The problem and the partial solution of having an inferior status as a screenwriter in Taiwan

A Taiwan TV series named Taipei women illustrated handbook was widely discussed in Taiwan a few months ago. There are many reviews of this TV series. Some of the reviews I do agree with; however, some of the reviews I disagree. I think there are some things that many Taiwanese should understand in terms of reviewing a TV series or movie. So I decided to write this article.

In this article, I will focus on my perspective and my solution to the problem of having an inferior status as a screenwriter in Taiwan. After you finish reading this article, you may proceed to read another article of mine: My review of other reviews of a Taiwan TV series: Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook.

The problem of having an inferior status as a screenwriter in Taiwan

My perspective of the two views from the two screenwriters

Many reviews from the Taiwanese stated that the plot of this TV series has some problems and therefore it’s the screenwriters’ fault; therefore, a Taiwanese published an article on Dcard and asked whether one of the screenwriters of this TV series is Chinese because her name looks more like a Chinese name instead of a Taiwanese name. After that article is published, a Taiwanese screenwriter wrote on her Facebook telling everyone that Taiwanese audiences must understand the situation of the Film&Television industry in Taiwan before criticizing ^[1]https://www.facebook.com/bluerose0816/posts/10217011733605474 . She said that if audiences want to have some criticisms toward a TV series, that’s fine. However, she urges everyone not to target a specific screenwriter by finding that screenwriter’s name, as screenwriters in Taiwan have inferior status compared to the director and the producer. A Dcard article further provided an example: On a piece of red paper written the names of the director and the main actors for praying that the shooting process will be smooth (A derived custom in the film television industry in Taiwan based on the traditional culture), there is no name of the screenwriters. Some Taiwanese screenwriters point out that screenwriters in Taiwan are simply typing machines that write scripts based on ideas from bosses or directors ^[2]https://www.dcard.tw/f/tvepisode/p/240136135 .
Apart from this, commenting on the plight of screenwriters in Taiwan which the above Facebook article points out, in another article published on PTT (A online discussion forum in Taiwan), another Taiwanese screenwriter wrote, “What are producers and directors for? Aren’t they supposed to control the direction of the whole work? If a screenwriter did not write well, you as a director can not communicate to correct it? If you can’t see the problem when preparing for filming, and then the work is said to be like shit after being released the work, you then blame the screenwriter is the weakest link. Isn’t it the same as throwing the blame and backstabbing with the scriptwriter that fighting with you? ” The Taiwanese screenwriter further commented on his article by adding, “The actors often ‘exert their potential’ by saying ‘I don’t think this character will talk like this.’ To put it bluntly, they really don’t take the scriptwriter seriously.” ^[3]https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/movie/M.1633878452.A.BB4.html 

According to this article written in 2016, the status of screenwriters in Taiwan is indeed inferior, and screenwriters in Taiwan are not taken seriously^[4]https://news.cts.com.tw/mol/campus/201611/201611221823744.html . So I will not discuss this point here. You may read this article if you want to understand more about this part. However, I have some comments on the whole plight of screenwriters in Taiwan and on the view of the second Taiwanese screenwriter that talked about the problem of directors and actors.

First, regarding the blame toward the screenwriters of this TV series, the first screenwriter Ms.Wu said in the post that points out the inferior status of screenwriters in Taiwan, “When a play is good, the praise is that the actors are good at acting and the director is good at filming. When a play doesn’t go your way, you throw the most disrespected role screenwriter at the core of the production to the wolves and ask the screenwriter to take responsibility.” Many Taiwanese commented on this to state it’s the audience’s fault for blaming screenwriters. Nevertheless, I have a different view. I don’t think it’s an attack on the screenwriters. In fact, whether in Western countries or Taiwan, because “director” this role is the most often mentioned in many news, many people have been not aware of the fact that there is an important role called “screenwriter” behind every movie or TV series. That’s why audiences have only complimented the director of a good movie, but ignore there is/are a screenwriter or multiple screenwriters behind a good movie. Audiences have also criticized for a long time the director of a bad movie or TV series without considering whether what they criticized was the responsibility of the director or the screenwriter. In my view, this is an improvement in the Taiwanese audiences’ understanding of the Film&Television industry and the ability to review a movie/TV series, because they finally are aware of the fact that there is an important role called “screenwriter” except for the director and actor.
The article on PTT which I mentioned wrote about what a screenwriter is, but I think it doesn’t explain clearly enough. Let me give you a little knowledge of what a “screenwriter” and a “director” is respectively. A screenwriter is one who writes the plot (or the story, in other words) of a movie or a TV series. It’s very similar to the writer of a novel;the main difference is that a screenwriter has to write the script in some ways that are good for shooting the film, while a writer of a novel doesn’t have to do that. Instead, a writer of a novel has to use words to describe every part of the story including the scenery. On the other hand, a director’s role is to direct the making of a film by visualizing the script while guiding the actors and technical crew to capture the vision for the screen. For example, interpret the scripts, set the tone of the film, and direct actors and the camera. These are all the duties of a director, according to StudioBinder ^[5]https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-does-a-director-do/ . You may read this article to understand more about what a film director does. Therefore, in normal cases, when you like or dislike a movie because of the plot, you shouldn’t compliment or criticize the director; instead, you should compliment/criticize the screenwriter, as the screenwriter is the one who creates (writes) the story, just like an author of a novel. There are some cases in which some of the professional movie reviews compliment a director for creating a good story, that’s perhaps because the director also did the screenwriter’s job; he wrote the script himself for this movie, not a screenwriter wrote the script. That’s a common thing in the productions of many U.S. movies. Meanwhile, there are also many movie reviews complimenting/criticizing the director because of a good story without figuring out whether a good story (Plot) comes from a screenwriter and whether the director actually also did the screenwriting job. You need to identify what exactly the parts you like about the movie / the TV drama you watch are and whether the screenwriter and the director are the same person or not before making a compliment or a criticism toward a director; sometimes what you like is a good plot, which means good screenwriting and the one who does the screenwriting is a screenwriter instead of a director.
Therefore, since most of the points that Taiwanese audiences criticized in this TV series: Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook are about the plot, suppose the part of the plot they criticized was not corrected by or came from the director or the boss, these Taiwanese audiences did not blame the wrong person.

In addition, the behavior of discussing the name of one of the screenwriters of this TV series was purely asking if this screenwriter is Chinese rather than Taiwanese. Despite that this passage caused some people to suspect that the author of the original article discriminated against Chinese screenwriters, and her explanation afterward did not explain clearly why her words did not discriminate against Chinese screenwriters, even if assuming that her original words did discriminate against Chinese screenwriters, the entire article is just about wondering if the screenwriter is a Chinese, and it doesn’t mean “Witch-hunt” that the screenwriter Ms.Wu points out. In addition, although I think the author of the original article has a problem with expression ability as both her original passage and her explanation afterward that “this is a more serious problem” actually did not clearly explain why her words did not discriminate against Chinese screenwriters, according to the original words of the original author, “Shouldn’t find China Let someone write a screenplay about Taipei”, she meant that the Chinese may not know enough about Taiwan. I don’t agree with the idea that if the screenwriter is Chinese, this unpopular plot should be blamed on a Chinese screenwriter for not understanding Taiwan enough ( a native Taiwanese may also write dramas that don’t understand Taiwan enough), this suspicion is still possible. The more important thing is that the audience who asked this question had little intention to attack the screenwriter except for blaming Chinese screenwriters for not understanding Taiwan enough.
Moreover, what’s wrong with criticizing a screenwriter sucks? Many Americans criticize many directors suck because of bad movies these directors made. Why can’t an audience criticize a screenwriter who sucks when there is a bad plot? Indeed, screenwriters in Taiwan aren’t taken seriously in the industry and the point that is criticized by audiences may come from the idea or modification of the boss and the director instead of the screenwriter; however, firstly, even if ideas of many plots come from a boss or a director instead of a screenwriter, the plot that is criticized by audiences could still come from the screenwriter instead of coming from the boss or the director. In such a case, criticizing the screenwriter for writing this part of the plot has nothing wrong. The screenwriter should listen to the criticism, think about whether the criticism indeed makes sense, and improve himself/herself if it makes sense. Secondly, audiences did not join the work of this TV series or this movie; they, therefore, do not know whether the part of the plot they dislike still came from the screenwriter or actually came from the idea of the boss, the director, or the producer. If an audience criticizes parts of the plot, she/he certainly can criticize the screenwriter. If you are the screenwriter but it isn’t you who came up with the idea of that part of the plot, you can just speak out publicly and explain it, but whether you are willing to publicly explain it or not, you shouldn’t blame the audience who doesn’t know the idea of part of the plot didn’t come from you before making the criticism. You can explain it, and audiences indeed have to accept that it’s not your fault. However, you can’t blame the audience for criticizing the wrong person in the first place. No one can know who should actually be the one to be criticized before you see their criticisms and provide your explanation.

