China's TV Series Fair Seeks Cooperation Between Producers

Chinese TV series producers and broadcasters gathered at the country's first TV series promotion fair in Beijing for close cooperation as the quality of home-made plays declines amid sharp increase in production.

TV series totaling at least 13,840 episodes were produced in China last year. However, "only 3,000 episodes or so were shown at prime time of TV stations a year, and the demand of Chinese TV stations is no more than 7,000," said You Xiaogang, a famous TV series director in China.

That means more than 6,000 episodes remain unshown, said You, head of the Capital TV Program-Making Association (CTPMA), which co-sponsored the fair with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television.

The overseas sales of home-made TV series also underwent a sharp decline, You added.

To put China's TV series production in order, the CTPMA is trying to bring producers and broadcasters together for direct exchanges on production and demand, and the fair is part of the efforts.

"In the past, producers and broadcasters were separated from each other. This promotion fair encouraged both sides to work closer with an aim that broadcasters get involved in the production process from the very beginning," said Wei Yonggang, general manager of the Beijing BTV Media Co., Ltd.

If both producers and broadcasters could work together in the whole process from selecting stories, shooting, promotion to seeking audience's feedback, more quality TV series would be presented, Wei added.

Forty-two CTPMA members brought 118 TV series to the three-day fair that is to end Wednesday. The fairs also attracted 50 Chinese TV stations and representatives from 33 TV series producers and broadcasters in Hong Kong and Taiwan as well Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore.