With the popularity of short video platforms, we often see one- or two-minute “rustic skits” when browsing social media.
The most well-known among them may be " The Crooked Dragon King " played by actor Guan Yunpeng.
("Crooked-mouthed Dragon King")
With his "evil smile", you will know that "the three-year period has arrived" and the "Dragon King" will not be able to become the "son-in-law". He will go back and inherit the tens of billions of family Finished...
To put it bluntly, a series of earthy short dramas represented by "Dragon King" can be summarized as follows:
The protagonist has a prominent identity but is not showy, and is willing to live under the protection of others and suffer bullying.
Finally, a third party recognized the identity of the protagonist and made it public in an exaggerated manner, so all the people who had bullied the protagonist were pushed to the ground and rubbed by him...
If we look at it according to the standards of the mature film and television industry You can find countless flaws in these earthy short dramas:
forcefully set up illogical reversals in order to pretend to slap someone in the face, the same routine is reused indefinitely, the characters are facially made up, the special effects are cheap, the acting is exaggerated, and the camerawork is strange. ...
But in a short video of one or two minutes, these problems may not be a problem.
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Although I don’t know why, and I don’t know who is watching it,
but there is an inexplicable market for such earthy short dramas, so much so that practitioners have developed different "genre films",
What is "pretty" "Wives", "Boss", "Sister-in-law", "Time Travel"...
Back then, Guan Yunpeng was still a little-known actor. Because of the cold winter of film and television, he only went there if he needed to make a living. When filming such earthy short dramas, I didn’t expect that the more I filmed,
(Guan Yunpeng’s self-report)
I didn’t expect that a blessing in disguise was a blessing in disguise. The role of “Dragon King” made him popular.
Now that a few years have passed, he She has actually participated in some TV series and has more than 3 million fans on Weibo.
All this proves that perhaps these "shoddy" earthy short dramas really have commercial value.
The sense of capital is always very keen. Some people saw the potential of local short dramas and began to "export culture" overseas.
So we saw such a poster:
(Foreign version of local short drama)
Translated, it can probably be called "The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband" ...
has that taste.
This "overlord drama" comes from the American video app ReelShort, which was developed by California's Crazy Maple Studio. It sounds like it was founded by Americans,
but according to reports from the "New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal (wsj)" , The studio has offices in Beijing and Shenzhen. The founder of is also called Jia Joey (joey jia, transliteration), and he is very likely to be of Chinese origin.
(crazy maple studio’s official website states that it has offices in Beijing and Shenzhen)
In addition, the studio is also backed by Beijing’s digital publisher col group.
’s domestic name is “col Chinese Online”, and its official website Listed a lot of Internet IPs they have mastered, they should be specialized in this aspect:
(taken from the official website of Chinese Online)
In this way, the "foreign version of the local short drama" reveals a strong Chinese flavor , there is an explanation...
However, they did not copy all the local short dramas in China, but did some "localization transformation".
In addition to some universal themes of the spoiled wife and boss, , they have filmed a lot of werewolves, vampires and other themes that Americans like:
"Stealing a Billionaire to Be a Husband"
(Country-flavored short drama poster)
"Love Me, Bite Me"
(Country-flavored short drama poster )
"My Companion is a Vampire"
(Poster of Earthy Short Drama)
"Countdown to 30 Days to Marry My Husband's Old Enemy"
(Poster of Earthy Short Drama)
"True Moon"
(Poster of Earthy Short Drama) )
"Bad Husband, Please Wake Up", there is actually a second part of this thing...
(Poster of the earthy short drama)
The taste is so authentic, after basically reading the title and poster, you can I have almost figured out the plot...
Each of the above posters represents a "series", and each series has about 60 to 90 episodes. Each episode is one or two minutes long, which is equal to a movie. The duration is about the same.
Of course, it is impossible for users to watch it in one go. The first few episodes of are generally free, but if you want to watch further, you have to top up.
For example, this movie "Stealing a Billionaire to Be a Husband" has 63 episodes, of which only the first 7 episodes are free:
(63 episodes of the Overlord short drama)
The next episode costs 85 "gold coins", so That is to say, it costs 4760 gold coins to finish reading this series, and the total price of is slightly less than 50 dollars.
(reelshort recharge price)
As a comparison, if you go to the theater to watch " Oppenheimer " now, it will cost less than 15 dollars...
