The Rise and Fall of Short Dramas: Quiet Filming Sets in Zhengzhou, Thriving AI Conferences, the Industry Enters a "Dual-Track" Era

At first, I just wanted to know the answer to a question: What on earth is going on with the short drama industry?

In the past few years, the short drama industry has been extremely bustling. Studios have been continuously built in Zhengzhou, Xi'an, and Hengdian. Actor notice groups have been scrolling day and night. Some ordinary people have changed their incomes through short dramas, and some local cities have obtained new industrial business cards through short dramas. By 2026, bad news emerged: the number of live-action short drama crews decreased, the bases were vacant, actors had no plays to act in, the platform's guaranteed minimum was adjusted, and the production volume of AI short dramas skyrocketed.

The report gives an answer quickly and coldly. The report will list how many micro-short dramas were launched in the first quarter and what proportion the AI short dramas accounted for. The platform resources are being concentrated on high-quality content. However, the numbers won't explain why an actor in Hengdian suddenly couldn't get any plays after the Spring Festival; they won't clarify why only one drama started shooting at a film and television base in Zhengzhou; and they won't write clearly why all the employees of a local film and television company in Guiyang started researching prompts, model interfaces, and cloud computing power.

The data flattens the specific individuals. So, I followed these changes to look for those individuals in the midst of them.

The upheaval in the short drama industry doesn't only happen in Hengdian, nor does it only happen in Zhengzhou. It passes through film sets, Internet cafes, hotels, offices, and notice groups in different cities, dragging actors, directors, photographers, editors, production company bosses, platform service providers, and AI tool teams into the same change.

In the era of live-action short dramas, the industry connected the whole country through crews and studios; in the era of AI short dramas, the industry reconnects the whole country through models, computing power, and workflows.

The "dual-track parallel" in the short drama industry represents two kinds of uncertainties that a group of people face simultaneously.

The AI Short Drama Conference Is in Full Swing

"Why are there so many people coming here today?" On the morning of June 25th, a Didi driver asked me while taking me to the Sheraton Zhengzhou Meisheng Hotel. He had already taken several passengers to the same destination that morning.

Outside the window, the sun was shining brightly, and the big road glowed white under the high temperature. The temperature inside the car was cool. I replied to him, "There is a conference about AI short dramas here today."

"No wonder. It's been a long time since so many people came to Zhengzhou for short dramas," the driver said and then focused on driving.

The conference was held on the third floor of the hotel. The hotel staff led me to another elevator in the hotel lobby. "There are too many people over there. Let's queue up here."

Following the crowd up to the third floor, as soon as the elevator door opened, I squeezed in like at a rural fair. At the check-in desk, the queue formed a winding line along the rectangular entrance hall. I queued up behind the crowd, and the end of the queue reached all the way to the elevator entrance. Suddenly, a voice came out from the gaps in the crowd, "You don't need to queue up to enter the venue. This is the queue for a company to scan WeChat and get materials."

After hearing that, I left the queue and entered the venue. As soon as I entered, there was a booth of the well - known domestic short drama brand, Tinghua Island, on the right. In April this year, Tinghua Island announced its entry into the overseas short drama business. Their exhibition nameplate had Tinghua Island and FlickReels written together - the latter is its overseas AI short drama platform.

The booth of Tinghua Island was crowded with people.

The further I went inside, the more difficult it became because there were too many people. There were 48 booths in the venue. Including the check - in desk, there were a total of 49 companies participating in the exhibition. That is to say, the place where the off - site participants queued up to check in had been sold by the organizer to an exhibitor.

Xiu Tai learned that the page of this event on the "Huodongxing" platform had been viewed more than 200,000 times, and the number of registered people exceeded 3,000. Since no tickets were required for entry, the people participating in the exhibition on - site came from all over the country, and it was estimated that there were more than 4,000 people.

I saw on - site that the boss of a production company brought his artists to the conference. The boss was communicating with the staff on the booth about the cost and process of AI - generated videos. The male actor in a beige polo shirt and the female actor in a pink dress leaned in to listen, their eyes fixed on the boss and the staff.

