What does AI bring to the film and television industry? "At least stories that couldn't be filmed in the past will finally be filmed." This is the emotion expressed by Hou Hongliang, president of the China TV Drama Production Industry Association and chairman of Dongyang Zhongwu Sunshine Film and Television Co., Ltd. Recently, at the TV series (online drama) forum of the 2026 China Radio and Television Quality Creation Conference, he shared a story about "new technology making up for regrets".
"I have always had a regret when making feature films: some stories are established in literature, but due to limitations of scenes, costs and production conditions, they can only be reduced, simplified, or even abandoned during the filming stage." Hou Hongliang said that the idea for the TV series "Chongqing" was born 10 years ago, but it was difficult to complete at the time. Now with the help of AI, virtual production and real-person mixed production, the show finally has the conditions for filming and will start shooting on November 7.
Behind the creative restart that has been put on hold for 10 years is the new space that AI has opened up for the film and television industry.
During the conference, practitioners in the film and television industry discussed the impact of AI on the industry. When AI makes image generation easier, what is the real threshold for film and television creation? How should the industry respond to change?
Hou Hongliang believes that new technologies have changed the way creative verification and project decision-making are done. He recently watched a film project, and the film director used AI to do a 20-minute "preview". "After watching it, I will know whether the project can move forward, which direction the script should be revised, and whether the film style can be established." In his view, AI does not make judgments for people, but allows judgments to occur earlier and with more specific basis, lowering the threshold of trial and error and giving more ideas a chance to be seen.
"Some people say that AI is a 'scourge', as if once it arrives, film and television creation will be over; others say that AI is a 'panacea,' and as long as it is learned, everyone can produce great works. I don't agree with either of these statements." At the conference's AI-empowered creation salon, Guo Jingyu, founder and chairman of Changxin Media Holdings Group, said.
Guo Jingyu raised a question: "In the AI era, what will become cheaper and cheaper?" His judgment is that it will become easier and easier to generate pictures, mediocre works will naturally become cheaper, while good stories, good characters, good IP, and truly creative creators will become more and more expensive. What really determines how far an IP can go is still the ability to continue writing, the skill of character creation, and the patience to build a worldview.
Yiyi Xi, deputy director of the TV Drama Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television, said that artificial intelligence is reshaping film and television creation with unprecedented breadth and depth, significantly lowering the entry threshold and making it possible for stories that were once unfilmable, unpublished, and uninvested to be seen. In the past year, AIGC (artificial intelligence generated content) works such as "Soul Ferry" and "Journey to the West" have verified the feasibility of AIGC in the industrial production of drama series. Artificial intelligence is no longer just an auxiliary tool for film and television production, but a creative force that can independently produce long video content and land on mainstream big screens, and can give new vitality to classic traditional cultural IP.
Many film and television industry practitioners have proposed that AI should serve creation, rather than having creation revolve around AI.
Documentary director Li Dongshen has launched nearly 50 documentary series in more than ten years. "Journey to the West" is his first long-form AI drama. He believes that "the AIGC model is not a tool, it is your partner." He opposes the "super creator" model of "one-man crew". "If a person has limited imagination and shortcomings in his abilities, it will lower the possibility of his work. Building a full collaborative relationship between people around the AIGC model is the only way to make AIGC's future creation possible."
"I Don't Envy the Mandarin Ducks, Only the Immortals" directed by Wei Zheng is the first long-length AI season drama starring real people. "The script took a year and a half to work on." He said that AI "can greatly improve the implementability and executability of our imagination." But he also emphasized that long-form dramas must retain the "human" content, adhere to human-machine collaboration, and set a benchmark with real-life performances and sincere creations.
At the talent salon of the conference, Liu Yanhong, vice president of Youku of Orca Entertainment Group and initiator of the "Chunmiao Screenwriter Project", said that AI tools can be popularized, and aesthetics and emotional expression of stories are the truly scarce and irreplaceable core competitiveness in the content industry.
Zhang Shuting, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and President of Communication University of China, proposed that talent training in the AI era should anchor value coordinates, adhere to human subjectivity, and promote cross-border innovation. He said that technology cannot replace human value judgments, emotions, etc. Human-machine collaboration and human-machine separation are two key abilities for talent cultivation in the AI era. Students should be guided to be good at controlling AI while maintaining independent aesthetics and thinking.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Shen Jiequn
Source: China Youth Daily November 09, 2026 Page 08
