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Scriptwriting in Internet era brings new challenges

SCRIPTWRITING is facing new challenges and opportunities in the Internet era, TV professionals told a forum titled "innovation and quality of screenwriting" today at the 23rd Shanghai TV Festival.

Nowadays in China a lot of TV and online series are adapted from popular online novels which have already developed a huge fan base. The demands of the fans are increasingly taken into consideration during the process of adaptation.  

Zhang Yongchen, famous scriptwriter and chairman of Pilot Media said that novels and TV/film productions have quite different artistic expression, and the most important thing of a script is the value it conveys. Audiences and scriptwriters should learn to respect each other.

When Zhang was writing scripts for the novels of celebrated writers Yan Geling and Lin Yutang, he followed the principles of drama and made some remarkable changes to the original novels.

"But these days the enthusiastic fans of the original online novels are very likely to object to any big changes," he said. "A good scriptwriter is a good listener but he shall never simply yield to the appeals of fans. He is good at giving audiences surprises."

TV professionals are also expecting new production and business model that specifically caters to young enthusiasts.

The weekly broadcasting of the series, though common in Western countries is still relatively new to Chinese audiences. But industry insiders believed that in the near future a new mode of broadcasting while shooting will also be promoted in China and change original methods of casting, script-writing and marketing.

Wu Bai, director of the hit suspense online series "Evil Minds," said that scriptwriting and production of online series are more flexible and creative today. Fast-paced series with original story and new styles of cinematography are well-received among the Netizens.

Vaun Wilmott, producer and screenwriter of the fifth season of "Prison Break," said that he is very willing to show the series in China and bring Chinese series with good ideas and human stories to the United States.

The story of the fifth season of "Prison Break" is a universal journey to return home. Wilmott said they will show audience fresh and unique things they haven't seen before.

Celebrated Hollywood producer Nicole Clemens said that everything in production starts from an innovative story. Before they decide to make movies and TV, they need to test the pilot to see whether it is favored by audience and critics.




 

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