Author: Wei Jie
On the evening of the 28th, the Magnolia Award at the 29th Shanghai TV Festival was announced, Xin Shuang defeated Wong Kar-wai for "The Long Season" and won the Best Director, Hu Ge won the Best Actor for the second time, and many works such as "Flowers", "South to North", "Imperfect Victim", "Under the Prosperous City" and many other works won the Magnolia Trophy.
When there is a heated discussion everywhere on social platforms, an effective information for the industry is that the construction of high-quality labels for Chinese dramas has been successful. And this also means that the hard power of domestic dramas to the international market has once again been confirmed.
On June 26, Entertainment Capital participated in the "International TV Works Promotion Conference" and "How Domestic Dramas "Break the Circle" Overseas held by the Shanghai TV Festival? In front of the booths of various content companies, the crowds were crowded and extremely lively.
This series of manifestations all indicate that the overseas of Chinese dramas is changing, or rather, evolving.
From the content point of view, costume dramas are no longer alone. Xie Ying, vice president of Youku, mentioned that "New Life", which combines realism, short dramas, and topic selection, topped the streaming platform Netflix daily list. "<觉醒年代><乡村爱情>These are not bad overseas." "Good Things Come in Pairs" produced by Xixi Pictures has also been broadcast on mainstream TV channels in Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries, and has been well received.
From the perspective of channels, "Celebrating More Than Years 2" was simultaneously launched on Disney+, realizing true and synchronous drama chasing at home and abroad, becoming a successful case of the new direction of industrialization in the industry, and also bringing a more valuable methodology to the industry.
From the perspective of publicity, letting artists go out has become a consensus to form a "long-tail effect". From the perspective of the model, "going to sea in a group" has become the most effective and benign model.
From the price point of view, taking into account the dynamic changes of the entire market, a clear increase is not the goal, but more importantly, to export the work to more regions.
In the eyes of content companies, going overseas seems to have always been a natural idea, and as a link in the production chain, although it is difficult, it is indeed a natural law.
Fu Wenjie, executive vice president of Xixi Films, said bluntly, "As a producer of Chinese content, we will not be limited to content exclusively for the Chinese market. We also watch overseas dramas, and overseas audiences will naturally watch domestic dramas, and what we need to do is to focus on the content itself. ”
More and more "hard currency"
In 2018, the "Survey Report on the Overseas Recognition of Chinese Discourse" released by CIPG showed that the highest ranking of English countries' awareness of Chinese is still Shaolin, martial arts, yin and yang, and kung fu.
This is inseparable from the output of excellent cultural works in the early years.
The complete works of Jin Yong have been translated and published in more than a dozen Chinese, "Desire" has set off a ratings boom in Vietnam, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is the first foreign language film in the history of American cinema to exceed $100 million at the box office, and the "Three Kingdoms" have been widely spread in Thailand and Japan, and even a number of cultural works derived from the same title have appeared.
Cognitive stereotypes have made costume dramas an undoubted hard currency in overseas markets, and it is difficult for Chinese dramas with other themes to gain attention in the first place.
In the past five years, costume dramas represented by "Celebrating More Than Years" and "Let's Try the World" have achieved very excellent results overseas.
"We want to affirm every work that goes abroad, because they leave the impression that they can be associated with China. For the development of our overseas business, only when we can be seen can the content company continue to explore and innovate on the advantageous track of ancient costume themes, and every step forward is valuable and meaningful. Fu Wenjie, executive vice president of Xixi Films, said.
The good news is that today's film and television works are satisfying overseas curiosity about China through more themes, opening up a gap in the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture.
Realistic themes bear the brunt.
In the past two years, "China Travel" has become a hot spot, accompanied by a series of amazing and wow, foreign tourists' China trip vlogs have become popular on video platforms, as if they have become navigators, leading overseas people to discover the new continent of "real China".
"Overseas users are becoming more and more curious about the current situation in China, and are willing to explore what China is like today, and realistic themes can take on this motivation." When it comes to realistic themes, Wang Qiao, vice president of Xinli under China Literature Group, gave the key word "high-quality".
"In recent years, the quality of domestic dramas has been significantly improved in many aspects such as scripts, shooting, and post-production, and this obvious standard upgrade has become the hard power of Chinese dramas in overseas markets."
The key word given by Fu Wenjie is, "emotional resonance".
