Looking to fill thousands of hours of broadcasting time, China's television channels are an almost bottomless market for new, high quality dramas.

Foreign producers, particularly from neighbouring countries, have found a market eager to embrace their programmes at this week's Shanghai International Film Festival.

Dozens of companies, both local and foreign, were present yesterday at a television and film market held as part of the festival at the city's new exhibition centre in Pudong.

The market, which ends today, sets up production companies in a venue where they can sell their products directly to Chinese television channels and distributors. Dramas suitable for prime time were particularly hot commodities.

"If the product is good, they will buy it," said Haewon Chin, Senior Marketing Manager of the International Business Division at MBC Production, a South Korean production company with dozens of titles.

MBC has been attending the film festival for a number of years, helping satisfy the demand for South Korean drama series.

"China has grown, but it is stable now," said Chin. "We sell a lot of drama titles to China."

"The faces are similar, the stories are similar, there is more congeniality between China and South Korea."

A very popular South Korean series, What on Earth is Love, was sold to a Hunan television channel. The show is already well-known in Hong Kong, said Chin.

With a growing number of television channels and the need to fill the hours with programming, the need for new shows is rising.

Last year China produced about 12,000 new episodes, of which 5,000 went to fill prime time slots across the country, according to published reports.

Despite the growing demand, the production quality of Chinese-made products is still lacking, feeding the growth of co-operative efforts.

Singapore producers, for example, worked with Chinese channels in their first joint production last year, said Shaw Soo Wei, of the Media Development Authority.

"Drama series is really what they want," said Shaw. "Infotainment too. They like entertainment shows."

Singapore producers are also working closely with Chinese to produce more documentaries.

As the number of joint productions increases, the Chinese film and television industry may be able to remove a stumbling block that is keeping it lagging behind.

Production quality on the mainland is years behind that of neighbouring countries like Singapore, South Korea or Japan.

"At local production companies, the quality and everything is not mature enough," said Tim Kondo, manager of Animation International, a Japanese company that focuses on animated series, adding that it could take up to 10 years for the industry to catch up.

Animated products are popular both in Japan and China. Kondo said his company, like others, is looking to set up more co-productions to enter the Chinese market.

"The China market is opening," said Mandy Yip, assistant marketing manager at TVBI, the distributing arm of Hong Kong's largest producer.

"The China market is like the market in the US. It has different provinces, different needs and different tastes."

The Shanghai International Film Festival runs until June 19. It includes an international film competition, a new talent competition, screenings of dozens of films and a forum.

(China Daily June 14, 2005)