Taiwan Today

Higher production values and local themes are driving the resurgence of Taiwan’s film and television sector.

On Sept. 19, 2017, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) welcomed to the Office of the President in Taipei City two young actresses who rose to fame by striking terror into the hearts of the nation’s cinemagoers. The pair, clad in the bright red dresses of their on-screen characters, played ghoulish roles in locally produced horror film “The Tag-Along 2.” The 2017 release, whose Chinese title translates literally as “Little Girls in Red 2,” earned almost NT$105 million (US$3.5 million) at the local box office, surpassing the NT$90 million (US$3 million) raked in by the original two years previously.

Phil Tang (湯昇榮), general manager of Greener Grass Production Co., the studio behind the movies, said that rights to the sequel were sold in 19 countries and territories including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the U.S. The Taipei-based company followed the success of “The Tag-Along 2” with the September release of the second season of acclaimed medical drama series “Wake Up.” Tsai expressed her admiration for the television show and praised Greener Grass’s efforts to promote the hit horror movie overseas. “In recent years, the film and TV industry has made great strides in raising production values and exploring new genres,” she said. “With support from the government and local audiences, I am confident that Taiwan’s filmmaking sector can create a growing number of high-quality, internationally competitive works.”

Flourishing Market

About 500 films are released in Taiwan’s booming cinema market every year, with first-run movies garnering nearly NT$1.9 billion (US$63.3 million) at Taipei theaters alone during the first half of 2016, according to the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development (BAMID) under the Ministry of Culture (MOC). While imported works, and in particular Hollywood productions, account for the majority of revenues, homegrown films have carved out a larger share over the past decade.

Domestically produced movies earned between 11 and 18 percent of the overall box office haul from 2011 to 2015, in contrast to an average of about 2 percent between the late 1990s and mid-2000s, BAMID figures show. While the share fell into single digits in 2016, last year’s proportion is expected to exceed 15 percent.

A key factor in the rise of homegrown films has been a focus on local cultural topics, with “The Tag-Along 2” a case in point. The movie is based on a well-known urban legend about a ghostly girl in a red dress who leads people to remote mountainous areas.

Tsai addressed the growing interest in local stories during a Lunar New Year celebration for television executives organized by the MOC in February 2017. In addition to the economic impact of the film and TV sector, “its significance lies in an ability to capture and convey through drama and entertainment products Taiwan culture, lifestyles and values,” she said. The president also reiterated the government’s commitment to supporting industry development through facilitating greater access to human and financial resources.

MOC Minister Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) similarly stressed at the event that the government is striving to bolster the quality and quantity of domestically produced works as well as raise the profiles of homegrown products in foreign markets. “We want to help local studios meet rising demand for unique cultural content at home and abroad through encouraging the development of standout Taiwan stories for the big and small screens,” she said.

Government Support

For Cheng, “The Great Buddha+” is an outstanding recent example of the creativity and untapped international potential of Taiwan productions. The 2017 dark comedy, which follows a night security guard and recyclables collector as they navigate a voyeuristic netherworld, earned invitations to major film festivals in cities including Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver and Busan, South Korea. Cheng praised the black-and-white movie on her Facebook page for its visual aesthetic, storytelling style and use of Holo, the language of Taiwan’s largest ethnic group.

The innovative work was made possible by various forms of government assistance. It was co-produced by Mandarin Vision Co., a Taipei-headquartered production firm set up in 2012 with the help of funding from an MOC-administered public-private sector investment framework for film and TV projects. Under the platform, the ministry approves joint investments proposed by local venture capital firms, with the government’s contributions coming from the National Development Fund.

Production of “The Great Buddha+” was also supported financially by the MOC. The film received a grant of NT$12 million (US$400,000) from the ministry’s Fund for Domestically Produced Motion Pictures. The MOC subsidies, which can total up to NT$30 million (US$1 million) per movie, were an important source of investment for many of last year’s hit Taiwan-made films, including political satire “The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful,” romantic drama “52 Hz I Love You” and horror-comedy “Mon Mon Mon Monsters.”

Yeh Ju-feng (葉如芬), Mandarin Vision’s chief operations officer, said the grants often serve as a crucial starting point from which to attract additional investment. “This form of government support not only provides initial capital, but serves as an endorsement that helps assure potential investors about the quality of the filmmaking project.”