Some actors came alone. Male actors especially like to wear light - colored polo shirts, perhaps to show a certain old - money - like new - rich temperament. They generally don't take the initiative to ask the staff at the booths and always stand in the crowd, standing out like a flower. On the contrary, female actors are different. I saw several female actors shuttling between different booths, chatting with the staff about the production cost and learning cycle of AI short dramas and adding WeChat.

On that day, the list of exhibitors almost covered every aspect of AI short drama production: from script evaluation and storyboard systems in the early stage, to video generation and consistency control in the middle stage, and then to overseas dubbing and global promotion in the later stage... There are fewer and fewer "isolated models" that work alone, and "integrated workflows" and "full - stack solutions" that can connect multiple links are becoming the mainstream. Each exhibitor is trying to package complex AI technologies into a business closed - loop that enterprises can use immediately.

There is also competition between the booths. The more people gather at a booth, the stronger its comprehensive capabilities are. The comprehensive capabilities here include video generation ability, staff explanation ability, and material distribution ability. Companies with short drama production capabilities will directly put computers on the booths to play their short drama works. I met a company that sent its content director, business personnel, and technical staff all at once. Different people explained different contents, and for the exhibitors, they could obtain a lot of valuable information. In addition, there was also a lottery session in front of their booth, and it was very popular.

Many short drama companies participating in the exhibition don't directly produce short dramas but serve short drama companies. They cover everything from computing power, model interfaces to script evaluation, copyright, qualification handling, talent training, and short drama distribution. However, everyone understands tacitly that every aspect they are involved in is hard to be separated from the influence of ByteDance.

Many AI tool companies choose to access the cloud computing power provided by Volcengine, call Seedance to generate videos, and then release the completed short dramas on content platforms such as Hongguo Short Dramas, Douyin, or TikTok. ByteDance almost covers the four core aspects of cloud computing power, video models, content distribution, and content monetization at the same time, forming a complete closed - loop in the entire industrial chain.

The model companies, tool companies, production companies, distribution companies, and overseas service providers in the short drama industrial chain together form a new content industrial system. They are not concentrated in one city but are distributed all over the country, such as Xi'an, Shantou, Beijing, and Zhengzhou. AI allows the competition in the short drama industry to break free from geographical restrictions and directly compete in terms of capabilities.

Participants outside the conference venue on the third floor of the Sheraton Hotel

With every step I took, I could see words like "global", "overseas", "TikTok", "localization", "global distribution", and "overseas platforms". From content platforms to tool companies, and then to translation, localization, MCN, and advertising agencies, all are emphasizing overseas capabilities. The manufacturing logic of "domestic production and overseas sales" has become a popular business choice in the content industry, especially in the short drama industry.

Surprisingly, the bigger the company, the colder its booth business is. There were few people at the booth of a well - known domestic technology company, while a booth of an AI short drama production company opposite it was crowded with people. It seems that people prefer to seek cooperation with companies of similar size. There is a natural gap between giants and small companies. After chatting with several exhibitors, I found that short drama businessmen just want to know if the current cooperation partner can help them get through this summer.

Since the conference was held in Zhengzhou, the most eye - catching among the exhibitors were the "Zhengzhou Gang". Among the 49 participating companies, more than 10 were directly or indirectly related to Zhengzhou. They quickly emerged from the trough of live - action short dramas and migrated on a large scale to the AI short drama front.

A staff member of a short drama company in Zhengzhou told me that the ratio of live - action short dramas to AI short dramas produced by their company has reached 1:1. There are more than 30 full - time employees working on AI short dramas in the company. They cooperate with universities externally and let college students participate in the content production process. A group of ten people can produce a 50 - episode AI short drama in one or two days. The picture quality of such short dramas is mainly 480P and 720P, focusing on quantity. "For one minute, it costs 60 cents for 480P."

After listening to the introduction, I turned and stood in front of another booth. After more than an hour of high - density information absorption, I followed the surging crowd out of the main exhibition hall. My back was already soaked, and I was sweating profusely as I squeezed against the crowd. With every step, I passed by the new comers who had just emerged from the elevator, their eyes shining with the light of predators.

The elevator was surrounded by people. I turned around and found the stairs, followed the sign all the way down, and pushed open a door. The noise rushed in like a tide again. In the lobby, people on the go were walking on the marble floor in a hurry, chasing the next presentation.

