Streaming toward success

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Producer Han Bing, a winner of the best producer awards of the 2nd True Aspiration Awards, an annual event that recognizes young talent, in Beijing on Nov 13. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Cai started working in the online drama industry in 2015, the same year that Han quit her job at a traditional TV drama studio and landed a new job at Linghe Media, a startup specializing in series tailored toward online streaming platforms.

Cai says she still clearly remembers the first day that her boss gave her a ride to the set of Falling Down, a fantasy series about two young women who manipulate time to change events.

When she arrived at the studio on the outskirts of Beijing, she felt like a novice when she set eyes on a group of young actors huddled around the director as he peered into a monitor.

"I didn't even realize that I should mute my phone until my boss reminded me. It's the No 1 rule that you need to obey on a film set," recalls Cai.

But Cai was a quick learner, and she soon developed a system to break down projects into thousands of deliverables to ensure that every step of the process was finished to deadline.

She says the key to making a successful series is to watch as many excellent dramas as possible, and read popular review sites like Douban to find out what genres audiences want to see.

Producer Cai Jia, a winner of the best producer awards of the 2nd True Aspiration Awards, an annual event that recognizes young talent, in Beijing on Nov 13. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Her entry into the industry was marked by something of a coincidence, since 2015 was the year regarded as a turning point, and one that reshaped China's film and TV landscape as the nation's major internet companies began making forays into the traditional entertainment industries.

Han, who was born in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 1980, says she has also witnessed the huge change in China's TV and film industry.

"The production process has become quite different. In the past, I could spend two years producing a single TV series, but the internet backers now require us to work on several projects at the same time," says Han.

As online dramas rely on new viewers clicking on the very first episode, streaming site financiers often make new demands about adding advertising content.

"It can feel like the work never ends," says Han.

At the same time, offering increasing interaction with the viewers is a growing trend within the industry, as seen in the case of experimental online series Smile Time.

Produced by Cai, the romantic drama about a showbiz industry newcomer featured 17 different endings, offering viewers the chance to choose their own finale with the click of a mouse.

"It's an interesting job. When we start a new project, it feels like we're going on a honeymoon vacation," says Cai.

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