Because of the above reasons, I think the first screenwriter Ms.Wu who pointed out the plight of screenwriters in Taiwan a bit overreacted. It’s good to explain the plight of the screenwriters in Taiwan to the public; however, she shouldn’t blame audiences for criticizing the screenwriter without understanding the industry. She can just explain to the public without blaming audiences for criticizing the screenwriter.

Second, with respect to the thought of the second screenwriter that the director and producer should provide suggestions and the view of that screenwriter toward the thought of actors, I don’t fully agree with this screenwriter’s thought, either. Let me ask you, isn’t the view that actors shouldn’t have opinions about the character contradicts the thought that director and producers should provide suggestions to screenwriters? What exactly do you want? Do you want to accept that other people have opinions on your script, or do you want the screenwriter to have control over the script? When you can’t write well, you want someone else to give you good advice and provide direction for the script. Then you still want to write your name on the script to state that it is “your” script, not the director or the boss who provided the direction. When you can write well, you suddenly want to have control over the script? You are simply getting rid of “your” responsibilities.

Some people may say directors and producers have professionalism in providing suggestions to the script, while actors don’t have such professionalism. True, the main professionalism of actors lies in acting, not writing a story or modifying a script. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that an actor is not able to provide a good opinion. How do you make sure that an opinion from an actor must not be good and an opinion from a director or a producer must be good? Nothing is absolute. You have to independently think and judge opinions from everyone yourself, including the opinions of unprofessional audiences.
In addition, an actor may actually provide a good opinion. She/he is the one who needs to act his character. To act well, many professional actors have to integrate themselves with their characters. It’s good to listen to the understanding of a character from an actor and discuss it.

Anyway, I am not suggesting screenwriters must listen to everyone’s opinion. Sometimes an opinion from an actor or even a director can be bad. Here is my view: Suppose screenwriters in Taiwan have a better status and have a say in scripts, whether a screenwriter wants to accept an opinion from an actor, a director, or any person on a script is a screenwriter’s right and business as the main screenwriter of a play. But as I said, screenwriters have to independently think and judge opinions from everyone on their own. After thinking on their own, screenwriters can have a professional discussion with a director, actors, or anyone who raises an opinion. Even if screenwriters in Taiwan do not have a say in scripts, screenwriters still can have professional discussions with directors, producers, actors, or bosses regarding some opinions to some extent during the production process.
In addition, just like a painter or a musician is an artist, a writer is also an artist. If you as a screenwriter want to have full control over your script, which means have your artistic temper and reject any suggestion, that’s fine as long as your work still can be accepted or you don’t care if your work will be rejected. However, in such cases, you need to take full responsibility for creating a bad script on your own; you can’t blame anyone – It’s you who choose to have full control of your work.

Third, some Taiwanese screenwriters point out that screenwriters in Taiwan are just typing machines that write scripts based on bosses’ and directors’ ideas. Even if that’s true, the detail of the story may still come from the screenwriter himself/herself. Bosses or directors simply provide a general idea. In some other cases, the main idea of the story still comes from the screenwriter; bosses or directors simply provide some opinions toward some specific parts and demand modifications. A criticism of a TV series or a movie can target any part of the work. It could be one of the ideas of the story or any specific part of the story. It depends on the actual situation of “who” created the idea of that part of the story or modify that part of the story. Yes, the idea that gets criticized could be the bosses’ or directors’ fault for raising a bad idea or providing a wrong suggestion of modification; however, it could also come from the screenwriter himself/herself. Taiwanese screenwriters must think about the actual situation and react to criticisms toward screenwriters based on the actual situation instead of simply using “Screenwriters in Taiwan are typing machines” to justify every criticism of the plot of a TV series or a movie.

The partial solution to the plight of screenwriters in Taiwan

Ok. After finishing providing my perspective of the two views from the two screenwriters, I would like to discuss the solution to the plight of screenwriters in Taiwan. In an article, there are many problems about the plight of screenwriters in Taiwan are pointed out^[6]https://news.cts.com.tw/mol/campus/201611/201611221823744.html . I will only focus on the three main problems mentioned in this article. Also, this will only be a “partial” solution and will not solve “all” of the problems.

(1) Director Chuan-Tsung Wang: The most common problem that Taiwanese screenwriters face today is that they are ‘unappreciated’ and ‘unprotected’ and that non-professionals lead the professionals. There are unions of screenwriters abroad to protect the basic rights of screenwriters, and screenwriters enjoy a high status…….. In Taiwan, it is not the writers themselves who take the lead in screenwriting, but it’s often the TV station executives, producers, and even directors who take the lead in screenwriting.

My suggestion:
Since you already know that there are unions of screenwriters abroad, but there isn’t such a union in Taiwan to protect the basic right of screenwriters. Why don’t you create one? Not to mention many of you who state the problems of screenwriters in Taiwan are experienced professionals in the Film&Television industry in Taiwan; some of you must know a lot of peers in the industry and can invite them to join such a union. Such a union perhaps can’t change the current situation regarding the screenwriters in Taiwan can’t take the lead in scripts. However, since you say screenwriters in Taiwan are “unprotected” and particularly mention that the union of screenwriters abroad protects the basic right of screenwriters, I guess that there are some basic rights of screenwriters that aren’t protected in Taiwan. Creating a union of screenwriters in Taiwan can solve this problem.

(2) Screenwriter Wai-Yu Chan: There is a problem with the way TV stations sample ratings of views. Nowadays few people watch TV; most people watch on the internet. Although there is the emergence of many video sites recently, their popularity is not strong, resulting in fragmented viewing behaviors. Hence, there is no way to calculate the ratings of views, so many drama ratings of views are low, and television stations can not receive advertising fees. When there is no income, there is no investment in dramas. The whole thing becomes a vicious circle, resulting in television dramas doing less and less.

My suggestion:
This screenwriter points out an important problem: The problem with the way TV stations sample ratings. The decrease in investment in TV dramas in Taiwan has been a frequently-mentioned topic until recently when discussing the problem of Film&Television industry. The following is my view.

First, part of the problem of TV stations in Taiwan is not about the decreased revenue in advertising fees, but the relevant personnel in TV stations in Taiwan have one-track minds and do not react to the change of the era. The problem with the way TV stations sample ratings of views doesn’t make the overall revenue earned from a TV drama which is made by a TV station decrease; unless the TV drama isn’t put on video sites but only is put on TV, the fragmented viewing behavior that causes a problem of counting viewing ratings does not make the overall revenue earned from a TV drama which is made by a TV station decrease, either. The advertising fees of every TV station have indeed decreased as more and more people watch on the Internet instead of TV. However, if a TV station produces its own TV dramas or other types of programs, it put them on video sites on the Internet, too. Therefore, the problem is that the way such TV stations produce their own TV dramas and other programs should change their way of calculating ratings of views. Such TV stations should still also calculate ratings of views from video sites on which they put their dramas or programs on and sum up the ratings from both TV and video sites. In the past, the TV station’s method of sampling ratings involved the installed capacity^[7]https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/收视率 . Since there is no such installation behavior on video sites, Taiwanese employees feel that there is no way to calculate the ratings of views from video sites. In fact, it doesn’t need to be this complicated. The traditional way of calculating ratings of views takes into account the installed capacity because it wants to measure the proportion of people who watch TV that actually watch a certain program. In fact, think about it in another way, it is also possible to compare the popularity of each program by the number of viewers/views; the higher the number of viewers/views, the more popular your program is.
Accordingly, the calculation method is very simple, you only need to do two things:
One, change the ratings of views from TV to only the number of viewers as the standard, not other indicators such as installed capacity. The calculation method for the number of viewers is also very simple. Since it’s TV (the same), follow how the number of viewers was calculated in the traditional way, just calculate roughly in the same way. Calculate the total number of households that watch TV. Take the average number of people watching a drama in a household multiplied by the total number of households that watch TV to get the total number of viewers.
Two, calculate the number of views of a TV series/program from video websites and add them up. (This is just a relatively simple method. If you want to put the viewing volume and viewing time together in one single metric for comprehensive consideration, you can study on your own how other countries calculate the traffic from video websites, or you can consult with a statistical research company.)
Whether the popularity of video sites is high or not and the fragmented viewing behavior have nothing to do with Taiwanese TV stations’ problem of having no way to calculate ratings of views. It’s purely the problem of the bosses, supervisors, and employees of such TV stations in Taiwan having one-track minds, so they keep saying blindly “There is no way to calculate ratings of views”, but they never thought that even if they can’t come up with a way of adding up the ratings of views from TV and video sites and watching the two ratings separately will make it difficult to evaluate the overall performance of a TV drama, they shouldn’t think that “no way to calculate ratings of views” equals to “low ratings”. Are ratings really that low? Not necessarily. You still should at least look at the performance of a TV drama from video sites. In addition, some bosses and employees may even never have thought that the ratings from video sites should be calculated. What’s more, they just need to change their minds, then they can add the ratings of video websites and TV ratings together.
The same is true for the decrease in advertising fees of TV stations in Taiwan. Parts of the views of TV series on TV stations come from video sites. TV stations that make their own TV series should also count the revenue from video sites and sum it up with advertising fees instead of only counting advertising fees. That’s the correct number of revenue from producing a TV drama or a TV program. The boss and the people in charge of related business have a one-track minds problem.
If the overall revenue that is summed up with all channels including video sites broadcasting TV dramas or other programs that are produced by a TV station still decreases, that’s another problem. Perhaps what you need to think about is why audiences don’t like your TV dramas or programs; perhaps there are other problems that cause the overall revenue of a TV station from a drama to decrease.
*Note: The traditional way of calculating ratings by sampling has received many criticisms because it uses the way of sampling. Certainly, it is not accurate. The above is only about proposing how to add up the performance of a specific drama/program on traditional TV and the performance on video websites by using the same unit to evaluate the overall performance of a specific drama/program. The above method of calculating views from video sites does not involve sampling, so if the viewing time is added for comprehensive consideration, there will be no such inaccuracy that many criticisms toward the traditional way of TV ratings point out. You can think on your own about how to improve the problem of the inaccurate calculation of TV ratings, or you can ignore this problem. As the times change, the number of views on the Internet will increase.

Second, the other part of the problem does not come from TV stations. Judging from the words in the article, the main revenue of TV stations is advertising fees, and part of such advertising revenues will be reinvested in new dramas. In fact, except for some TV stations which establish production departments to make some TV dramas or programs, some TV dramas and movies are not created by TV stations, but created by film television production companies – Such companies hire directors, producers, screenwriters, and many relevant professionals that are necessary to make TV dramas or movies. Hence, for such TV stations which broadcast TV dramas from external production companies, it’s reasonable for such TV stations to only count ratings from the views on TV; after all, the TV drama is not produced by them, and revenue from video sites has nothing to do with them, so they won’t care about the viewing ratings from video sites. Because the viewing behavior changes with the emergence of video sites, the revenue of such TV stations naturally becomes less and less, and so do investments in TV dramas. Unless such a TV station comes up with a way of transformation, a decrease in revenue is an inevitable outcome.

The actual problem is that film/television production companies must find other sources of investment except for investments from TV stations. Another article published in 2022 pointed out that the amount of investment from foreign video websites is more than the amount of investment from TV stations in Taiwan in the past, and video websites that play movies and dramas are one of the new sources of investment. Time changes. Not only TV stations should react accordingly, but also film/television production companies should react accordingly. It is a pity that when the article that is currently under discussion was published in 2016, it is possible that many Film＆Television production companies had not kept up with the changes of the times at that time, so they wrote about the concern about the decrease in investment from TV stations. In fact, Netflix even already invested in several TV series in Taiwan in 2016. The above-mentioned issue pointed out by the article published in 2022 is more worthy of discussion. The article pointed out that “international OTT platforms will only select at most 4 or 5 flagship works for investment each year, so the remaining dozens of TV dramas in Taiwan have to shoot with low budgets, which can almost lose money. Especially with the continuous reduction of advertising funds of cable TV stations, the production costs of programs are getting lower and lower, and it is impossible to make good dramas. If this new source of investment that comes from foreign video sites ( For example: Netflix ) is not enough ( For example, the problem that the number of works that international platforms pick is small, and most dramas have no budget ), that is the business of professionals in this industry. I personally do not have a good solution. I’m just pointing out that the problem that the 2016 article currently under discussion pointed out regarding the reduced investment in TV dramas is not just a problem with TV stations. However, this 2022 article pointed out that Greener Grass Production company CEO Sheng-Rong Tang proposed a good model: Using the investment model of movies to invest in TV dramas. I think this looks like a good model, and it may be successful. If you are interested, you may take a look at the 2022 article for the details.

As I said, in terms of how to solve the problem of insufficient investment, I personally do not have a good solution (but based on the above, people in the industry have proposed a solution). I simply not only want to point out that this problem is not just about TV stations, but I also want to point out that the “sampling ratings” problem that the article in 2016 discussed ( As I explained above: the problem of rating calculation does not really lead to less revenue from a show). I also suggest that non-television Film & Television production companies in Taiwan pay attention: When a TV series is not produced by a TV station, it is reasonable for the TV station to only look at the ratings from the TV station. In addition, as a non-TV-station Film & Television production company, you can’t judge the popularity of a TV series by only relying on the TV station and only the ratings from the TV station. Stop having one-track mind. You should also judge the popularity of a film/television work based on views on video platforms.

(3) Screenwriter Jia-Hong Wei: At this stage, the public market is mostly Love&Romantic dramas…It is the least risky and the safest way. If there are more special topics of dramas, after dividing into a niche market, the market is very small, resulting in low ratings. Therefore, the bosses in this industry become more reluctant to invest in advertising and funds. The market is not open; the topics of dramas lost diversity and tend to be conservative to maintain the status quo.

My suggestion:
In my view, this is the most crucial problem of Taiwanese drama at the current time. It’s true that the Love&Romantic type of drama is the most popular type of drama in Taiwan; many Taiwanese audiences including adults like the Love&Romantic type of drama but dislike other topics of drama. There are indeed some good writers in Taiwan writing novels about topics other than the topic of Love&Romantic; however, their novels don’t come into favor with the bosses and investors. In my view, three things that need to be noted.

First, in some cases, if you don’t shoot a new topic, there certainly won’t be audiences watching and loving that topic. There have been some Taiwanese TV dramas that are about topics other than the Love&Romantic type of drama and are loved by Taiwanese audiences. For example, “Our distance with evil” is a Taiwanese TV drama that is about a social issue and is much loved by the Taiwanese audience. Therefore, you should think about why many dramas on topics other than Love&Romantic are disliked by Taiwanese audiences, unlike the drama “Our distance with evil” which receive many compliments from Taiwanese audiences. Perhaps it’s the problem of marketing or packaging; perhaps it’s other problems including directing, production and screenwriting. For example, Chinese Public Television often invests in topics other than Love&Romantic to match its own image. Their TV dramas are not popular in Taiwan, which is part of the reason that many bosses and investors worry about producing new topics other than love. Nevertheless, as I said, “Our distance with the evil” that talking about a social issue still is much loved by Taiwanese audiences. Bosses of production companies and investors should also think about the possibility that there are other problems existing except for the problem that the types of dramas made on topics other than the Love&Romantic type are unpopular in Taiwan.
Moreover, indeed, many Taiwanese TV dramas on topics other than the Love&Romantic type of drama are unpopular in the past; however, time has changed. In the past, the Baby boomer generation (Which is the grandparent and parents of Millenials) don’t watch TV dramas very often except for the 8 o’clock dramas from SET. Millennials who were teenagers and kids at that time aren’t interested in social issues and other topics or aren’t able to comprehend those topics as they were too young. Now Millenials become adults, and there are many Taiwanese audiences interested in other topics, too. “Our distance from evil” is a good example. Bosses of production companies and investors should keep pace with the change of times, and make more TV dramas on other topics.
Even if the social issue is a subject that is too serious and difficult for Taiwanese audiences, there are still many subjects that can be shot. For instance, many U.S. TV dramas and movies are science fiction. This subject is not a social issue that is relatively serious and difficult. People around the world (including Taiwan) love science fiction dramas and movies from the U.S. Why doesn’t Taiwan make a drama of science fiction instead of keeping shooting the same Love&Romantic topic? In fact, there is a Taiwanese novel writer name Egoyan who writes a science fiction novel in 2010 and get shortlisted in two western contests of novels^[8]https://www.eslite.com/product/1001133221975796 . In addition, another Taiwanese writer wrote a fantasy novel and won a novel award set up by George Martin, the original author of a very popular U.S TV drama: A Song Of Ice and Fire^[9]https://today.line.me/tw/v2/article/nmEyng . Although I didn’t read either of the two novels I listed here so can’t comment on them, since the two novels got awards in some contests, they should be quite great novels. Yet, no company takes either of the two novels into a TV drama or a movie. That’s something that decision-makers of production companies in Taiwan can think about.
The following is my point of view. Generally speaking, even in the United States, most of the time, the situation is like that in Taiwan; only best-selling novels are remade into movies or TV series. The above-mentioned novels are not popular compared with some popular Love&Romance novels in Taiwan. However, first of all, since American sci-fi movies are so popular among Taiwanese audiences, if you are willing to make sci-fi movies or TV series, besides asking a screenwriter to write a new script, why not also try these award-winning excellent novels? ? Secondly, the method of deciding whether to shoot a novel into a film based on whether the novel is popular or not actually kills the possibility of shooting many good novels into movies or TV series and making such novels be loved by audiences. In fact, there is a large group of people in Taiwan who only read romance novels when they choose novels, but they like to watch Western non-romance movies or TV series, including science fiction and fantasy. In any part of the world, including Taiwan, there is a large group of people who do not read novels at all, but love to watch non-romance movies or TV series. Given this, the fact that a novel does not sell well does not completely represent that the film that is made with the novel will definitely not be popular in Taiwan if the novel is made into a movie or TV series. This situation is especially evident in Taiwan. The Taiwan market itself is smaller than that of the United States; the market for novels in Taiwan is certainly further smaller. Hence, judging whether to shoot a novel based on whether it is a best seller or not kills the possibility of making a good novel’s story popular with audiences in Taiwan more than it kills such possibilities in the United States. For example, although the above two types of people in Taiwan never read the original novel “A Song of Ice and Fire”, they love the TV drama “A Song of Ice and Fire” to death. Since there are some excellent award-winning novels in Taiwan that are not about Love&Romance, why don’t you try shooting these novels into films? Certainly, there are risks, but at the same time, due to the above reasons, the possibility of being loved by Taiwanese audiences is not as low as you imagine.

Second, many Taiwanese audiences clearly state that they prefer Korean dramas and U.S. dramas over Taiwanese dramas. Since it’s a well-known fact that the viewing rating from video sites have been taken by Korean dramas and the U.S drama, the thing the bosses and investors should do is think about why their dramas are not loved by Taiwanese audiences, but Korean dramas and U.S dramas are loved by Taiwanese audiences, instead of keeping shooting the same Love&Romantic topic and keeping complaining.

Third, although there are some Taiwanese TV dramas on topics other than the Love&Romantic type that are loved by Taiwanese audiences, there are also many Taiwanese adult audiences who still aren’t interested in topics other than the Love&Romantic type. It’s actually a terrible situation that many Taiwanese adult audiences dislike other topics other than Love&Romantic topic. Taiwanese audiences, especially adult audiences, should note that topics other than Love&Romantic topic can broaden insights and are therefore worthy to be watched.

This is the end of this article. After reading this article, I suggest you read another article of mine: My review of other reviews of a Taiwan TV series: Taipei Women Illustrated Handbook. There is more about how Taiwanese audiences should understand in terms of reviewing a TV series or movie.

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Chrissy Slora

The articles published in this website are all written by Chrissy Slora. Chrissy Slora aims to make people learn about how the world can be better and provide her intelligent and wise insight by writing about various topics from technology to issues happening in the world. Follow her on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin