Micro-dramas reshape China's film economy

China's micro-drama industry has transitioned from a localized internet trend into a massive, industrialized economic driver, pulling in millions of yuan in regional investments while facing immediate disruption from generative artificial intelligence.

Driven by extreme turnaround times, regional manufacturing centers are rapidly converting idle infrastructure into high-capacity production hubs such as Jiangxi province's Guangfeng district, which alone generated an output value exceeding 500 million yuan ($74 million) in 2025 by transforming old factories into specialized, rapid-fire filming bases.

Pang Daoming needed five days, 600,000 yuan and dozens of background actors to finish a micro-drama set in China's Republican era in Shangrao, Jiangxi province.

The Shanghai-based producer had come to the micro-drama production hub in Guangfeng, where a former factory has been turned into rows of period streets, modern offices, hospital wards, villas, village houses and European-style sets.

Production hub

The production hub was converted from the former Guangfeng Cigarette Factory. The site covers more than 8 hectares and has over 360 filming scenes. It is designed to host up to 40 crews and more than 2,000 cast and crew members working at the same time.

For a business built on speed, the calculation was simple. The scenes were ready. Background actors could be found quickly. Different crews could shoot in different corners of the hub at the same time.

"The base has newly built scenes from the 1970s and 1980s, which fit the period drama we are shooting," Pang said.

His crew planned to finish the current production in five days, before moving on to another one that would take about six days.

Pang entered the micro-drama business in July 2023. His company has produced about 70 to 80 micro-dramas. A crew like his may need dozens of background actors a day, with daily pay generally ranging from 100 to 300 yuan.

One of the people who entered the industry through such jobs is Zhou Tao.

Before the micro-drama crews arrived, Zhou, 38, ran a small shop near the production hub. He had spare time, and as more crews came to Guangfeng, he decided to try working as a background actor.

His first role was a villager in a period drama. The job lasted three days.

"It felt new," Zhou said. "I never thought there would be a day when I would become an actor."

At first, he was nervous. By his fourth production, he had been given a role with lines. When he faced the camera, his mind went blank. But the shoot went smoothly, and the experience pulled him further into the work.

By the end of March 2025, Zhou had become a background actors coordinator, helping crews match background actors with different scenes. By July, he had put himself fully into the business. He tried different roles, auditioned for speaking parts, and began watching other micro-dramas and television series to study how people acted.

"I was never this hardworking when I was at school," he said.

At his busiest, Zhou said he spent more than 20 days a month on set, sometimes as many as 25. His monthly income could reach 8,000 to more than 10,000 yuan.