“The Great Buddha+” also received administrative help from a filmmaking support unit operated by municipal authorities in central Taiwan’s Taichung City, where the majority of shooting took place. The unit reflects growing efforts among local governments nationwide to shape friendly environments for film and TV production through fostering coordination between public agencies such as police and transportation departments.

Local government promotional programs likewise helped cultivate the career of “The Great Buddha+” writer and director Huang Hsin-yao (黃信堯). The 104-minute feature is an expanded version of a short film he released in 2014. That year, Huang received financial assistance from authorities in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City to showcase “The Great Buddha” at the annual Kaohsiung Film Festival, which focuses on highlighting local and international short films. The full-length movie was also screened at the 2017 Taipei Film Festival co-organized by Taipei City Government, where it was named the grand prizewinner.

Owing to awards buzz and word of mouth, the art house film has outperformed expectations at the box office, with ticket sales exceeding NT$15 million (US$500,000) in Taipei alone. According to Yeh, the indie hit, along with horror movie “The Tag-Along 2,” spotlights the growing popularity of local works that offer audiences “connections to what they encounter or feel in their everyday lives.”

New Approaches

For TV studios, success lies in embracing not just local stories, but also new production and distribution methods. The second season of hit medical drama “Wake Up,” spanning 13 one-hour episodes, aired on more than 10 channels and internet platforms including government-supported broadcaster Public Television Service (PTS), a co-producer and chief sponsor of the series. Tang of Greener Grass said that unlike traditional Taiwan shows, which can run for scores or even hundreds of episodes, the drama is more typical of those made in Japan and Western countries owing to its shorter length and higher production values. “This approach is targeted at younger audiences, who prefer not to spend hours lounging in front of the TV.”

According to Tang, the new business model is necessitated by the rise of online streaming services. By offering access to vast libraries of content on demand, these platforms are making audiences more discerning about the intensity, logic and pacing of shows, he said. The response to this shift in viewing patterns is evident across Taiwan’s TV production sector.

In 2017, PTS commissioned a new historical drama with a record budget of NT$15 million (US$500,000) for each of its 15 episodes. The project is based on the 2016 novel “Lady the Butterfly” by Chen Yao-chang (陳耀昌) about an 1867 clash between Taiwan indigenous peoples and U.S. forces. “This shows that the local TV sector is operating to international standards,” Tang said.

The MOC is also stepping up funding for local TV productions. “Running Man,” a 2017 romantic drama series by Greener Grass spanning 20 half-hour installments, received NT$12 million (US$400,000) from the MOC’s Fund for Production of Audiovisual Programs for Broadband Mobile Communications Devices. Offering subsidies of up to NT$15 million (US$500,000) per season of a show, this small screen grant initiative is one of two operated by the ministry alongside the Fund for Production of Prime-time Television Drama Series, which provides up to NT$3 million (US$100,000) per episode.

Taiwan Stories

Literary adaptations are becoming an increasingly common fixture of Taiwan’s TV sector amid rising demand for local stories. Prominent recent examples of this trend include “A Boy Named Flora A,” a popular series released last year based on a collection of short novels published in 2010 about family relationships in rural Taiwan.

The trend toward adapting local publications marks a crucial step in the development of Taiwan’s audiovisual production environment, said Chiang Wen-yu (江文瑜), a professor of language, media and culture at National Taiwan University in Taipei. “The high demand for comic books and works of fiction by local authors demonstrates increasing integration in the entertainment industry.”

According to Chiang, efforts to promote local stories and cinematic creativity are gathering momentum, as evidenced by critical successes like “The Great Buddha+.” At the 2017 Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Oscars, the film garnered the honors for best adapted screenplay, cinematography and new director as well as original film score and song, while “The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful” won for best movie and leading and supporting actress. The films continued Taiwan’s recent stellar performances at the awards, the top prizes in Chinese-language cinema.

While picking up his prize for best adapted screenplay at the Nov. 25 ceremony, “The Great Buddha+” director Huang praised the resurgence in local storytelling. “I’m grateful to my homeland for giving me this wonderful story,” he said. “I believe there are a lot more tales about Taiwan waiting to be turned into beautiful films.”

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw