Losing the lead in TV dramas
However, starting in 2000, Taiwan's leading role began to be severely challenged.
The recession has caused the major TV stations in Taiwan to lose money month after month, and the recording industry has been hurt by pirating.
Because the PRC government keeps its media heavily restricted, Taiwan is still the center for entertainment news and variety shows. But beyond that, artists, record companies, drama producers and agents all found they need to "work the crowd" and started to look at the PRC as the main market. Some artists, such as Huang An and Chang Hsin-che, even totally gave up on the Taiwan market to concentrate on the PRC.
At this time, mainland China put a cap on investment by Taiwan and Hong Kong entertainment companies.
"In the 1980s, the PRC was thirsty for foreign capital, and a producer such as Chiung Yao would receive most favorable treatment," explains Ho Hsiu-chiung, a producer of television dramas and also the daughter-in-law of Chiung Yao. She explains that in 2000, the PRC government realized the need to cultivate and protect the local entertainment industry and started to put restrictions on television dramas produced by Taiwan or Hong Kong producers as well as to restrict the percentage of staff from outside the mainland.
The State Administration of Broadcasting and Television of the PRC divides TV series into the two categories: "national productions" and "co-productions." As the name implies, national productions mean TV dramas produced by mainland TV stations. For these, there can be at most two actors or actresses from either Taiwan or Hong Kong. Producers, playwrights and directors can be from Taiwan or Hong Kong, but their names cannot appear in the credits. And, there are only a certain number of national productions each year, so it is hard to get the rights to one.
Co-productions mean TV dramas produced by production companies from Taiwan or Hong Kong together with a mainland TV station. There is no cap on the number of dramas a company can produce, but they cannot get a prime-time spot on any station. You would be producing with prime-time costs only to be put in a second-choice slot, which just doesn't pay.
Wu Tsung-te, who wrote, directed and produced City Ladies, has a lot of gripes.
"In the studio, I was not allowed to speak when reporters came. That was my show!" He said that he hated to leave his homeland, but the NT$500,000 production budget per show that Taiwan television stations now provide for prime time is not enough to produce anything good.
To a businessman, profits come first. Hsu Ching-liang, who produced Wind and Cloud in the PRC, says that everyone feels frustrated and bad about not being able to use their Taiwan crews, but under this system they still all want to fight for the opportunities to produce national productions.
The cap on actors and actresses from Taiwan and Hong Kong, who were the hottest stars only a few years ago, has also had its impact. Producer Young Pei-pei points out that top mainland stars demand several times more than stars from Taiwan and Hong Kong. "But I still have to use them because of the regulations," she says.
The Chinese economy has been reformed, but speech remains tightly controlled. Pop culture magazines without political content are the first wave in media liberalization in mainland China.