The Teenage Psychic Set to Dazzle International Viewers

Taiwanese television serials have long made a habit of borrowing premises from abroad, taking as their subject-matter affairs that have little connection to ordinary people’s lives—whether in over-the-top love stories or soap operas about wealthy families. In contrast to the industry’s mainstream, Teenage Psychic director Chen Ho-yu has long wanted to focus on more Taiwanese subject-­matter and film the shared symbols of Taiwan’s people. An avowed skeptic of the supernatural, he was nonetheless drawn to a story he read about a local psychic named Sophia.

Possessed of keen insight into people’s mental state and wellbeing, Sophia became a temple psychic at the age of just 15. In this role, she regularly witnessed soap-opera-like disputes over inheritances and power struggles between local heavyweights. Sophia also applied her perceptiveness to herself, taking a proactive approach to her life and to understanding herself. Those efforts led her to give up her work as a psychic at the age of 26, convert to Islam, and ultimately become Taiwan’s first female international baseball umpire.

A self-professed perfectionist, director Chen Ho-yu (second from right) demands that his actors depict emotional nuances.

Diving into the Mandarin market

The story inspired Chen to write a script that moved producer Liu Yu-­shiuan in turn. Liu subsequently abandoned her plans to pursue advanced studies abroad in favor of visiting temples all over Taiwan with Chen to conduct in-depth interviews with psychics. The two went on to work together—Chen as writer and director and Liu as producer—to create a short film entitled The Busy Young Psychic mobilizing more than 100 cast and crew members.

The film received much acclaim when it premiered on the Public Television Service (PTS) in March 2013. It went on to be nominated for a Golden Horse Best Short Film award, receive the Best Live-Action Film award from the 2015 Singapore International Children’s Film Festival, and represent Taiwan at France’s One Country, One Film Apchat International Film Festival.

The Busy Young Psychic was well received both in Taiwan and abroad, but fans complained that its 30-minute run time simply wasn’t enough. Chen and Liu responded by deciding to create a longer piece, with Chen working on the script while Liu looked for investors. Their efforts happened to coincide with HBO’s hunt for a means to break into the Mandarin market. When Jessie Shih, director of the international department at PTS, suggested that HBO Asia, Singapore’s InFocus Asia, and PTS form a three-way partnership to produce HBO’s first original Mandarin series telling a Taiwanese story, the principals agreed and production got underway.

Producer Liu Yu-shiuan

A new generation

Chen and Liu made an unusual choice for their show’s production team: instead of building a typical team filled with industry veterans, they assembled a group that averages less than 30 years of age in hopes of showcasing the strength and youthful creativity of Taiwan’s TV and film industries to the international ­community.

Chen says that in the years between the 2013 premiere of The Busy Young Psychic and the 2016 launch of The Teenage Psychic, supernatural topics involving temples and psychics, subject-matter that Taiwanese find both familiar and uncanny, have become a hot new trend. But Chen believes that the innumerable film and TV depictions of ghosts, ranging from the cartoony to the anthropomorphic, have all lacked something. With that in mind, he refocused his attention on the part of his story that moved him, the idea that psychics are doing their best to live their own lives, and then spent a great deal of time rethinking his characters’ personalities and the plot. He explains that has tried to present the audience with a teenage protagonist torn between love, schoolwork, and the desire to be faithful to her religious beliefs, living in the moment amid her ever-changing circumstances.

Guo Shu­yao, who plays the protagonist on the show, began working in the entertainment industry at the age of 16 to help shoulder her family’s financial burdens, and retains a surprisingly innocent air in spite of her decade in acting. Chen cast her as lead character Xie Ya­zhen because he felt Guo’s background and personality were similar to that of the character.

When Guo first learned that she’d been chosen to play the role, she began studying the protagonist from The Busy Young Psychic. She later realized that Chen wanted the lead in The Teenage Psychic to be her own person, neither the Xie ­Junya of The Busy Young Psychic nor the Sophia reported on in the news. To play the psychic, Guo had to overcome her fear of fire and learn to pick up burning paper charms with her fingers. She also had to trade her graceful, clean-cut look for boyish short hair and swagger, and learn to yawn and drool on camera.

Director Chen Ho-yu

A spark for the industry

Chen Ho-yu believes that the heart of his series lies in its portrayal of emotions. He therefore talks over the plot with his cast, who may have ideas on how to play their roles or on adding lines, before he begins to shoot. He then asks his actors to immerse themselves completely in the emotions of the moment once the cameras roll.

Chen pays close attention to the particular strengths of each of his ­actors, and provides guidance to them before filming. For example, Tsai Ven Chy, a newcomer to the industry who plays the male lead, struggles to interpret feelings. Chen has tried to help with that by sending him to acting classes and on dates with Guo Shu­yao intended to strengthen their connection to one another. Tsai initially found it challenging to play opposite the more experienced Guo, but the coaching he’s received from the production team has given him a firmer handle on the ebullient character he plays, and enabled him to more fully express the character’s emotions.

Chen and Liu take the casting of the show’s minor characters just as seriously as they do its major roles. For example, when they needed someone to play a skinny, hobo-like man possessed by a spirit and swinging a sword, they hired Shih Tung-ling, a member of Golden Bough ­Theatre. Shih enlivened the role with his experience and physical presence, while also coaching Guo on her use of a sword. The decision to cast him had other benefits as well, including providing the stage actor with an opportunity to break into TV, and bringing a theatrical spark to the television production.

HBO’s The Teenage Psychic highlights the virtues of international and interdisciplinary cooperation. Its April 2 premiere is sure to be a must-see, and will show that Taiwan’s TV and film industries are capable of continuing to deliver the outstanding entertainment products that audiences crave.

Chen Ho-yu (left) jokes that Liu Yu-shiuan (right) is his alarm bell: whenever he strays too far from their creative direction, Liu gets him back on track. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)

Guo Shuyao has worked hard at learning how to conduct divinations and fate-changing rituals, enlivening her portrayal of the series’ titular teenage psychic.

Sophia (left) has had a strong connection to the spiritual world since she was young, and, as the production’s “psychic consultant,” has provided valuable guidance to Guo Shuyao in playing her role.

Guo Shuyao (left) and Tsai Ven Chy (right) star in the outstanding TV series The Teenage Psychic.

The Teenage Psychic is slated to be aired in 23 Asian nations, including Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand, offering international viewers a glimpse of real Taiwanese culture.

Guo Shuyao (right) says she’s slow to warm up to people, but with Chen Ho-yu’s guidance she and her co-star Tsai Ven Chy (left) have grown closer. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)