In her opinion, urban themes can go further in the international market. In this theme, there are universal social emotions related to work and life, the display of 'her power', and topics such as intergenerational relationships, common growth, and mutual reconciliation in the family.
In the Rakuten VIKI comment area of "Good Things Come in Pairs", it is not uncommon for audiences in Europe and the United States to comment. "One comment that stood out to me was that she said that it was heartening to see amazing women succeed and reap the joy of seeing them in the end."
"We feel that the current audience likes to see stories of women growing up." Fu Wenjie analyzed this reason from the perspective of the general environment, now in most countries around the world, video websites and streaming media platforms still cover more viewership than traditional TV stations, and the main audience of streaming media platforms is young women, "so each platform will need content from a female perspective and female themes."
Of course, several people also mentioned the objective circulation dilemma of spy war themes in the market, as well as the reality that period dramas still need to work hard. "We need to think together about how to make more works with Chinese characteristics recognized in the global market." Fu Wenjie said.
It seems that everyone in the industry expects to gain a foothold in the market through Chinese characteristics. Xie Ying also revealed that "The Biography of Wang Yangming" is about to start, "He is an iconic figure representing the entire traditional Chinese culture, and we hope that this work can not only be made into a classic, but also hope that it can become a business card for Chinese culture to go overseas in the future." ”
From content to ecology
In the long-term project of going overseas, if content distribution is the first step, then building and integrating into the ecosystem is the second step that has to be taken.
In the past, the domestic market would always choose to remake foreign IPs, the most typical being the introduction of variety show IPs and models, such as "Run" in the tenth season. The landing of Japanese IP has been dominated by comics in recent years, including but not limited to "Chess Soul", "Monthly Girl Nozaki-kun" and "Caiyun Country Story". According to incomplete statistics, of the 24 remakes released in the past 4 years, 10 have been remade from Korean film and television works, but only 3 of the 11 remakes released in 23 years are from South Korea.
After 2020, domestic IP once entered a period of centralized output, and dramas such as "The Promotion of the Crown Princess", "The True Story of Hot Mom", "Shanshan is Coming", "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad" and other dramas have been remade overseas. Among them, the localization work will inevitably adjust the content according to the reading habits of local audiences, for example, "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad" has been reduced from the original 45 episodes to 22 episodes. Interestingly, the landing of domestic film and television IP in different places is not as difficult as imagined, Wang Qiao revealed that the Vietnamese version of "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad" only took a year and a half from the purchase of IP to the launch.
Vietnamese version of "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad"
In Wang Qiao's view, when IP has a strong appeal to customers, its possible language problems and understanding barriers cannot stop overseas customers from incubating IP locally. "For example, we have a customer in the Philippines, who made a Philippine version of an anime IP from Japan many years ago, and made a live-action comic adaptation, and also made IP derivatives such as figures."
Content IP with strong appeal can often shorten the "time and space interval" of going overseas in stereotypes.
At the "Focus on International: International TV Works Promotion Conference", Fu Wenjie announced that "Good Things Come in Pairs" has realized the output of remake copyrights, and the Mongolian version of "Good Things Come in Pairs" will be produced and broadcast in the future.
Fu Wenjie said, "This is actually a surprise. We learned from our partners that it was because of the popularity of "Good Things Come in Pairs" overseas, and he learned about the film through his friends, and their audience also liked this kind of family-oriented and female-oriented content. After watching the film, they hurried to get in touch with us. Although it was the first time we had a cooperation, the overall negotiation went very smoothly. There will be more exchanges in the future.
Another way to build an ecosystem is Sino-foreign co-production. One reality is that the current co-production is still concentrated in the field of film, and more of it stays at the physical level, it is difficult to really connect Chinese stories with overseas styles, and there are not a few works on the market that are not adaptable, the most typical example, "Golden Cicada 2: Hades" is as its name suggests, and it got a Douban score of 3.2 points.
For content companies, it is necessary to have a more long-term perspective, that is, on the basis of maintaining the Chinese color, and more importantly, through a work, the trust relationship established in the cooperation, which will bring more far-reaching impact and ecological integration.
Ten years ago, Xinli and Sony Pictures co-produced the movie "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain", and since then, Xinli has established long-term cooperation and communication with Sony Pictures.