When I reached the outdoor area on the first floor of the Sheraton Zhengzhou Meisheng, the crowd still didn't thin out. People stood in groups outside, chatting and taking taxis. A few well - dressed people who had finished visiting the exhibition were holding cigarettes between their fingers, the cigarette butts flickering.

As the light smoke dispersed, outside the door was the glaring sun on the big road in Zhengzhou; inside the door, a group of classic short drama people who had just survived a crisis were seeing a glimmer of hope in AI short dramas.

The Film and Television Bases Are Desolate

After leaving the Sheraton Zhengzhou Hotel, I went to visit the Dazhi Film and Television Base in the northeastern part of Zhengzhou's urban area. It is in a village called Huanggangmiao. People were assembling a huge backdrop in the square in front of the film and television base.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly, but it was pitch - black inside the base's theater. A few girls were sitting on the sofas in the theater. They didn't look like actors, and I didn't know what they did.

I casually walked into a lobby with a Republican - era style, climbed up the stairs to the second floor, and suddenly found myself in a desolate "hospital" ward; then I walked through the corridor, and the scene in front of me suddenly changed to a spacious modern commercial company office. After making a few turns, I went down to the first floor along the passage and finally ended up in a magnificent European - style lobby.

When I finally walked out of this maze - like theater, the outside sun made me squint. At this time, the huge backdrop had been erected. It turned out that the opening ceremony of a live - action short drama, "As White as the Snow on the Mountain 2", was about to be held here, and one of the leading actors was Wang Chenpeng.

The staff were installing the backdrop in the square.

In the work area beside, the support signs, flower bouquets, support cars, and various drinks and snacks prepared by the fans were already ready. Only then did I realize that those girls who were hiding in the shade just now were the fans who had come here upon hearing the news. They also walked out one after another and stood in a row along the shadow of the wall, avoiding the sun while eagerly waiting for the staff to finish the final preparations for the opening ceremony.

The Dazhi Film and Television Base is a well - known shooting location in Zhengzhou and even in the short drama industry. Public data shows that the first - phase investment of the Dazhi Film and Television Base was about 20 million yuan, and it was put into operation from April to May 2025. The first - phase scale is about 10,000 square meters of indoor real - scene shooting space, with nearly 50 fixed scenes, including a Republican - era lobby, a modern hospital, a police station, a hotel room, a president's office, etc. At the beginning of 2026, the base's person - in - charge said in the media that since its operation in May 2025, it had received about 2,000 crews in total. That is to say, it received about 8 crews per day on average.

However, when I walked into the small hospital office and the president's office, a strong smell of decoration hit me. I stood in the room for less than a minute, and my nose was irritated, my head started to ache, and I felt a little nauseous. I gently ran my fingers across the conference table in the business meeting room and the office desk in the hospital office, and my fingertips immediately got covered with a layer of fine dust.

Across the country, the number of short dramas that can be shot live - action has significantly decreased. When I visited the Dazhi Film and Television Base, only "As White as the Snow on the Mountain 2" was being shot on - site. This high - quality short drama, adapted from a popular novel on Qimao, was jointly produced by Qimao Short Dramas, Huayang Nianhua, and Chengying Zaiwen. The camera, monitor, lighting stand, and actors still formed a familiar crew order. However, compared with the scene where 8 live - action short dramas were being shot simultaneously at the Dazhi Film and Television Base, such crews were extremely rare. Even the small grocery store and the car wash next to it were idle.

In addition, there are several professional micro - short drama shooting bases in Zhengzhou. Among them, the Jumei Airport Vertical Screen Movie Base, the Muma Film and Television Base, the Dazhi Film and Television Base, and the Xigang Short Drama Film City are the most representative ones. However, the Zhengzhou Shudian Short Drama Shooting Base is more well - known.

So, I went from the Dazhi Film and Television Base to the Zhengzhou Shudian Short Drama Shooting Base, which is 40 kilometers away. To my surprise, when I got to the Zhengzhou Shudian Short Drama Shooting Base in the northwestern part of Zhengzhou, the gate was closed. The shopkeeper next to it said, "They are still under renovation."

The first - floor gate