After being relatively quiet on Chinese content since 2016, global streamer Netflix is now making it clear that it is active in the sector, particularly in Taiwan.
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One of the highlights is “Born for the Spotlight,” a 12-part series about the disintegration of a friendship between two top actresses and a rising star who will do anything to succeed in show business. It is written and directed by Yen Yi-wen (“The Making of an Ordinary Woman”) and produced by Olive Ting (“Oh No! Here Comes Trouble”). It stars Hsieh Ying-hsieh (“Dear Ex,” “Green Door”) and Cheryl Yang (“Yi, Yi”).
The series has also been selected for the On-Screen section at the Busan International Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere next month. The series will be released on Netflix on November 7, 2024.
With mainland China closed off to Netflix as a streamer and Hong Kong largely operating in the minority Cantonese variant of Chinese, Taiwan has become the de facto center of the company’s Chinese-language production operations. Netflix’s head of Chinese-language content, former screenwriter Maya Huang, is making a virtue of this.