Wang Qiao admitted, "We are very familiar with each other, the other party understands our work attitude and company tonality, and we have been exporting works with company style." It's no exaggeration to say that it's because of a decade of trust that we've <热辣滚烫>been able to work together again and have Sony Pictures distribute this film globally. ”
Of course, Wang Qiao also admitted that the ecological integration in the TV series is still looking for a breakthrough.
It's not hard to see why. The first is that the film cycle is shorter, the second is that there is also landing policy support in Southeast Asia, and the co-production of films has become mature, and the third is that although the co-production uses local actors and framing, it is still China's content production model to return to the essence.
Fu Wenjie also admitted, "There may be some practical difficulties in TV dramas, such as a team of hundreds of people, how do we maintain efficient operations abroad." We haven't thought about the co-production of TV dramas yet, but this is something we have been discussing and the direction we are looking for."
At the same time, let the artist go out
Whether in terms of content or publicity, in today's market, point-to-point and segmentation have become the consensus of content going overseas.
For example, the audience in Thailand and Indonesia is very young, and the audience in Japan and Singapore is more mature.
For these different audience profiles, content companies need to implement different promotional strategies. In a market with a majority of young audiences, youth and sweet pet works have become the main promotion targets, and in areas with relatively mature audiences, adult love and growth have become more preferred themes.
"A very real problem is that the European and American markets are indeed more difficult to break, and then subdivided, the European market is more difficult than the North American market. This is a two-way cognitive barrier based on realistic factors, and it may be difficult for us to understand European works by ourselves, but we certainly cannot give up our efforts. Fu Wenjie explained.
AI Mapping by Entertainment Capital
Therefore, in the choice of channels, Fu Wenjie feels that the most important thing is to adapt measures to local conditions. "To achieve a good overseas palmares, it takes a lot of time and effort. From a market perspective, the current overseas revenue is not so huge. When publishing, we need to consider the subject matter, the influence of the cast in each region, and the threshold of our expectations for each project, because it will be about the financial return on our overseas investment, and the actual social benefits that can be generated. ”
Wang Qiao described the overseas market as a collection of constituent markets. "We have a fundamental principle for those who do overseas markets, that is, we can't face such a large global market with unified content, and we must do some segmentation. Even if it is the same work, it should have different packaging in different places and emphasize different emphases. ”
For example, the posters and trailers displayed on Disney+'s promotional channels for "Celebrating More Than Years Season 2" have been adjusted for different regions, and the Disney+ team will screen and layout them according to the preferences of overseas users they capture.
In terms of channel selection, Xinli has also begun to try more models - combining transnational platforms and local platforms.
When "Celebrating More Than Years Season 2" was launched overseas, in Singapore, Vietnam and other places, in addition to being launched on Disney+, Xinli also distributed and cooperated with many local platforms. This means that audiences in these regions have multiple video platforms to choose from.
"Frankly, there are profit considerations." Wang Qiao is not shy about this, "But the reality is that in areas with a large number of young audiences, there are still middle-aged and elderly audiences, and we need to take into account the complexity of the local audience, and our choice is to be able to reach more audiences as soon as possible." Let everyone see it first, then listen to everyone's comments, and then improve our creations. ”
At the meeting, Zhong Weijiang, President of Focus Pictures INC, mentioned the importance of offline publicity for going overseas.
He admitted frankly that before the broadcast of Korean dramas and Korean films, Korean artists, brokerage companies, and platforms would take actors to hold fan meetings in Japan, participate in Japanese variety shows, and even star in some Japanese TV series, leaving a long-term impression on the Japanese market.
"The content of Chinese TV dramas is very good, and they are also very popular in Japan, but soon after they are released, they are forgotten as soon as the popularity passes. Because the market mechanism for our actors to go to the local area to participate in activities for publicity is not mature enough, if there is a breakthrough in this point in the future, I believe that it will also play a positive role in the real "going out" of Chinese TV dramas. ”
A positive example is "The Sea in My Dreams" produced by Xixi.
"Before the show aired in satellite theaters in Japan, we co-organized three screenings with the channel and asked the actors to record IDs. Tickets were sold out in 2 minutes, and an additional show was held in response to the enthusiasm of fans. We put the costumes and props used in Xiao Zhan's drama, including the hats and coats worn, including some small props next to the theater, and the audience went out to take pictures with the props after watching it, and the response was particularly good. Zhong Weijiang said.
