With the rise of AI technology, China’s once-popular short drama industry has seen a shift towards using AI for production. As a result, the actors in short dramas find themselves with no roles to play, and other crew members such as props managers are no longer needed, leaving film and television cities like Hengdian deserted.
According to a report by “First Financial” on May 31, Li Tao, the general manager of Fengxing Company, revealed that they underwent optimization after the Chinese New Year, leading to over 100 employees leaving the company. The majority of the remaining staff have transitioned to AI production. Li Tao mentioned that at its peak, Fengxing Company used to produce 106 live-action short dramas per month, but after the transformation, they now only produce an average of 30 AI short dramas per month, resulting in a significant drop in revenue.
One of the top three production companies for short dramas in Chengdu, Zhongdu Technology, announced that they would completely withdraw from live-action filming after May 30, 2026. Traditional companies like Zhengzhou Tianqiao short drama and Zhejiang Jiaxing Jiuzhou Culture have also redirected more of their focus towards AI short dramas.
The actors are directly impacted by the decline in live-action dramas, especially those lesser-known actors without strong financial backing. Some lead actors who were just gaining popularity have found themselves in a predicament with no roles to play.
Chen Yuxi, a short drama actor who entered the industry in 2023, had starred in over 20 short dramas by the end of 2025, gaining thousands of fans and seeing her pay rise from 800 yuan a day for her first role to 3000 yuan a day. Chen Yuxi mentioned how busy she used to be, often lining up new roles before even leaving the hotel.
However, after the Chinese New Year in 2026, her luck took a turn. All her filming reservations disappeared, with no new messages in the actors’ recruitment group. Her actor friends also found themselves without roles, as some companies they used to work with had switched to producing lower-cost AI short dramas. Even if roles were available, the pay had significantly decreased, with some crews no longer covering actors’ travel expenses and reducing overtime pay if provided at all.
Actor Qi Ziqiao revealed that this year, there were noticeably fewer new short dramas compared to the past two years. Newcomers and supporting actors in the short drama industry were widely affected by the rise of AI, leading to job scarcity becoming the biggest crisis for them.
Not only actors but also crew members in related positions found themselves without work. Old Zhang, who had been working on prop setting in Hengdian for many years, had to switch to carpentry due to the lack of filming opportunities. Makeup artists, costume designers, and photographers transitioned to travel photography.
The once bustling Hengdian Film and Television City now appeared desolate, with few film crews seen filming on the streets, and many blocks remaining vacant. An industry insider revealed that in certain cities’ short drama filming bases, the live-action filming business was not as booming as before and even showing signs of decline. Some bases had experienced a 50% drop in crew reservations since the beginning of the year, especially those specializing in historical dramas faced greater impacts from the industry shift.
Taxi driver Wang Shifu shared that after driving a taxi in Hengdian for four years, he noticed a two-thirds decrease in the number of film crews compared to the previous year.
Liu Guangwei, the head of Jiuzi Media Creation Space, mentioned that while AI technology might eventually replace offline filming scenes, it would be challenging to fully achieve in the short term. Especially for startups, creating quality productions through AI still posed difficulties if lacking technical expertise or facing high computation costs.
Chen Yuxi emphasized that AI could not replace human actors, discussing with friends how AI actors lacked the emotional depth in their “gaze” and were soulless. Director Tang Jili from “Red Zone” also believed that in emotional expression and character development, AI could not fully substitute real actors.
Chen Kun, the founder of AI video creation tool AIpai.ai, pointed out that the entry barrier to the industry had lowered with AI technology, yet survival in an oversaturated competitive environment posed a higher threshold. He warned that individuals solely after quick profits and lacking deep industry insights might be the first to be pushed out.
Li Tao, the general manager of Fengxing Company, expressed that teams or companies lacking quality content production capabilities would be the first to be gradually phased out in the changing landscape.