(the ticket price of a certain theater in the United States)
According to common sense Presumably, it seems that no one will pay for such a rustic short drama, but the truth is surprising - will really have people paying for it, and the number is definitely a lot...
22 from Baltimore Year-old college student Toyosi Owolabi is one of them.
She saw the promotion of reelshort on tiktok last year and downloaded it out of curiosity.
Since that day, she has finished watching 10 series, and she will browse the app for an hour or two every day, spending about 11 US dollars to unlock new episodes...
She said that these earthy short dramas make her I am reminded of the fan fiction I read in adolescence, and it is even more addictive:
"I am fascinated because every episode ends in suspense, making people look forward to what will happen next."
Girls like her are reelshort The main source of income, according to Jia Joy, ’s core audience is women who love watching soap operas, accounting for about 75%.
I have to say that the consumption intensity of female users is still very scary. According to wsj reports, reelshort’s total revenue as of December last year has exceeded 22 million US dollars.
last month alone, its downloads in the Apple Store reached 1 million. times, earning $5 million.
(reelshort’s revenue has exceeded 22 million U.S. dollars)
Currently on the Android platform Google Play, the total downloads of reelshort have exceeded 10 million;
(number of downloads on the Android platform)
On Apple, reelshort has also rushed into the entertainment app category. Got to tenth place.
Don’t underestimate this number 10. It is preceded by large streaming media platforms such as TikTok, HBO Max, Netflix, and Hulu—it even beats Disney+...
(Apple Store Ranking) As an emerging app,
is definitely proud of its achievements.
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On the other hand, just as the "Dragon King" series has brought job opportunities to domestic actors, reelshort is also creating jobs in the United States.
The production cost of a short drama is only about 300,000 US dollars. Of course, it cannot afford to hire big names, but it is just right for some fresh graduates who cannot find jobs.
(Recent actors on reelshort set)
Last year, 24-year-old film student Samantha Drews graduated and easily got a role in reelshort without even auditioning.
As for salary, she said that compared with other acting jobs, the price offered by reelshort is "very competitive."
drews played the role of "contract wife" in "The CEO's Contract Wife".
She is a single mother who is short of money. At this time, her sister is seriously ill, so she has no choice but to work as a call girl.
In the process, she meets a handsome and rich CEO, but the CEO's grandfather forces him to Get married and have children quickly, or you will step down...
(Poster of "Contract Wife")
In short, it matches the title of the drama, and you can almost guess the plot behind it, but Drews said:
"This is not at all Reasonable, every minute, there will be a place that attracts you."
Not only that, she is quite proud of her experience, saying:
"I can say now that I have starred in 15 to 16 films in the past few years. , not every actor can say that."
Due to the small number of people and the simple plot, a reelshort drama can basically be filmed in three to five days. More than ten films have been filmed in the past few years, which is actually not an exaggeration.
can make money and gain experience on set, so why not?
It is not only fledgling actors like Drews who recognize the reelshort model.
Some seniors who are well-known in the film and television industry also have a positive attitude toward it, such as 57-year-old Camille James Harman.
(camille james harman)
She played a supporting role in "Vice" in 2018. She didn't have many roles, but she has a good vision.
This film won 6 Golden Globe nominations and 8 Oscar nominations , as a member of the crew, theoretically she would not have to worry about running out of scenes.
But she still played the role of "Evil Stepmother" in "The Double Life of Billionaire Husband", and she said that after playing this role, received much more response than before...
( " Double Life " stills)
The local short drama is more than the Oscar nomination...
For those less famous actors, this may also be a new way out...
Looking to the future, ReelShort plans to launch more earthy short dramas, and its goal in 2024 is to shoot another 100.
And as they make more and more money, the local short dramas also begin to develop in a sophisticated direction.
Leomax He, who directed three works for them last year, said:
"The budget is getting bigger and bigger, the cameras are getting better and better, and there are more and more staff. Now some filming will hire stunt actors or even sex scene coordinators."
(reelshort studio)
Inspired by reelshort, other similar earthy short drama apps have begun to appear on the market.
is now searching in the app store and can actually find a few, and the ratings are not low... ....
(one of the apps)
The following one also broke into the top 100 in the entertainment category:
(one of the apps)
It may only be a matter of time before local short plays become popular overseas...
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