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Production: Taiwan
Island Nation 2
Taiwan is making a play for a position as Asia’s best co-production partner. With a vibrant creative community, none of the censorship limitations or political restrictions that plague other markets, and a host of filming incentives, it’s not the region’s toughest sell. When GagaOOlala founder Jay Lin took to the stage during Tiffcom in
103 million, GagaOOlala has nevertheless carved a unique entertain-
Japan in October this year, and then a few days later at the Taiwan Cre-
ment space for an underserved community. The platform’s production
ative Content Fest in Taipei, he stood for more than a slate of new shows
unit, GOL Studios, has attracted filmmakers such as Nancy Chen (Papa
looking for production partners and financing.
and Daddy), Adiamond Lee (Five Lessons in Happiness – Homebound)
Lin, together with the filmmakers he is gathering under the GOL Studios banner, speaks to a generation of creators confident in their storytelling skills, fresh from a hard-won fight for gender equality, unshackled by censorship, free to wander wherever their creativity takes them, religion and
and Thailand’s Aam Anusorn Soisa-ngim (Present Perfect), who directed GOL Studios’ first Thai Boys Love (BL) original, Call It What You Want. GagaOOlala ramps up diversity and inclusion in an environment where the scope of drama today is as broad as the demand for it is vibrant.
politics included, and – critically – supported by a two-and-a-half-year-old
Titles out of Taiwan encompass everything from this year’s epic histori-
government agency, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), with a
cal TV series Seqalu: Formosa 1867 by public broadcaster PTS to apoca-
clear goal to carve a space for Taiwan on the global content stage.
lyptic love story Rainless Love in a Godless Land (2021), which is Chinese
Supervised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, TAICCA’s focus these days is on co-production. This focus is driven by exploding demand from local
streamer iQiyi’s first original with Taiwanese production house, Three Phoenixes. And a whole lot in between.
and global streaming platforms, including iQiyi, Netflix, Viu and HBO Go,
Following early stumbles with widely panned Nowhere Man (2019)
as well as the Squid Game effect, which has given Asian creators a new
– Netflix’s first fully funded Mandarin original – the global streamer has
confidence in their ability to participate in the global boom.
shaped its Taiwan slate with titles such as this year’s Heaven on the Fourth
Newcomers are bound to boost production fortunes even further.
Floor and Golden Bell Award-nominated series, The Victims’ Game.
Disney+ launched in Taiwan this month. In the run-up, the streamer an-
Directed by Singing Chen for public broadcaster PTS, Heaven on the
nounced Taiwanese comedy drama, Small & Mighty, starring Chen Bo-
Fourth Floor stars Anthony Wong (Infernal Affairs) as a masseuse able to
Lin, and Women in Taipei as part of its upsized production slate that aims
heal emotional wounds. The show was on Netflix’s top 10 in Taiwan for
to have 50 APAC originals by 2023. HBO Max is on its way; while the mar-
five weeks running from 11 Oct to 14 Nov.
ket is familiar with WarnerMedia’s current streamer, HBO Go, Max could be an entirely new product.
Season two of Golden Bell Award-nominated series, The Victims’ Game, by Greener Grass Productions, returns exclusively to Netflix in
And, of course, not forgetting the five-year-old Taipei-based LGBTQ+
2022, with producers Hank Tseng and Phil Tang and directors David Ch-
streaming platform GagaOOlala, which launched globally in May 2020
uang and Allen Chen. Season one stars Joseph Chang in the story of a
and now has 1.2 million registered members around the world. The plat-
forensic detective who, after discovering his estranged daughter’s link to
form carries 1,200 titles, including a fast-growing slate of originals.
murders, risks everything to solve the case.
If this pales against Netflix’s 214 million, Disney+’s 116 million and iQiyi’s
18
Taiwan’s recent batch of premium originals also stretches across crime
contentasia december 2021