Yang Zheng, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television: When China TV dramas go global, we should adopt three strategies of consolidation, development and cooperation

A few days ago, Yang Zheng, deputy director of the Television Drama Department of the State Administration of China, gave a special report on promoting China's TV dramas to go global and improving the overall quality of TV dramas.

Yang Zheng, deputy director of the Television Drama Department of the State Administration of China, the former title: "Going global" is one of the key tasks. Tell the "Chinese story" well to the world. Recently

, Yang Zheng, deputy director of the Television Drama Department of the State Administration of China, promoted the global expansion of Chinese TV dramas and improved the overall TV series. A special report was made. The core of the report can be summarized as follows: "Three musts"-thinking on the necessity of TV dramas going global from three perspectives: national strategy, quality improvement, and industrial development: "Three strategies"-adopting three different strategies in the face of different regional markets. Going global strategies: "Three Outcomes"-three core tasks of the TV drama company, including promoting "going global".

"China's TV dramas are developing rapidly and play an important role in the export of film and television content. In 2016, China's total TV drama exports were RMB 510 million, accounting for 68% of the total TV program content exports." Yang Zheng, deputy director of the Television Drama Department of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, first introduced the basic data of China's TV drama exports.

Yang Zheng emphasized that the "going global" of China TV dramas is a proposition of the times that China TV dramas must answer well under the new situation. The necessity for TV dramas to go global can be summarized as "three musts": TV dramas "going global" are an inevitable requirement to help "Belt and Road" construction, enhance the country's soft power, and promote China culture to "go global"; it is the only way to improve the overall quality of TV dramas and establish international quality coordinates; it is an inevitable choice for the future development of the TV drama industry. "The rapid development of new media has brought new growth space to the TV drama industry. In the long run, after new media, the next growth point and excitement of the TV drama industry should be in overseas markets."

Based on the development level of TV dramas in different overseas regions and the local influence of China TV dramas, Yang Zheng believes that three strategies should be adopted for TV dramas to "go global."

The first is "consolidation". East Asia, Southeast Asia and other Confucian cultural circles have long been traditional sales areas for domestic TV dramas. From "Journey to the West" to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", from "Legend of Zhen Huan" to "Nirvana in Fire", they have all produced good social effects and sales results in the local area. The next step should be to consolidate existing achievements and enrich the export types of TV dramas in this region on the basis of costume dramas;

the second is to "explore". Along the Belt and Road Initiative and Latin American countries, China contemporary TV dramas such as "The Beautiful Times of Daughter-in-Law","Tiger Mom and Cat Dad","Parents 'Love" and "Revelation of Life" have been broadcast in these areas and have won good reputation and achieved initial results. Compared with these regions, domestic TV dramas have certain advantages in the creative level and production level. At the same time, they also face competition from European, American, Japanese and Korean TV dramas. Efforts to expand the market should be further increased;

the third is "cooperation". Strive for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation with developed countries in Europe and the United States. At present, international cooperation in projects such as "Drifting", which tells the story of Chinese workers in the United States,"The Art of War", which tells the excellent traditional culture of China,"Tricolor Bracelet" based on the Turandot story, and "Sunset in the River" based on the true story of World War II, are all in progress, and international cooperation and co-production of TV series have begun. "Facing the high-end markets of Europe and the United States, borrowing ships to sea through cooperation is a practical and effective way. We should encourage, support and guide them."

Yang Zheng believes that it is timely to actively carry out international co-production of TV dramas. First of all, through the efforts of the majority of TV drama workers in recent years, the creative level and production level of China TV dramas have steadily improved. Although there are still some gaps with developed countries in terms of production level, market mechanism, international distribution, etc., we have formed a unique creative style and characteristics, the scale of investment continues to expand, the market mechanism continues to improve, and the quality reputation overseas is getting better and better. It should be said that China TV dramas occupy an important place in the field of international TV dramas. Secondly, as China's influence overseas expands, China stories and China culture have received more attention overseas. Third, the long history, profound cultural heritage, and the current rich and colorful real life in China can provide a steady stream of content resources and creative inspiration for international cooperation in TV dramas. All this provides us with confidence and confidence. Yang Zheng hopes that domestic enterprises will adhere to the basic principles of co-creation, co-investment, co-production, and co-broadcasting in international cooperation and co-production, adhere to the principle of putting ourselves first and not doing simple processing with incoming materials. They must learn with an open mind and not be arrogant. We must also be equal and mutually beneficial, and never underestimate ourselves.

Yang Zheng introduced that the pace of "going global" in China's TV dramas has not stopped, and many powerful and far-sighted companies have already deployed overseas. As the importance of TV dramas going global has become increasingly prominent, the International Cooperation Department and the Television Drama Department of the State Administration have placed promoting domestic TV dramas overseas on their important agenda.

From the perspective of the TV drama department, promoting "going global" has become one of the three core tasks of the TV drama department. These three core tasks can be summarized as "three outputs": first, there are no problems to ensure that there are no problems in the creative direction and work orientation; second, there are more high-quality products to create a good environment for the creation of excellent works and create peak works; third, Promote "going global" and promote the development of China TV dramas overseas and enter the international market.

Yang Zheng said: "The TV Drama Department is working with the Department of International Cooperation to formulate a 'going global' plan for TV dramas in the next five years, encourage and support TV drama production companies to participate in international film and television festivals such as the North American Television Festival, Cannes International Television Festival, African Television Festival, and Dubai Television Festival, and continue to consolidate the role of the China-US Film Festival in promoting Sino-US TV drama cooperation, strengthen the training and exchanges of creators, producers, and distributors, and provide support for key international cooperation projects. And actively select and send outstanding works to participate in international TV drama awards."

Editor: Nancy