cover news reporter Xiong Yingying
Here traditional film and television screenwriters are still complaining about being deprived of their signatures, arbitrarily changing scripts, and lowering remuneration. On the other hand, short drama editors earning 100,000 a month are on the hot search.
In 2024, the short drama market will continue to boom, and "how profitable are short dramas?" has also become a hot topic. Recently, a cover news reporter interviewed a number of short play practitioners. Some practitioners said that there are screenwriters who earn 100,000 yuan a month, but they only account for about 1% of the total. Normally, the price of a short play script is 10,000 to 50,000 yuan. between.
A short play is quoted at 10,000-50,000
html February monthly income is 100,000. Editors account for only 1%
Screenwriter Jiujiu is a graduate of a film and television school and has 7 years of directing experience. In August 2022, he entered the short play industry through a friend's introduction. "There are many reasons for joining the industry, such as the decline of the long-form drama market, the impact of the epidemic, etc., but it is definitely not because of the high income. At that time, writing a script only cost 5,000-8,000 yuan."
Currently, Jiujiu has created more than ten works and has I run a script studio, and the best-performing ones have around 50 million views and over 10 million recharges. In early January this year, his creation "We Don't Know Me Again" was officially launched and soon topped the list of popular dramas. The reporter noticed that as of now, the play has been played more than 40 million times on a certain platform.
Screenwriter Jiujiu's works have been played over 10 million times on a certain platform.
Jiujiu, who has many hit dramas under her belt, has also received many cooperation invitations, and the quotation she gave is 40,000-50,000 yuan for a single drama. , plus a 1% share of the total recharge.
Jiujiu introduced that the income of short play screenwriters is basically guaranteed + share model. The minimum guarantee for novice screenwriters who are just getting started is about 10,000-15,000 yuan per movie. The price for screenwriters with online works is 15,000-20,000 yuan per movie; Authors with more than 10 million recharges are considered to have hit works, and the price is generally between 20,000 and 30,000 per work; if there are multiple works with more than 10 million recharges or a phenomenal hit scriptwriter, the guaranteed price will reach 50,000 per work. .
"Only those screenwriters who have works that are both phenomenal hits and continue to be on the list with tens of millions of recharges every month will reach 100,000, and these top authors can probably count them on one hand." in In Jiujiu’s view, the topic of the scriptwriter of the popular short drama earning 100,000 a month is indeed an exaggeration.
This statement was also recognized by another short drama editor. The screenwriter said that there are indeed people who earn 100,000 yuan a month, but they only account for about 1% of the total, and the income of short play screenwriters is not stable. They may earn tens of thousands this month and 0 next month.
Short drama themes are becoming more and more popular
But the industry is "increasingly complicated"
"Receive high-quality scripts, consider cooperation first after completing the script" "Newcomers can apply, guaranteed starting from 1.50,000 + share"... With the The short drama market is booming. Many self-proclaimed producers and short drama editors have posted similar updates on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. They are actively receiving and reviewing manuscripts even during the Spring Festival.
A short drama editor posted a script collection update on Xiaohongshu
According to the requirements given by various editors, a short drama generally has 80-100 episodes. Contributors need to provide the script content of the first ten episodes, plus an outline and character biographies. .
"Short dramas are usually paid based on 10 episodes, so it is crucial to retain the audience in the first 10 episodes." An editor from a script studio said that if the text of the first 10 episodes is passed, the contract can be signed, and 30 episodes have been drafted. , 30% deposit in advance.
The above-mentioned editor also said that there are currently no rigid requirements for the subject matter of short drama scripts. As long as the subject matter is novel, the content is rhythmic, the contradictions are prominent, and clear points are given in each episode.
However, these requirements are not easy to meet. Many short play screenwriters said that the passing rate of scripts is getting lower and lower now. Even if they are passed, it is common to stay up late to polish and revise them. "For a script of about 100 episodes, it takes more than half a month to finalize, read and revise. It takes more energy and effort than writing an online article, and the income is not necessarily as high as that of an online article." A former Internet article writer transformed The short play writer said.
"Each platform has high or low levels, and the platform also needs some high-impact dramas, but this year there are fewer of them, and everyone is starting to produce high-quality products." Screenwriter Jiujiu also clearly feels that although the more themes are developed, the more the The skits keep getting bigger and bigger every year.
The market size may exceed 50 billion in 2024
But short dramas are not as profitable as expected
According to iiMedia Consulting’s forecast, China’s micro-short drama market size will reach 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 267.65%. The market size is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in 2024 Yuan, exceeding 100 billion Yuan in 2027.
At the same time, the number of users of short dramas is also expanding. Questmobile data shows that between October and November 2023, the number of users of short drama applications has grown exponentially, jumping from 90 million in November 2022 to 120 million, a year-on-year increase of 1125.84%.
Picture according to short drama data platform dataeye industry report
According to Internet industry analyst Zhang Shule, the reason why short dramas are so popular is that they tap into the groups of people ignored by long videos. "Most movies and long-form dramas are chasing the preferences of young people, and middle-aged and elderly people are 'ignored'. This group of people has strong paying ability and unexplored desire to pay, but they are also keen on short videos. Short dramas just cut into a blue ocean."
After activating the interest of middle-aged and elderly people, short dramas began to be subdivided vertically in terms of genres. The proportion of suspense, comedy, fantasy, family and other themes has increased. Representative works have been produced in new fields such as male videos and police and gangsters, and they have gradually become more popular. Young man's itch.
Zhang Shule believes that the competition for short dramas will become increasingly fierce in the future, and will indirectly cut into the stock market of long videos. After all, the total time of users is limited, and one will lose or the other will grow. But on the other hand, some domestic long-form dramas are also moving towards the "short drama" model, that is, the number of episodes in a season is "NFL-ified", thereby attracting fans and forming real IP dramas to compete for users' time.
has a bright market prospect, but short plays don’t seem to be as profitable as imagined. The relevant person in charge of Dianzhong Technology, a leading short drama company, previously stated in a media interview that the media platform accounts for the majority of the short drama industry's revenue sharing, and the remaining copyright owners, producers, producers and distributors share about 15%. of gross profit.
And some short dramas with tens of millions of traffic may cost a lot of streaming fees. Dataeye, a short drama data platform, shows that at the beginning of 2023, the daily traffic cost of the short drama industry was about 30 million yuan, exceeding 60 million yuan around the Dragon Boat Festival, and peaking at more than 100 million yuan during the National Day.
