Life and Leisure

Winning the fame game

By Gan Tian (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-07 08:07

Scene from director Long Danni's latest talent show, I Want to Direct a Movie.

 

She led her team to study foreign reality shows in 2001, viewing hundreds of episodes in a single month before creating Perfect Holiday.

Based on the reality show Big Brother, which was broadcast on the Veronica TV Channel in the Netherlands in 1999, Perfect Holiday invited 10 people to live together in a large house. They were isolated from the outside world but watched by hidden cameras installed in the apartment. The cameras' footage was broadcast live on Hunan ETV.

Audiences would vote to oust one contestant from the house every week with the last competitor set to take home 100,000 yuan ($14,700).

Long says her phone began ringing off the hook as the show proceeded. Many people older than 45 said it was the worst TV program they had ever seen, because it showed contestants conspiring, and in conflict with, one another.

Some viewers called the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) to complain that the program had a negative influence on society.

Long flew to Beijing to deliver apology letters to SARFT four times. After 20 episodes, Perfect Holiday was cancelled.

But Long wasn't discouraged.

"Some young people said it was very interesting. It was a brave TV program at that time," she recalls, with a bittersweet smile.

In 2003, she created the male beauty pageant show Absolute Men and a year later, she produced Star Campus, which later became Hunan TV's mega phenomenon Super Girl.

Long was transferred to Hunan TV in 2006. Her first move at the new station was bringing in BBC's singing competition Just the Two of Us.

Super Girl was then the most popular "grassroots" talent show, making stars out of ordinary people. Just the Two of Us makes stars into ordinary people.

"It had the spirit of a talent show - that is, bringing people closer together. No matter whether it's a celebrity or ordinary person, feelings were shown to the audience, and that's what made it interesting."

After she directed Happy Boys in 2007, Hunan TV appointed her as EE-Media record label's general manger, as many contestants were becoming big money pop stars.

Long now manages nearly all the Happy girls and boys, including 2005 Super Girl winner Li Yuchun. Last year, she hired young writer Guo Jingming and made him a star in her company.

"I can't say EE-Media is the best choice for young competitors, but it is transforming itself into an efficient and transparent company with high ethical standards. We are going to be more professional," she says.

Long believes the entertainment management industry is relatively new to the Chinese market.

And the "godmother of Chinese talent shows" admits these newborn stars need more direction after winning overnight fame. Inexperience has caused many of them to struggle.

"Some are very fragile and immature. They cry and shout at people around them," she says.

"I believe the entertainment industry will develop a new structure to nurture talent from competitions, and EE-Media is working on that."

Hunan Broadcasting System has done its best to keep Long, even though rivals often tempt her with generous offers.

Her first move as Shine Show Entertainment's CEO was creating I Want to Direct a Movie.