Vice President and Law Professor of the International Department of the Los Angeles Bar Association, and Lo Wong, Doctor of Law from the University of South Canada, and other legal professionals also shared their views on copyright and legal issues related to filming in the United States. I hope to work together with everyone to promote the innovation and development of short dramas, and bring more inspiration and resonance to the audience through short dramas.
The theme speech forum came to a wonderful and successful conclusion, achieving great success and response. We look forward to seeing you again at the 2025 International Short Drama Festival!