An audience of 1.28 billion, 2,416 TV stations, a massive TV market worth 13 billion U.S. dollars, and 15,000 TV episodes produced. These are the latest numbers on China's still-booming television market.
The figures were shared at the Chinese American Film Festival TV Co-Production Summit Tuesday in Los Angeles by Yang Zheng, deputy director of TV Drama Department, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China.
Facing a huge potential market, what genre of programming to produce is something routinely on the minds of Chinese and American TV execs.
"When people talk about Chinese films or dramas, they always think about kongfu or action works," said Jin Liang, general manager of Shandong Film and Media Group. "But I think we can do more than that. We should open our mind and not stick to the old ways."
"I think romantic comedy is a much better idea, and I know now in China romantic comedies are well received," said Bobby Roth, one of the directors of hit TV series "Prison Break" and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
How to tell a good story for both Chinese and American audiences is another crucial topic discussed during the summit.
"It is really all about the stories in your hands and whether they will work in the context of co-production," said Arthur M. Sarkissian, producer of the "Rush Hour" film series. "I saw scripts in past years and everybody is trying to force on me a Chinese element or an American element. But when you see that on screen, it is so not in place. That's not story telling for me."
Sarkissian emphasized that organic relationship between the characters is key regardless of genre.
Different modes of script writing, TV producing, broadcasting and other related fields also pose some challenges in Chinese and American TV collaboration.
"American dramas mainly air on paid cable channels weekly and seasonally, while Chinese ones air on public channels daily," said Yang when talking about the differences at the summit. "We have to compromise and cooperate a lot."
In order to better tap the full potential of both the Chinese and American markets, Roth noted that to "learn from each other" was the key to success. Yang also suggested that "American TV series makers watch some Chinese TV to have a better idea about our productions."
"The American TV industry is certainly a leader in TV drama creation, producing technology and market exploration," Jin said, "At the same time, China has a huge potential TV market." He believed that "it offers great chances for both Chinese and American TV makers to tell a good story in a balanced way."
Both the Chinese and American TV makers at the summit were optimistic about future collaboration. "The path forward will be wrought with difficulty," said Yang, "but we are confident."
