Greeted by audiences as fresh and innovative, On Children brings fantastical sci-fi elements to its examinations of difficult issues. (photo courtesy of PTS)

On Children was adapted from the novel by Wu ­Xiaole. Drawing from Wu’s own experiences as a home tutor, the novel describes how the pressure-cooker educa­tional system warps family relationships. PTS began planning the adaptation in 2015, placing a tutor at the center as the figure linking all the families together. A romantic storyline was also added to sweeten the other­wise bitter look at Taiwan’s educational system. The show was originally scheduled to air at the end of 2016, but the date was pushed back because of director Chen Wei­ling’s battles with cancer. 

Targeting the global market

If they had gone with the original plan for the scripts, the approach would perhaps have made difficult topics accessible to mass audiences, but the power of the book would have been lost.

During her chemotherapy, Chen repeatedly asked herself: “If it turns out that I only have one more film to shoot, what story do I want to tell?” Meanwhile, with Net­flix having arrived in Taiwan, PTS had seen the demands that the platform was making on different genres: “Our serials are good, of a high enough quality to put on an international platform,” says Yu Pei-hua, director of PTS’s programming department. “They wouldn’t look out of place amid a group of internationally recognized dramas. And they would make viewers eager to see what follows.” The goal for restarting production of On Children was clear: “We wanted to make a splash on international streaming platforms, so that the whole world would see the quality of Taiwan’s dramatic serials.”

Skipping the original “idol drama” elements, the new approach put the parent‡child relationships at the core of the show, before adding some touches of fantasy. There are five separate episodes: “Mother’s Remote,” “Child of the Cat,” “The Last Day of Molly,” “Peacock” and “ADHD is Necessary.” Each was split into two parts for ten separate airings on PTS.

In consideration of the demands on quality that an international streaming platform like Net­flix makes, the originally planned HD format was upgraded to 4K. To accomplish this, the PTS production team not only upgraded camera equipment, but they also paid a lot of attention to furnishings and décor. The interiors for the five separate episodes were carefully matched to the plots, and considerable effort was put into making the fantastical elements look as realistic as possible.

For instance, in “The Last Day of Molly,” Molly’s mother arrives at laboratory where her friend’s son is carrying out neurological research, and sits in a surgical chair where sensors are attached to her and she is able to experience the memories of her dead daughter. The entire lab was constructed from scratch by the series’ art crew in an empty building. Yu points out that if you created a scene involving high-tech devices and then put Styrofoam bowls or hardhats on people’s heads, it would have a comical effect that would make it impossible for audiences to suspend their disbelief.

With realistic sets and excellent plots, success was inevitable: When Net­flix saw a 17-minute trailer, they immediately pushed to finalize terms.

Fostering conversations

Before making the series available for streaming, Netflix put a three-minute ad for On Children on Facebook. Fast paced, it combines clips of mothers’ earnest entreaties and expectations about their children’s academic performance with clips of the children crying or shouting or resisting. It had a big impact on viewers. Compared to most trailers shown on Facebook pages, which might get views in the tens of thousands, this ad had 1.56 million views at the time this article was written.

Internet streaming platforms have wide reach and have allowed PTS to rupture echo-chambers and transcend national borders. In November, On Children was the top-viewed serial on Japan’s Net­flix “hot picks” list. Many reviewers used the term “toxic parent hell” to describe their feelings of empathy for the characters. The New York Post’s Decider website told its viewers not to miss it.

As Taiwan’s public television system, PTS aims to “discuss and analyze important issues.” It understands its duty to lead discussion of issues while maintaining balance and avoiding bias. Consequently, from planning to postproduction, the team making On Children has taken heed of Wu ­Xiaole’s injunction “not to demonize parents.”

The drama does not simply focus on the pressure that parents put on children. It also highlights the invisible stressors imposed by the outside environment and illustrates how these influence parents. “This isn’t the parents’ fault, and it’s not solely an issue of the ‘system,’” says Yu. “Today, every­one’s ingrained values aren’t changing, so no attempts at perfecting the system are liable to do much good. Changing university admissions weighting policies won’t accomplish anything, because the weightings will still exist in people’s minds.”

In light of copycat suicides that followed the airing of a series in the United States, before broadcasting each episode PTS had actors who play children in the shows offer some warm words. For instance, one said, “Love is care, hugs, and respect. It isn’t abuse. Have you said you love someone today?” PTS also found psycho­logists and experts on parent‡child relationships to offer guidance at the end of the broadcasts. Apart from discussing interactions of husbands and wives and of parents and children, they also examined the problem of emotional blackmail and offered suggestions about how viewers can resolve inter­personal issues in their own lives.

Cultivating diverse Taiwan dramas

In contrast to the wide variety of shows found internationally, most of Taiwan’s television serials fall into two categories: family dramas and “idol dramas”—the latter featuring attractive young actors in romantic roles. With this lack of diversity, it becomes hard to raise the cultural level of audiences. Freed from commercial considerations, PTS is naturally able to try out a greater range of dramatic possibilities.

For instance, Green Door, which is scheduled to be aired in February of 2019, is PTS’s first psychological thriller. Adapted from a novel by Joseph Chen, it stars singer Jam ­Hsiao playing a therapist to ghosts. His clients include all manner of strange beings, including one case where it is unclear whether the client is a split person­ality or a beautiful woman possessed by a gangster spirit. Via deep psychological explorations, it examines the search for happiness and security inherent in human nature.

Another show, No Outsiders, begins with an indiscriminate killing and explores the different mental states of the family members of the culprit and the victim. It delves into human rights law, the role of the media and other social issues.

In order to provide the industry with a taste of greater creative possibilities, in 2017 PTS began promoting production of “PTS originals,” welcoming all manner of different genres of shows—from cops and robbers, horror and thrillers to sci-fi and fantasy. These productions give creators much more artistic license to tell their stories.

This greater freedom has achieved the intended effect of producing works showing greater creativity. Take, for instance, the colorfully imaginative ghost film Sam­sara. It describes the year 2020, when all of humanity falls into a coma. When they awake 49 seconds later, every­one can see ghosts. What unexpected situations arise when people and ghosts exist in the same world!

Justice is one of Taiwan’s rare cops-and-robbers shows. If you want to give a show in this genre audience appeal, then you’ve got to get the gunfire scenes and bullet special effects correct. On the other hand, the makeup required for horror shows requires a whole different kind of expertise. The behind-the-scenes skills needed for different kind of productions can only be acquired gradually through experience. That’s how the industry moves forward.

Apart from taking a filmmaking approach to making television, PTS is also working with theaters to put on film festivals, giving audiences different viewing experiences. And apart from broadcasting on its channel, PTS is also sending its original films to international film festivals, where they have repeatedly earned praise. Upstream, for instance, was shortlisted for an award at the Montreal World Film Festival, and Last Verse was shortlisted at the Bu­san International Film Festival.

In the current age of Internet streaming platforms, viewing audiences are not bound by national borders. Only by continually improving quality can Taiwan’s industry attract international attention. May PTS open up new possibilities for serials in Taiwan, so that the world will notice Taiwan’s culture and the power of its film and television production industry!