Another example is that in February this year, Lin Gengxin, Lin Yi, and Wang Hedi participated in the promotion of "Walking with the Phoenix", "The Story of Roses" and "Dafeng Fighting Guards" in Singapore. "With the help of new media, we successfully invited three Chinese celebrities, Lin Gengxin, Lin Yi and Wang Hedi, to come to Singapore and do exclusive social media promotion, and the effect is very good." Li Xinxin, chief director of content sourcing and development at VIU, said.
As of today, "Walking with the Phoenix" has been broadcast in more than 180 countries around the world and translated into more than 16 languages. On June 13, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Literature, announcing that they would jointly explore a new model of "IP + cultural tourism" integration and promote the export of Chinese online literature and multi-format IP boutiques.
Wang Qiao is very sure of the way to let artists go out, but he also mentioned the difficulty of its operation.
In fact, it's not that celebrities are reluctant to go to the front line for publicity, but that going abroad often requires multiple opportunities to live as a whole, for example, when promoting dramas in Singapore, several artists also happened to participate in the Xinli Literature Global Chinese IP Festival. Going abroad for publicity may not be like running a roadshow in the mainland, which can be completed in a short period of time, but objectively requires more time and energy. Of course, the effect of artists on publicity is indeed obvious to all. ”
Going to sea in a group, simultaneous broadcasting, dynamic growth, the next chapter of film and television going to sea
Chinese dramas need long-term operation to go overseas. How to improve efficiency and coverage is a problem that people in the industry have been thinking about.
Wang Qiao mentioned the concept of "going to sea in a group".
"It's a fact." He told Entertainment Capital that in most of the overseas exchange projects, several companies such as Xinli, Xixi, and Ningmeng have set up joint booths to communicate and share.
"Resources don't need to be hidden, we need to work together to the outside world. After the success of one region <庆余年2>and Disney+, <庆余年2>it was followed by other regions. When overseas platforms have a clearer understanding of domestic works and companies, we also see that other domestic content companies have also contacted and negotiated with Disney+ with high-quality works. ”
Some of the joint booths of the Hong Kong International Film Festival
Under the benign group of content companies, whether it is the content label or the company's impression, it will be connected overseas. "I enjoy this atmosphere, everyone is happy to share information and customers, and will often communicate progress, and everyone hopes that more companies and platforms can do more exposure overseas, so as to increase the overall share and influence of content overseas, and realize the export of Chinese cultural products and the creation of international impressions."
The simultaneous broadcast of "Celebrating More Than Years 2" overseas has also become a hot topic of discussion among content companies.
There is no doubt that this will become the goal and direction of content going overseas, but we also need to see the efforts behind it. Wang Qiao revealed that dramas launched on Disney+ often need to be given the full episode and all materials a month in advance, and the other party can only be launched after review, "but it is very difficult for domestic dramas, and it is not a month from finalization to broadcast."
In addition, a series of issues such as supply, copyright, piracy, and translation need to be solved. "When Disney first bought the broadcast rights, it actually didn't make up its mind to play it simultaneously. When it was decided to play simultaneously, Disney provided translators, and we <庆余年2>started to lay out this aspect when we started the film. ”
Finally, we talked about the somewhat sensitive topic of "price".
According to public information, the overseas income of Chinese dramas has been growing in recent years. Taking Xinli Media as an example, the unit price of overseas authorization of TV dramas has increased from nearly 10,000 US dollars per episode to more than 100,000 US dollars per episode.
Wang Qiao revealed that such growth is actually the result of the "dynamic game", and they are more concerned about the proportion of Xinli's overseas repertoire in the customer's procurement budget than the unit price.
Now, he still believes that there is no clear goal in terms of prices, but rather a comprehensive consideration of the dynamics of the market as a whole.
"The yen's exchange rate has fallen sharply this year, and it is unlikely that the yen will rise significantly in price. For us, it was important to think about exporting our work to more regions. ”
For example, in 2023, the demand for digital entertainment in North Africa and the Middle East will grow significantly, and Omdia predicts that this segment will reach $1.2 billion in revenue in 2024.
"For the markets in these regions and countries, we must first cultivate the viewing habits of local audiences and discourage the idea of revenue."
Going overseas may seem like a phased work, but what is needed to go overseas is always long-term and a broad vision, which is the persistence in quantitative change and the qualitative change brought about.