SARFT Drama Plan Discards One in Six Productions
BEIJING --- Following the "2000 National TV Drama Subject Planning Meeting" held in May, mainland sources monitored by CMM-I have revealed that a total of 4,536 episodes of TV drama submissions (one in six) will not be entered into the final 2000 Plan or need apply for approval again.
According to unnamed leaders of the Chinese TV Art Committee, the 118 companies with long term approval for TV drama production and 178 companies with short term approval have submitted a total of 955 TV dramas with 16,073 episodes.
In order to strengthen the management of this production slate, SARFT has strictly conducted its approval process and discovered six major reasons for the failure of a total of 243 dramas to make the final Plan.
The problems were a failure to have a strong central idea, an inability to start production this year, involvement in disputes or sensitive matters, over reliance on historical subjects, failure to have the appropriate authority or certificates and co-productions with overseas or with great historical contents that required further investigation.
The failure to hold appropriate certificates for production of TV dramas was the main problem and resulted in a total of 108 dramas from 53 companies being rejected. Among the producers with submissions rejected are a number of major national and regional players.
They include the China TV Drama Production Center which saw six titles including "Emperor Qian" (Qian Long Huang Di) being rejected and CCTV which saw the failure of three TV dramas, including "Hou Hong Lou" and "Zeng Guo Fan". Meanwhile, the Film & TV Center of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles lost a total of nine series, including "Xiao Shi Yi Lang" and "Jian Wen Di".
Beijing Zhongbei TV Art Center also lost three titles, including "Mi Luan Hong Chen", while Beijing Audiovisual Co ("Kang Xi Da Di"), Beijing Forbidden City Film Co ("Su Ming Jie Ju") and Beijing Cable TV ("Xuan Yang") all had submissions rejected.
Although the results of the 2000 plan are sure to mean disappointment for these companies, many in the industry believe that the measures are working to stop various forms of malpractice. These include submitting proposals without a solid script and annual re-applications for TV drama ideas that have little chance of being made. SARFT's actions this year have also served to limit the number of "Royal Court" and martial arts productions. This relates to the recent announcements on restrictions on imports of such dramas from Hongkong and Taiwan (see CMM passim)
Given the need for some of the failing proposals to be re-submitted for further investigation, SARFT has not released a final official total for the number of episodes to be produced this year.
However, initial analysis of the submitted plays reveals clear trends in domestic production planning within the industry. 70% of the titles deal with real contemporary issues, while comedy and light comedy have increased markedly with 1,000 episodes planned. This is 22 series and 370 episodes more than last year.
Despite the fact there are 21 less long play TV dramas in the plan than last year, the average length of TV drama series has also increased as producers try to recoup the maximum return from their investment. This is also seen as a major reason for the failure of many series and the dire quality situation.
By stretching scripts and adding excessive transitional and slow motion sequences, some TV dramas that may be best presented as three to six part series are appearing as 15 to 20 part series with little chance of capturing audiences beyond the explosive first episode.