Uncovering the secrets of short play script trading: 90% of them are rejected in the first review, and the popular screenwriters earn 100,000 yuan a month

While short plays are popular, the script transactions behind them are also popular. Based on the communication between individual screenwriters and script studio managers, this article analyzes the transaction model of short play scripts and the characteristics of popular scripts. Let's take a look.

In some short drama communities, this scene often occurs: on one side, screenwriters are promoting their own scripts, while on the other side, short drama production companies are looking for high-quality scripts. Screenwriters and production companies are the supply and demand sides of each other, and they frequently communicate with each other about cooperation opportunities.

Screenshot of the short drama community

Several short drama practitioners told the Xinbang editorial department that some scripts are produced and filmed internally by the company, and a large number of scripts are purchased from independent screenwriters and script studios. Currently, the supply of scripts in the market is increasing, but high-quality scripts are still in short supply.

In their opinion, whether a short play can become a hit depends 30% on the script, 30% on the performance and production, 30% on investment and publicity, and 10% on luck.

The story of a short play begins with a script, and its fate is determined by the script transaction.

What is the trading model of short play scripts? How to sell the scripts at a good price? What are the characteristics of those popular and popular scripts? We talked to several individual screenwriters and script studio managers.

1. From individual screenwriters to studios, how are short play scripts traded?

Popular short dramas are like a cash cow, and those who buy and sell short dramas together constitute the branches of this big tree.

It is understood that there are currently two main ways to create short play scripts. One is that the screenwriter sets the topic and creates it independently , and then looks for purchasing companies through channels such as industry communities or personal connections. The other is for the short play company or production team to initiate the topic selection , and then find a screenwriter to complete the creation after passing the trial draft.

Common short play script transaction process diagram: weddy.k.

Independent screenwriter Qiqi showed the Xinbang editorial department more than ten short drama-related communities on her mobile phone, some of which were free and some were paid. For individual screenwriters, these communities are their main channel for making money.

She said that screenwriters would "band together for warmth" to share resources. For example, a male screenwriter would recommend a project to a female screenwriter, and the recommender would take about 10% of the script's quotation as a reward.

"Some businesses will publish recent popular topics on social media, and screenwriters can refer to the topics to create submissions. Most of the predictions are quite accurate. After the script is awarded, the business will generally take about 30% of the script quotation."

Script studios also often receive similar "assigned writing" tasks . The heads of several studios mentioned that after the short drama "Wushuang" became popular by adding elements of a son-in-law and sadomasochism to traditional male-oriented themes, the clients would directly request new script creations based on "Wushuang".

Screenshots of "Wushuang"

Whether it is a self-proposed topic or a customized script, after the screenwriter and producer confirm their intention to cooperate, both parties need to go through the trial script stage.

During the trial draft phase, screenwriters need to submit a 300-500 word story outline, a 1,000 to 2,000 word character biography and a complete outline, as well as the scripts for the first 10 episodes.

According to Yu Yu, the person in charge of the Niannian Youyu Script Studio, there are currently two main modes of payment for short drama script contracts: "334" and "37" . "334" means paying a 30% deposit after the first ten episodes are approved, and another 30% for the 50th episode, and the remaining 40% after the script is completed and revised. "37" means paying 30% for the 10th episode, and paying the final 70% after the revisions are completed.

Many screenwriters have experienced being "taken for free". Qiqi submitted the first 10 episodes of the script twice, but there was no further response. There was even a short drama producer whose project was suspended who asked her for advance payment. Yuyu also saw the shadow of her rejected script in other short dramas.

In addition, since the short drama industry has not yet fully entered its mature stage, the contracts between screenwriters and producers may also cause disputes.

Qiqi introduced that there are two common contracts on the market, one is the script commissioning contract, and the other is the copyright transfer contract. Among them, the ownership of copyright in the script commissioning contract often causes controversy, "some screenwriters signed commissioning contracts, but the producers refused to pay the final payment on the grounds that the screenwriters did not have the copyright."

