Short-Form Drama Director: Starting with a Soap Opera on the Agriculture Channel

In 2008, no one understood the untapped film and television market better than short-form drama director Qin Yiming.

CCTV’s agriculture channel had a wealth of material in programs like Focus on Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers, The Path to Prosperity, and Daily Farming…

Even its least popular program, Life 567, was a gold mine.

Qin Yiming got his start with Life 567… They’d film an episode about farmers’ lives and interview some farmers, and he’d tag along to shoot a few rural short dramas.

If no one wanted to advertise on Life 567, he’d just nest the ads inside his short dramas.

This didn’t just rattle the teams behind traditional hits like The Path to Prosperity. CCTV’s agriculture channel, and even its other channels, were all thrown into disarray.

By then, Qin Yiming was already sharpening his knives over the idol drama script in his hands.

The director’s world that had been beyond his reach in his previous life was now within arm’s reach.

A set of standards born from Qin Yiming, “Xuezi” and “Niulai,” was waiting for them.