Only One Film Crew Remains in Once Packed Chinese Studio... Halved Revenue Drives New Survival Strategy

"Hengdian, the 'Hollywood of China,' Launches Short Drama Experience Program"

Director and Cameraman Included for 300 Yuan Per Person

Sales Halved and Vacancy Rate Nears 80% Amid AI Boom

The largest movie and drama set in China has begun casting tourists as actors. This move comes as a response to plummeting on-site filming demand due to artificial intelligence (AI).

A photo of drama filming at the Chinese movie and drama set 'Hengdian World Studios' to help understand the article. Official website

On August 24, Yonhap News reported, citing China News Service and others, that "Hengdian World Studios in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province has recently introduced an experiential program in which ordinary tourists become actors and film short dramas themselves." Covering an area of approximately 33 square kilometers, Hengdian World Studios is a leading filming location in China and is often referred to as the "Hollywood of China." Popular dramas such as "Beauty's Rival in Palace" and "Scarlet Heart" were produced here.

The price is around 300 yuan per person (about 62,000 won). This fee includes not only costumes and makeup, but also the services of professional staff such as directors, cameramen, makeup artists, and script supervisors. Tourists can choose their preferred genre, such as palace intrigue, espionage, martial arts, period dramas, or contemporary settings.

Filming is completed within an hour. After choosing a script, getting into costume and makeup, the scenes are shot on actual sets, and tourists receive a finished video of about one to two minutes in length. Even those with no prior acting experience can rely on the director to guide their lines and expressions on site, and participants may also choose to alter their lines or acting as they wish. Up to 10 to 20 teams can film simultaneously in a single day, and over 400 people have participated since the launch of the program.

Since 2012, Hengdian has offered tourist filming sessions under the name "Star Dream Factory," and in 2022, the same team produced a buzzworthy parody of "Empresses in the Palace" performed by retired women in China. However, at that time, teams needed to consist of 16 people, and it cost 4,000 yuan per person (approximately 820,000 won), making it accessible to only a limited group. In contrast, this new vertical-format short drama program allows just one or two participants to film together.

China News Service commented, "Hengdian is now opening its accumulated infrastructure and professional staff to ordinary tourists as a new source of revenue," and evaluated that "this latest initiative is becoming a new channel connecting the video industry with cultural and tourism consumption."

Tourists experiencing a short play filming in Hengdian. Photo by China News Network

The backdrop to the set turning its cameras toward tourists is the rapid freeze in the filming market. According to China's financial media, Yicai, which observed on-site activities over three days this past May, only three filming teams were spotted among the major sets such as Qingming Shanghe Tu, Guangzhou Street·Hong Kong Street, and Ming-Qing Palace Garden, with some of these being long-form drama teams. An employee at Guangzhou Street·Hong Kong Street told the media, "Friends working in props used to travel from team to team last year, but this year, work opportunities for short dramas have dropped by 80 to 90%," explaining, "It's because everyone is now making short dramas with AI."

AI dramas have established themselves rapidly in the industry, as they can be produced quickly and inexpensively, without the need for famous actors or large production crews. As the approach of generating characters, backgrounds, and even voices has spread, traditional production requiring real actors, filming staff, and sets is losing its place.

The operating company, Hengdian Entertainment Co., Ltd., which runs the Hengdian World Studios set, saw its sales in the first quarter of this year fall to 582 million yuan (about 119.5 billion won), a 50.36% drop from a year earlier. Its net profit plunged by 88.30% to 40.12 million yuan (about 8.2 billion won). During the same period, the vacancy rate of Hengdian studios soared to near 80%, even though, just a year ago, it was difficult to book a spot. The seven-story set building, once capable of accommodating over 30 filming teams at once, is now left with just one team.

Although the Hengdian extras union has about 134,000 registered background actors, the number of valid daily bookings across the entire industry remains around 800. Director Zhang Xiaoqi, who has directed more than 110 short dramas, said, "In the first quarter of this year, the number of short drama projects launched at Hengdian dropped to a quarter of the previous year's total."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.