New creative territory

"It's not as heavy as film," he told China Daily, "but more complex than advertising." As such, short dramas have become a new creative territory where both filmmakers and advertisers can thrive.

Liang said he is a cross-disciplinary example of this convergence. Since 2017, he has worked in New York in fashion photography and TVC commercial production. Though not formally trained in filmmaking, he stepped into the world of production almost by accident, after helping a friend shoot a phone commercial.

The experience eventually led him into the broader field of visual storytelling. Today, he is the producer of these cross-border short vertical series projects, also balancing an understanding of content platforms with the ability to coordinate local production teams between China and the US.

"Filmmakers are 'stepping down' to work on short dramas, while advertisers are 'stepping up' to create them. There are lots of opportunities for us in the industry," he said.

"Platforms may provide funding and scripts, but turning that into a real drama — that's our job as producers when coordinating the team in two time zones and cultural backgrounds. Our job isn't just to make something watchable. It's to make something the audience understands, enjoys, and is willing to pay for," he said.

"We need localization, and that is nonnegotiable. You can't just take a Chinese bun and try to sell it in America," he said. "But a sandwich just fits better with the local taste."

Liang said short dramas that truly go viral are usually produced locally, tailored to the culture and daily life of the target audience.

"A lot of the translated Chinese dramas make no sense in English — not just grammatically, but in terms of behavioral logic," he explained.

Therefore, his team goes beyond surface-level translation.

They refine the script, characters, and pacing to match local storytelling logic and emotional expectations during the content polishing process. Within two to three years of transformation, most of their projects are now shot in the US with local actors, aligning with US audience preferences for fast-paced plots and dramatic twists, such as stories about "Cinderella becoming a wealthy socialite" or "a billionaire pretending to be poor".

"It's a heavy task, but we are getting used to it," he said.

Liang introduced that production typically involves three to four weeks of preparation, one to two weeks of filming and about a month of postproduction.

As the team has matured, they've begun operating on a rolling basis — filming one drama while preparing the next, which has significantly boosted productivity.

"There are almost 100 studios now working in this industry, across the US, not only in New York and Los Angeles," he said. The market is full of vibrant potential and young, talented, and passionate people.

For veteran actor Tony Sharra, who has spent over three decades in the film industry, working on these Chinese-produced vertical short series has become both a creative revival and a cross-cultural revelation.

"My first couple of verticals, the first one was very hard because you have to learn you can't move like you would on the big screen," he said. "There's a lot of physical stuff that you have to do in the vertical. If you're doing a slap or a kick, you can't do it like you would on a widescreen … once you get used to it, it's easy, but it took me a while."