Squid Game inspiration
As international streaming platforms have set up in Taiwan, PTS’s forward-looking planning has elevated the production values of dramatic productions. PTS has released a succession of noteworthy shows, including The World Between Us, Seqalu: Formosa 1867, and Gold Leaf. These have continued to deepen production teams’ experience.
International streaming platforms are accustomed to buying exclusive broadcast rights. Although going this route allows production companies to obtain higher payouts, it precludes the shows from being watched on local television or local streaming platforms, limiting commercial opportunities for local distribution channels. If this approach becomes the norm, then international platforms will monopolize the best shows. Daphne Yang, CEO of CatchPlay, a Taiwan streaming and multimedia company, believes that giving international platforms control over the success or failure of local productions will not be a good thing for the industry’s long-term development.
She gives the example of Squid Game, a Korean drama that has garnered a lot of attention in recent years. It became a topic of conversation around the world and yielded Netflix possibly more than US$100 million in profits. Yet the subsequent economic benefits didn’t contribute to the development of Korea’s film industry. As an industry insider herself, Yang is growing worried about this state of affairs. If nothing is done, Taiwanese TV production companies will increasingly lose power over their own creative space.
Consequently, for Season 2 of The Making of an Ordinary Woman, CatchPlay’s Screenworks Asia concluded that the conditions demanded by foreign platforms were not advantageous to Taiwan’s local platforms. Chen Shaoyi, senior director of content production for Screenworks Asia, explains that after struggling with the issue for a period, they eventually insisted that the show be broadcast on CatchPlay, CTS and other Taiwanese channels. “The hope was that outstanding dramatic content would give Taiwanese platforms a chance for continued growth.”
Thanks to far-sighted planning and public fundraising, the show Seqalu recreates mid-19th-century Taiwan, telling a story about how various ethnic communities interacted on the island. (courtesy of PTS)
Daphne Yang, CEO of CatchPlay (left) and Chen Shaoyi, senior director of content production for CatchPlay’s Screenworks Asia, bring international marketing experience to television production, helping Taiwanese shows locate foreign financing and production partners. The goal is for these shows to make their mark overseas.