Script contract, provided by the interviewee

Many screenwriters said that the script approval rate is getting lower and lower, and the content is getting more and more convoluted.

Wen Ru, head of Miaobixingkong Content Studio, has just switched to being a script writer a few months ago. In his opinion, rejection of scripts is normal. Generally, 90% of the scripts can be screened out during the initial review. Although there are a large number of script submissions on the market, high-quality scripts are difficult to write.

He once discussed the reasons why the script was rejected with the leading short drama platform. The editor-in-chief of the platform suggested that the overall logic of the story was fine, but the model was a bit old-fashioned and could not keep up with market changes.

Looking at the popular short drama scripts, it is not difficult to find similar plot routines, such as the male protagonist being looked down upon by the female and then making a comeback, and the male and female protagonists in the female drama "marry first and then fall in love" and "run away with the baby", etc. Therefore, homogeneous scripts are becoming increasingly difficult to sell.

2. Ordinary screenwriters earn "hard-earned money", but it is not a dream for blockbuster screenwriters to earn 100,000 yuan a month

Fan Fan has worked for several leading short drama companies and experienced all aspects of script transactions. In 2023, he became an independent screenwriter and wrote more than ten short drama scripts in one year.

“When Party A selects a script, they often first look to see if the screenwriter has written a hit script before.”

He said that according to the amount of paid recharges for short dramas, recharges of more than 5 million yuan are considered small hits, and recharges of more than 10 million yuan are considered big hits. If one has served as the screenwriter of more than three hit short dramas, he can be called a "hit screenwriter."

For popular screenwriters, script trading is a pure seller's market, but it is not friendly to new screenwriters.

"For most clients, time is money. A drama needs to be produced in 15 to 20 days. There is not enough time for new screenwriters to polish their work. They would rather pay a little more to find a mature screenwriter." Yu Yu said that scripts written by popular screenwriters are often in short supply, while newcomers face the phenomenon of frequent script revisions and increasingly difficult approvals.

Qiqi, who has been transitioning from traditional film and television to independent short drama screenwriter for less than a year, said that it will be more difficult for newcomers in the initial stage and they need to accumulate works. "The confidence of a screenwriter lies in the number of hits."

The number of hits not only determines the circulation speed of the script, but also affects the quotation of the script.

Several short play practitioners revealed that most short play writers currently come from traditional film and television circles and online writers, and their script quotations can be roughly divided into four categories:

The first tier is less than 15,000 yuan , usually from new screenwriters;

The second tier is between 15,000 and 30,000 yuan , and the screenwriters have produced a small number of small hits or a large number of works;

The third tier is between 30,000 and 50,000 yuan , and the screenwriter has a big hit or multiple small hits;

The fourth tier is more than 50,000 yuan , usually coming from top screenwriters in the industry who have created many hit works.

For example, Qiqi, who has written nearly 10 scripts, has a small hit for female viewers, and the market price of her script is around 20,000 yuan.

Wen Ru said that before mid-2023, it was easy to make money by writing short play scripts. The script approval rate was high and the content was not so competitive. A few screenwriters could form a studio and earn hundreds of thousands of yuan a month. Now most people earn tens of thousands of yuan through hard work.

For screenwriters, the biggest source of money comes from commissions, and a popular screenwriter can earn more than 100,000 yuan a month.

It is understood that if the recharge of a short play exceeds 5 million, the screenwriter can get an additional share, ranging from 0.5% to 0.3%. Wen Ru said: "For example, if the turnover of a small hit exceeds 5 million, the screenwriter can get about 100,000 yuan in share."

3. The script focuses on micro-innovation, and the payment card is the key

Returning to the final destination of script transactions, the reason why good scripts can be sold at high prices in the short drama market is inseparable from the creativity of the content.

In Fanfan's opinion, current scripts are mainly based on micro-innovations, and the platforms do not dare to accept drastic innovations.

This kind of micro-innovation is mainly reflected in the character setting. The screenwriter has to add niche and fresh elements based on the traditional character setting.

For example, the "dumb bride" theme was once very popular, but now the heroine can be set as a pianist who has lost her voice due to illness; the "domineering president" used to be rich and handsome, but now there needs to be a sense of contrast, such as being particularly afraid of cats or having a clingy personality.

Take the recently popular short dramas "I was a Stepmother in the 1980s", "Hot and Hot: The Gorgeous Transformation" and "The Year of the Dragon: Returning Home in Glory" as examples. Although the core of the plot can be glimpsed from the names alone, these scripts have made different micro-innovations on the familiar routines.

For example, in the TV series "I Was a Stepmother in the 1980s", not only do the male and female protagonists look like celebrities, but the main line of the female love story also adds 1980s retro attributes; in terms of the protagonist's character setting, the male protagonist is not the president of a listed company, but a large pig farmer; the female protagonist adds the character of a female college student who is a stepmother on the basis of time travel.

Poster of "I was a Stepmother in the 1980s"

The short drama industry's short, flat and fast characteristics also apply to scripts. The creation time of a short drama often does not exceed one month. A theme that was very popular last month may flop next month.

Over the past year or so, Fan Fan has maintained an average pace of writing one work per month. "My normal speed is to write 10 episodes a day, and if I'm fast I can write 20 episodes. Usually a work is 100 episodes, and each episode is about 500 words."

Several screenwriters revealed that each episode of the script often narrates a complete plot segment and leaves a "hook", adding different exciting points based on the preferences of different audience groups such as male and female audiences, and setting key plot points at paid "card points".

In traditional film and television dramas, the foreshadowing is often about how difficult the problems encountered by the hero and heroine are and whether they can be solved; in short dramas, the focus of the "hook" is on how the hero and heroine solve the problem neatly. The audience expects that the protagonist will encounter difficulties, but there is a way to solve them, and the solving process will be very satisfying.

Mini Program short dramas often charge for subscriptions after 10, 20, or 30 episodes, so whether the first ten episodes can retain viewers is crucial.

Yu Yu said that the payment point is to attract the audience to watch with strong curiosity. This point will affect the key direction of the plot, such as the appearance of new characters, new secrets to be revealed, or the male and female protagonists encountering an emotional crisis, or misunderstandings are about to be resolved and new misunderstandings arise.

"Party A follows up with revisions every 10 episodes on average. If the hooks and excitement are not good enough, they will almost certainly be overturned and rewritten." Wen Ru said that the popular short dramas last year and the year before were often direct remakes of online novels. This year, it has become more like a mixture of traditional film and television dramas and online novels, that is, the excitement of online novels is refined and then filmed at twice the speed of film and television dramas.

Yu Yu believes that since the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television once again strengthened its supervision and management of online micro-short dramas at the end of last year, the short drama platforms and producers have become more demanding on the content of the scripts.

"After the new regulations are released, many customers will follow the policy. For example, themes such as college students returning to their hometowns to start businesses and caring for the elderly and left-behind children are very popular recently. We have also received requests for customized scripts for short dramas and cultural tourism road movies, such as the TV series "Where the Wind Goes". Similar popular horizontal screen dramas may have vertical screen short drama versions."

Although short dramas have begun to become popular, the market is far from saturated.

The "2023-2024 China Micro-Short Drama Market Research Report" released by iMedia Consulting shows that in 2023, the domestic micro-short drama market size will reach 37.39 billion yuan, an increase of 267.65% over 2022; in 2027, the scale of China's micro-short drama market may exceed 100 billion yuan.

In Yu Yu's opinion, short plays now show a trend of diversified themes and refined content. Scripts will become more and more standardized, and melodramatic and vulgar content will gradually lose its market. The era where content is truly king may be coming.

Author: Bamboo, Editor: Xiaoba

WeChat public account: Xinbang