Since 2021, the South Korean TV series Squid Game, created for Netflix, has become a global phenomenon. Many Taiwanese have been wondering if Taiwan’s TV and film industry could bring about a similar success.
Over the past year, the Taiwanese horror film Incantation (咒) and detective fiction series Copycat Killer (模仿犯) catapulted to the top of the streaming giant’s charts. Apparently, as long as a work is well produced and oriented toward the market, Taiwan can certainly set foot in the international film and entertainment industry.
Some might say that Incantation and Copycat are exceptions to the rule. If that were the case, could Taiwan continue to export its cultural productions to the world? What should be done to improve Taiwan’s TV and film industry?
Due to the development of international streaming platforms, the world has become more globalized, and as a result, people can watch many TV series and films produced in foreign countries. It also means that Taiwan’s productions have to compete with those produced abroad. The competition is not limited to how well a story is told, how creative the ideas are and how capable a production team is. Instead, it has everything to do with capital.
Take Squid Game for example. Although the budget for the entire first season was enough to produce only one episode of Stranger Things, it was still several times higher than the budget of a quality TV series in Taiwan. In this sense, a key hindrance to the growth of local content is capital.
Throughout the history of Taiwan’s TV and film industry, the government has provided a substantial amount of subsidiary grants. They were initially meant to ensure the competitiveness of films produced in the nation. In the past few years, to stimulate the industry, the government has continued to offer grants, and increased the amount of investment in film and TV productions. The official strategy has indeed achieved some fruitful outcomes.
Taiwan’s productions have become more diversified in subject matters, and the quality of the productions has significantly improved.
However, for Taiwan’s TV and film industry to grow vigorously, it needs more investment from the private sector. The industry is overly dependent on government funding. According to Digitimes, more than 70 percent of funding for the TV and film industry came from government and Ministry of Culture subsidies.
This can lead to two problems in the long run:
First, compared with international productions, Taiwan’s film and TV content lacks marketability. Given that these productions are mostly funded by the government, they are not necessarily oriented toward the market.
Second, when production teams vie for government grants, they become more likely to consider officials’ aesthetic tastes and values over market trends. The content is determined by officials rather than by the market.
If these problems could be solved, Taiwan’s cultural content can and will become more prominent in the international market. To achieve this goal, the industry must reduce its reliance on the government and design a system of incentive mechanisms to raise funds from non-governmental organizations. This is crucial to boosting the marketability of Taiwan’s TV and film productions.
Therefore, the “tax credits” policy as proposed in an amendment to the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries Act (文化創意產業發展法) should be applauded. According to Article 27, companies or a person may deduct or be exempt from the payable tax if they invest in the research and development of cultural creativity and talent cultivation.
Hopefully, this will bring more private capital into Taiwan’s cultural content and improve the quality of its TV and film industry.
For the tax credits policy to be effectively implemented, production teams must embrace the market with ambition, displaying creative ideas and content catering to the general public.
At the same time, non-governmental organizations willing to subsidize the industry should understand the cultural content, while grasping how the international market works.
With the nation’s private sector becoming involved and offering financial assistance, Taiwan’s cultural content industry would prosper.
Byron Fong is an associate professor in National Taiwan University’s Department of Economics.
Translated by Emma Liu
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