Exclusive: Netflix to bolster Chinese-language team as originals slate expands

Shards Of Her

Netflix is looking to strengthen its Chinese language offering by hiring a creative manager to work on scripted originals, TBI has learned, with the streamer this week announcing several new titles from the region.

The global streamer is seeking to bring a Taiwan-based exec on board to help build and execute strategy for the slate, which includes upcoming titles such as The Copycat Killer and recent shows like Shards Of Her and Light The Night.

Netflix is not currently available in mainland China, but does carry a number of Cantonese and Mandarin-language titles, including Nowhere Man and The Ghost Bride.

The role will carry projects from a creative perspective, from pitch through development and pre-production to final delivery, and will be focused on a “broad range” of scripted programming across genres, languages and budget ranges in scripted TV and film content.

The creative manager will work closely with showrunners, producers, writers, and external creative teams to develop projects and “assess for long-term viability.”

Responsibilities will also include establishing and growing strong partnerships with creative partners in the market, to source and commission content, and also working with internal partners such as content planning, physical and post-production, VFX and marketing.

Agent From Above

Expanding slate

The job opening comes as Netflix announces three new Chinese-language titles for global streaming this week, including Agent From Above, a fantasy series rooted in traditional Taiwanese beliefs.

Hailing from MM2 Entertainment and Good Films Production, the series is based on the first book of the novel series The Oracle Comes by Teensy, and the story focuses on Han Jie, a former drug addict recruited by San Tai Zi to serve as a god’s agent in the mortal realm to redeem for his sins.

As Han Jie is counting the days to his long-awaited retirement, the evil god Liu Fan returns with his plan to overthrow the mortal realm, forcing Han Jie to fight to save everyone he loves. Donnie Lai is directing, while Rita Chuang will produce, with Kai Ko, Wang Po-Chieh, Hsueh Shih-ling, Buffy Chen and Johnny Yang attached to star.

The other new series title headed to Netflix is Sequoia Entertainment’s The Nipple Talk, which offers a look at how three friends of different genders and different sexual orientations balance love and lust in their quest for a relationship.

Busy with work and having no romance for many years, Pony and her college friends Xiao Zhi and A Xuan explore what kind of relationship they want. By recording her podcasts, Pony recorded every bit of the three people’s process of finding love, and through interacting with different partners, they gradually understood their own true emotional needs.

Meanwhile, sci-fi blockbuster Warriors Of Future is set to launch worldwide exclusively on Netflix on 2 December, following its theatrical release. The apocalyptic film is the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of all time in Hong Kong, says Netflix, and stars A-listers such as Louis Koo, who is also the executive producer, as well as Lau Ching Wan, Carina Lau and Philip Keung.