Today's Highlights：
1. 2025 Hongguo Creators Conference Held: Lowering Barriers, Enhancing Efficiency, and Providing Comprehensive Support for Mini Series Creators
2. AI New Wave Mini Series Forum Held in Yongchuan, Chongqing
3. 2025 Shanxi Province Mini Series Industry Development Conference Convenes in Taiyuan
4. Tongling's First Interactive Mini Series Li Xiang (Ideal) Starts Filming
5. With the Rise of Heard Island, Vtwo Film Studio, and Majiu Pctures, Mini Series Enter the "Brand Era"
6. Breaking Genre Limits: How Mini Series Can Capture the Grand Narrative of Revolutionary History
2025 Hongguo Creators Conference Held: Lowering Barriers, Enhancing Efficiency, and Providing Comprehensive Support for Mini Series Creators
The first Hongguo Creators Conference was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province from November 25 to 27. Under the theme "Results Will Always Shine," the event gathered thousands of guests, including screenwriters, directors, producers, actors, and representatives from related industries, to explore the future directions and development paths for the industry. At the conference, Le Li, Editor-in-Chief of Hongguo Short Drama, shared three latest content trends emerging on the platform: first, the proportion of reality-based themes within the platform's content ecosystem is growing steadily; second, the popularity of traditional cultural-themed productions is gaining increasing momentum; third, AIGC-driven comic-style series are becoming a promising new growth area. As content trends evolve and creation increasingly prioritizes high-quality storytelling, Hongguo Short Drama is also reinforcing its commitment to high-standard development by proactively enhancing platform guidelines. The platform has significantly raised its content review standards three times this year, prompting creators to continuously refine their scripts and pay more attention to narrative logic, well-rounded characters, and greater thematic depth.
AI New Wave Mini Series Forum Held in Yongchuan, Chongqing
On November 27, the AI New Wave Mini Series Forum, themed "AI-Driven · New Vitality for Series," was held in Yongchuan District, Chongqing. The event brought together leading figures from the film and television industry, corporate executives, and academic experts, establishing an important platform for talent exchange, intellectual collaboration, and industrial cooperation. It provided strong AI-driven momentum and industrial resources to support the construction of the Yongchuan Western Science and Technology Film and Television City. As the forum's central component, industry professionals engaged in in-depth discussions on the current landscape and future trends of the mini series, focusing on the challenges and breakthroughs in applying AI technologies across the entire mini series industry chain. Experts, scholars, and enterprise representatives shared practical case studies demonstrating innovative uses of AI tools in script creation, filming, production, and post-production. A series of cutting-edge explorations provided new ideas for cost reduction and efficiency enhancement within the mini series industry.
2025 Shanxi Province Mini Series Industry Development Conference Convenes in Taiyuan
The Shanxi Province Mini Series Industry Development Conference was held in Taiyuan on November 27. Yang Zheng, Deputy Director General of the National Radio and Television Administration's Network Audiovisual Program Management Department, emphasized that China's mini series industry must adhere to quality-driven development, deepen integration across sectors, and boldly pursue innovation. He stated that strengthened management will further stimulate market vitality and elevate the industry's overall level of high-quality development.
The conference also held an accreditation ceremony for five provincial-level mini series bases (industrial parks) in Shanxi Province. Zhang Xiaotang, Deputy Head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee and Director of the Provincial Film Bureau, presented accreditation plaques to the five mini series bases in Taiyuan, Datong, Jinzhong, Linfen, and Yuncheng.
Tongling's First Interactive Mini Series Li Xiang (Ideal) Starts Filming
On November 25, Tongling's first interactive mini series, Li Xiang (Ideal), officially commenced filming on Sun Island in Laozhou. The story starts with the "rebellious" journey of a young woman, Li Xiang, whose entrepreneurial aspirations sharply conflict with her parents' traditional expectations, prompting her to embark on an impromptu trip to Moon Bay.
During her journey, she unexpectedly meets Aunt Hua Sheng three times—each meeting serving as a reflective mirror of life. Through a series of small "accidents," Li Xiang gradually perceives the enduring presence of kindness, sincerity, and beauty even amid adversity.
The mini series embodies the warm, encouraging spirit of Tongling—a city that nurtures innovation and the pursuit of dreams—while showcasing the unique charm born from the harmonious fusion of its traditional culture and modern civilization.
With the Rise of Heard Island, Vtwo Film Studio, and Majiu Pctures, Mini Series Enter the "Brand Era"
Today, audiences no longer choose mini series solely based on actors or titles; instead, they are increasingly placing their trust in production brands. Brands like Majiu Pctures, Heard Island, Haiyu Xingkong, and Vtwo Film Studio have already become "quality benchmarks" for many viewers. The mini series industry is now entering its "brand era." The rise of brand-based production signifies the industry's shift away from its earlier phase of rough, rapid expansion and its progression into a new stage characterized by professionalization, branding, and market segmentation. This evolution not only marks an important milestone in the industrialization of film and TV production, but also provides creators with a key tool for navigating industry fluctuations.
Industry experts point out that production brands are no longer merely production units; they have become key connectors linking users, platforms, and capital. With supportive policies, platform support, and creators' proactive initiative, the trend of leading production brands taking center stage within the mini series industry will only grow more pronounced.
Breaking Genre Limits: How Mini Series Can Capture the Grand Narrative of Revolutionary History
Most revolutionary-history-themed mini series tend to focus on the love and familial struggles that heroes experience in moments of life and death. This approach allows them to explore the full human spectrum of heroic characters while emphasizing their extraordinary spiritual strength and noble ideals. For example, Zhen Tan·1938 (1938 Turning Point) and Bei Jia Hua Yuan De Mi Mi (Bussiere Garden) both feature tragic love stories intertwined with the lives of heroic figures.
However, a moment of reflection is warranted. Horizontal-screen revolutionary-history-themed mini series have become relatively well-established, largely due to their adoption of the visual language used by long-form dramas on similar themes. But vertical-screen revolutionary-history-themed mini series still have considerable room for growth in developing their own unique visual language, enabling them to build an aesthetic style distinct from that of horizontal-screen works.
