Chinese & British Content Leaders Identify Micro-dramas And Kids’ Content As Frontrunners For Co-Production & Distribution

Chinese and UK film and television leaders gathered in the London’s BAFTA building on Thursday for the Shanghai-London Screen Industry Forum, to share their insights on co-producing and distribution opportunities, with micro-dramas, children’s and sports content emerging as frontrunners for international collaboration.

The event was hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism (Radio and Television), supported by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade and organised by Phoenix TV.

Attendees included Rupert Daniels, Director of Services at the UK’s Department for Business and Trade; Adrian Wootton OBE, CEO of Film London & British Film Commission; Li Liyan, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, as well as You Haiyang, Level II Counsellor and Division Director at Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.

Roy Lu, general manager of Chinese production outfit Linmon International, sees opportunities for co-production between the UK and China, particularly in the fast-growing vertical micro-drama space.

“One big possibility for a UK and China co-production is in vertical micro-dramas,” said Lu. “There are so many apps, companies and platforms in China seeking more international production opportunities. My company has done quite a few in the US, Canada and Australia, but we’re looking for more possibilities, including London, or European territories in the next one to two years.”

Another area for collaboration is in children’s and sports content, according to the UK’s Jiella Esmat, founder and CEO of production company 8Lions.

“We know that sports and kids content are the two genres that bring families and co-viewing together, which is really critical for broadcasters and helping families reconnect again,” said Esmat.

Esmat, who was previously a senior director at Moonbug Entertainment and also worked at Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures, is developing an unscripted children’s show called Touch Grass, which brings together football stars for a tournament.

“We’ve been pitching at MIPCOM. I’ve just got back last night, and there’s a lot of interest in it, because universally, across the planet, there are parents struggling with anxious, screen-obsessed kids. There’s rising diabetes and obesity, wherever you go, among children. This show is a comedy — it’s unscripted, live action, and we’re going to be working with football influencers from YouTube and also football stars, to bring messaging to kids around well-being. But it’s a comedy — a crazy, hilarious comedy.”

Esmat added that she is currently looking for partners for the project, with US-based Jim Henson’s Creature Shop (founded by The Muppets creator) already expressing interest in getting onboard in providing mascots. She is also looking for collaborators in China and the Middle East.

“The show is structured as a season and a tournament. We would love to have partners on board from China. We know that football is a growing sport over there. There’s a football influencer called IShowSpeed, who recently did a tour of China, and has had a huge following there since that tour. The Middle East has the 2034 World Cup and football is a huge thing over there, so we’re talking to multiple different regions to make content.”

Taking a digital-first approach in distribution is another key focus for Rosemary Reed, founder of POW TV Studios and Trustee & Director of Strategic Partnerships & Media at the Jane Goodall Institute UK. She highlighted that there is now a serious return to YouTube in the UK as a platform to premiere and share content. 

“YouTube is the big one to be looking at now, and that’s where we’re going to be putting a lot of our content,” said Reed. “There is such a varied demand from so many and especially in the the younger age groups, they’re on YouTube straight away, which has brought YouTube back into the market again. There has to be a mix of content, because so many people’s attention span now is only three minutes.”

Cedric Behrel, co-founder and managing director of film distributor Trinity CineAsia, which focuses on bringing Chinese films to UK audiences, said that the main challenge in his work is that Chinese films do not seem to consider the international market as much as he would like.

His company represents the largest catalogue of Chinese films in the UK, including the IP Man franchise, and distributing The Last Dance and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, among others. Behrel is also the exclusive European distributor of Chinese animated box office hit Ne Zha 2.

“Unfortunately, a lot of films we get sometimes from China, they don’t look at the international market that much,” said Behrel. The story of ‘Journey to the West’ or ‘The Monkey King’ is really not known outside of China, so I think it’s about cooperation, which can help to provide context of how to tell these stories, which are uniquely and quintessentially Chinese, but also help to make it more understandable and palatable for someone who hasn’t read ‘Journey to the West.’”

At the same time, Behrel is also witnessing a more global, aware and inter-connected audience who want to access new films from around the world as soon as they can.

“The trend we’ve seen in film and cinemas is that what used to be called ‘alternative content’ has taken a bigger and bigger share. It’s not alternative anymore,” said Behrel. “A film can get onto screens in just a matter of weeks or even days.

“It’s because the audience is an increasingly global audience, even if you’re looking at silos, like documentaries, music, Asian cinema or Chinese films — it’s a connected global audience and they’re aware of these films. They are aware of when the films are showing, if it’s showing at the Shanghai Film Festival for example, and they would want to see it as soon as they can,” added Behrel.