Taiwan has become a go-to destination for Chinese language series production over the past few years, as international streamers have taken the initiative and as the local content trend has become entrenched in Asia.
While some of Taiwan’s advantage may have been handed to it as a result of regional political factors, the movement has led to greater interest in Taiwan stories, both historical and modern.
Five Taiwan TV projects are being pitched at Series Mania, that are deemed to have international appeal according to Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), a government-backed agency that has become noticeably proactive over roughly the same period.
“Bubble Battle,” a seven-episode drama from Pixelfly Digital Effects, riffs on the enduring Taiwanese (and East Asian) infatuation with bubble tea (tea with chewy tapioca balls, or other toppings, known as pearls or boba). It charts an upstart pair’s multiple attempts to operate a bubble tea shop, come up with a unique selling point, and cope with success. When success arrives, it is followed by intense rivalry from competitors and former friends. Writers on the show are Rock Chang and Kasim Tung.
Renegades Entertainment’s “Judoka” is the simplest pitch. Proposed as an eight-episode series, the sports romance action series sees a washed up Taiwanese judo player fall in love with a North Korean female gold medallist. In order to meet again they must both win and there are obstacles in the way for each of them. The show is written by Kay Chen and Zhuang Rong-zuo with direction by Tom YC Lee and Jae Yang. The show was previously pitched at Series Mania last November during the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF).
Studio 76’s “Brides Town” has something of “The Handmaid’s Tale” about it. A sci-fi, suspense, drama, it is set in an isolated castle like town where young women are groomed to become perfect women and eventually perfect brides. But after understanding that they are being manipulated the women attempt to stand up for themselves. The six-episode show is written by Fan Chichi and Ariel Wang. No director is yet attached.
Produced and directed by Jae Yang, and written by Chen Fang-chi and Lee Chuan-yang, “Cry Me Through Hell” is a fantasy-family-romance series expected to run to ten episodes, from Starry Entertainment. The story follows a female grim reaper who has been unleashing the most heinous tortures on sinners for over a century in order to earn enough credits for a first-class reincarnation. Instead, she is demoted to the tear collection unit, where she must cooperate with its sleazy boss. Eventually, the woman begins to analyze and understand her predicament, save her boss and confront the depths of her own past life that led her to hell in the first place.
“Morakot” takes its title from the 2009 typhoon that struck Taiwan and is recorded as the most severe the island has ever experienced. The story sees a woman doctor return at the head of a search and rescue team to the home she left ten years earlier. What they find is not just structural damage, but a population that seems to have disappeared leaving strange traces of an alternative civilization. As the international team probes the mystery, they die off one by one. The eight-episode suspense series is written by Francesca Lin and produced by Amy Ma and Eric Chen of MA Studios and 109 Studios.
The TAICCA-backed Taiwan Pavilion sees a total of 32 Taiwanese companies offering 73 projects, both completed and in development for consideration by international producers and financiers.
Series Mania’s IP Pitch: Book to Screen has also selected Ching Ling Foo: The Second Greatest Magician of All Time, from The Grayhawk Agency, to present alongside four other international titles.
“Both Series Mania and TAICCA share a vision of getting beyond a limited focus on trade to enriching the global audiovisual ecosystem. Through exchange visits from representatives of both sides and joint project selection for the pitching forum, close collaboration furthers the connection of Taiwan’s industry to its international partners,” said TAICCA’s CEO Izero Lee in a prepared statement.