- China’s largest film studio launches 100-short-drama initiative to boost industry confidence
- Move comes as ultra-low-cost AI productions gain traction online, further squeezing a bruised sector
Hengdian World Studios (横店影视城), China’s largest film production hub, is launching a 100-short-drama initiative as AI-generated content begins reshaping the country’s fast-growing streaming market and pressuring traditional actors and production crews.
The program, announced on April 28 in the eastern city of Dongyang, Zhejiang province, aims to produce a slate of short dramas spanning historical fantasy, family stories and patriotic themes, with the first two projects already entering production and actors signing on site.
The initiative was launched by Qingdao Hengyao Peninsula Culture Media Co., Ltd and targets completion and release of the first batch by September.
Organizers said the focus would be on higher-quality scripts, real-location filming and more cinematic production values rather than the low-cost formulaic approach dominating much of the short-drama market.
“No matter how technology evolves, the emotional warmth in live-action storytelling and the humanity reflected in actors’ eyes remain irreplaceable,” company executive Li Fan said at the launch ceremony.
The move comes as AI-generated short dramas are sweeping the entertainment industry in China. During this year’s Lunar New Year holiday season, AI-produced dramas accounted for nearly 30% of short-drama views, according to industry estimates cited by organizers.
Viral projects such as “Huo Qubing,” an eponymous series depicting a legendary Han Dynasty general battling the nomadic Huns, claimed production cycles of just 48 hours with crews of three people and budgets as low as 3,000 yuan ($440).
This new setup drove costs down to roughly one-tenth of traditional productions on a per-minute basis, Chinese media reported.
The rise of AI content has unsettled parts of China’s entertainment industry. In April, streaming platform iQIYI faced backlash after announcing that more than 100 actors had joined its “AI actor database,” prompting public denials from several performers who said they had never authorized the use of their likenesses.
The company later revised its statement, saying inclusion reflected only preliminary discussions.
Concerns over AI replacing creative labor have also intensified pressure on performers, with some actors reporting fewer job opportunities and declining pay.
Hengdian, however, is not rejecting AI outright. The studio launched its own film-production large model last year alongside an AI filmmaking operations center.
On the same day the new short-drama initiative was unveiled, an AI-generated content training program opened at a Zhejiang vocational school, leveraging the Hengdian AI model to train future AI film-production talent.
Often referred to as “China’s Hollywood” over the past two decades, Hengdian has become a major center for the country’s booming short-drama industry. The studio hosted 505 long-form productions and 4,016 short-drama crews last year, with the number of short-drama shoots nearly tripling from a year earlier.
