Taiwan’s film and television industry has made great progress in presenting a diversity of themes, and improving the quality and quantity of its productions. Many Taiwanese dramas are on international streaming platforms, but such programs are often only available in Taiwan or a few regions.
Looking at the success of the South Korean drama series Squid Game, a global sensation upon its release last year, many people asked: “Why can’t Taiwanese programs be just as successful?”
The discussion focused on whether Taiwan is capable of producing good shows. Perhaps the issue should be approached from the industry aspect, focusing on why Netflix chose a South Korean program, and how Taiwan could attract more international partners.
At a time when the quality and quantity of Taiwanese dramas have increased along with invested resources, the industry needs to think more about whether sales and channels can keep up with production. If production and marketing are imbalanced, the situation becomes unfavorable to the industry’s development.
Therefore, Taiwan needs to adopt a more active approach to expand the global market, so that viewers around the world can enjoy quality Taiwanese dramas at home any time with a click of a button.
To boost Taiwanese film and TV exports, the industry should explore new distribution channels. Apart from increasing sales of international copyrights, greater efforts are needed in a few areas.
First, Taiwan must show the international film and TV industry that it is a compelling partner for cooperation. The industry must research potential collaborators in the global market and establish relationships with them.
Next, the industry should search for new funding sources, target markets and distribution platforms that would support original Taiwanese productions and their distinctive themes and characteristics.
Finally, Taiwan should continue to cultivate acting, writing and production talent that can compete internationally.
To promote these goals, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency in March participated in the Series Mania Festival, a large and influential event dedicated to international TV series hosted in Lille, France. At the event, where the agency had talks with many international companies, we realized that Taiwan is recognized globally not only for its high-tech industries, but also for having a diverse and tolerant culture, a friendly and creative environment and a rich landscape.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s upholding of universal values, such as gender equality, respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, received a wide range of positive feedback.
During the festival, industry insiders from the UK, the US, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Israel, Canada and India expressed much interest in promoting joint ventures, coproductions, talent exchanges and investment with Taiwan. This shows that Taiwan has a great opportunity to become a top choice for international cooperation in Asia.
Once Taiwan’s film and TV industry attracts more international cooperation, the cultivation of globally competitive professionals would inevitably follow and grow the trade.
Such cultivation includes considering international experience and market perspectives when making proposals, exchanging ideas with international production companies, and finding suitable industry partners and ways to work with them.
Holding workshops and other activities with professionals from different countries could promote such incubation of talent.
Izero Lee is CEO of the Taiwan Creative Content Agency.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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