Streaming toward success

When producer Cai Jia was a young child, the little "secret" that pleased her most was to slip out of bed, sneak into the living room and turn on the TV set when her parents were sleeping.

Approaching midnight, The Journey to the West－perhaps the most repeatedly broadcast drama in the history of Chinese television－was the big draw for her.

Curious about how special-effects were created－like how the lead character of the Monkey King managed to steer his cloud through the skies－Cai had always harbored a dream of pursuing a career in television production.

Now, working as a deputy head of the Beijing-based studio Linghe Media, the 29-year-old from Jiangxi province has fulfilled her ambition by producing several popular online series, including The Death Notice franchise, The Mystic Nine, and Sand Sea.

Racking up around 16 billion views online, The Mystic Nine－a fantasy series adapted from a bestselling republic-era novel about a tight-knit clan of tomb raiders－was one of the most-watched Chinese dramas of 2016.

Alongside colleague Han Bing, Cai recently won best producer at the 2nd True Aspiration Awards, an annual ceremony recognizing young talent for their creativity and dedication.

Han's signature work is The Golden Eyes, a 56-episode series about a young man who possesses X-ray-like vision. His special power enables him to distinguish authentic antiquities from fake ones, and he soon finds success dealing in expensive jade－a risky business where fortunes can be made or lost overnight. The Golden Eyes has been sold to the US streaming giant Netflix, and also earned Han the best producer award for online content at the 24th Busan International Film Festival.

Jointly sponsored by the China Television Drama Production Industry Association and the Capital Radio and TV Program Producers Association, the awards were presented at the Beijing Conference Center on Friday.

Ranging from directors and scriptwriters to producers, the winners were shortlisted from around 2,000 aspiring industry newcomers behind nearly 100 TV dramas, online series and internet movies.

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.

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.