The “cold winter” in the Chinese film and television industry is unexpectedly hitting practitioners in a unique way. Female actors who once appeared in short dramas are now turning to selling sauce board duck and taking on other jobs to pay off debts as AI dramas rise in popularity and live-action filming decreases.
This is not an isolated case. From short drama actors having no roles to declining paychecks, AI is further squeezing practitioners in the film and television industry who rely on live-action shooting.
According to a report from “Xiaoxiang Morning News” on the 6th, Chen Jing, who used to play a “fat person” as a character actor, has shifted to selling sauce board duck as physical filming decreases with the rise of AI dramas. Chen Jing had accumulated debts during her early entrepreneurship and is currently working two jobs to repay them. She mentioned that she is usually busy and hopes to take her mother on a trip to Chaoshan next year.
A female actress in her thirties, with a baby face, who has been acting in Hengdian for many years, lamented in a self-shot video that this year she “completely has no roles to play.” She pointed out that the issue is not just individual capability but that “AI is taking over the scenes, and the whole industry is experiencing a price squeeze.” Production budgets have halved, and paychecks have dropped to the point where it’s difficult to make a living.
Short film director Fang Jinxiao was more direct in his description. In an interview on the “Old Horse Frankie” YouTube channel, he mentioned that in the past year he could film 16 or 17 short dramas, but after the entry of AI video models into the market in 2026, work disappeared “abruptly,” leading to a “massive unemployment.” He also revealed that a former popular leading actress in short dramas now has no roles and can only set up a roadside stall.
YouTube channel “Bottom China” aired a program titled “Hengdian Completely Collapsed! Stars collectively have no roles to play,” where an actor who often plays minor roles in Hengdian expressed in a self-shot video that the daily salary for lead roles in short films has dropped to as low as 150 yuan. He had initially hoped that the entry of AI into the market would drive the improvement of live-action short films’ quality, but what he observed was a market that was “sinking further.”
According to a report from the First Financial, a female short drama actress who was able to shoot continuously until the end of 2025, with a paycheck that rose to 3000 yuan per day, suddenly saw a decrease in work after the new year in 2026. Even after lowering her quotation by one-third, it was still difficult for her to find jobs. The report pointed out that some companies that originally produced live-action short films have started to shift towards AI short films.
Another report from the First Financial stated that in the first half of 2026, more than 221,900 AI short films were launched online, but only 1055 of them had over a hundred million views, with a rate of only 0.47%. Although the production costs of a large number of AI short films have decreased, they have not been able to attract corresponding traffic.
In his YouTube program “What has Hengdian in China Hollywood become under the impact of AI,” “Old Horse Frankie” interviewed short film director Fang Jinxiao from Hengdian. Reflecting on the peak time for short films, he mentioned that a single city wall scene could accommodate multiple film crews simultaneously; nowadays, actors have shifted from “neverending shootings” to “having no roles to play.”
Regarding the future of Hengdian under the impact of AI, Fang Jinxiao candidly said, “It’s hard to predict; it depends on how AI develops. The future might see more mixed productions of live-action and AI.” He added that he has already done three or four AI dramas himself.
“Old Horse Frankie,” who has a passion for photography, recently visited Hengdian for a few days and concluded that “the current Hengdian is more like a place for experiencing amusement rather than a filming location.”
He noted that the Hengdian Film and Television City is somewhat desolate now. This desolation indirectly reflects the impact of the rise of AI short films on the physical film and television industry. Hengdian is undergoing a significant transformation.