Dire-Straits: Taiwanese TV screenwriters in the neoliberal and authoritarian 2010s

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the working life of Taiwanese TV screenwriters who have commuted across the Taiwan Strait since the 2010s to supplement previous research on Taiwanese creative workers in China. My analysis is divided into three parts: (1) the screenwriters’ work structure and problems; (2) how their self-enterprising ethos pushes them to adhere to the Chinese state-market regime; and (3) the competitions in the screenwriting field, their solutions to the problems, and their attitudes toward building collective solidarity to empower themselves. This article argues that the Taiwanese screenwriters working across the Taiwan Strait have three common features: self-enterprising, self-censorship, and self-interests. Their competition has resulted in internal rivalry, jealousy, and personal attacks. So far, their resolutions to problems are individually based, and they do not change the structural relations that the screenwriters collectively face.KEYWORDS: Chinacultural and creative workerneoliberalismprecarityself-precarizationTaiwanese TV screenwriters AcknowledgementsThis research is approved by the Institutional Review Board at the researcher’s affiliated institution. The ethics approval number is C108042. The interviewees were fully informed about this research when they provided informed consent. The author wishes to thank all of the people who I interviewed. Different versions of this article were presented at the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Virtual Conference (26–30 July, 2021) and at the Taiwan-based Chinese Communication Society Annual Conference (18–19 June, 2022). I wish to thank Leo Ching, Doobo Shim and Fang-chih Irene Yang and all of the reviewers who commented on the earlier versions of the article.Special termsTableDownload CSVDisplay TableNotes1 Taiwanese national health insurance and pension scheme were established in 1995 and 2007.2 Sara and her family moved to Beijing in January 2018 but returned to Taipei in July 2019. Celia and Andy were asked to live in their Beijing company’s housing during 2018 and 2020. They returned to Taiwan before the COVID-19 pandemic and have lost contact with the company ever since.3 Kat and Vivi told me that Chinese companies are their agents representing them in the Chinese screenwriting labor market.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [grant number MOST 109-2410-H-030-002].Notes on contributorsJocelyn Yi-Hsuan LaiJocelyn Yi-Hsuan Lai (PhD) is Assistant Professor of the Department of Communication Arts at Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Her research focuses on the impacts of neoliberalism on Taiwanese television culture and workers. She has published essays in Taiwan’s academic journals and English anthologies. She coguest-edited a special issue on Confucian values and television in East Asia in Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies.