AI-powered short dramas are rapidly emerging as a lucrative business frontier. With captivating storylines, imaginative visuals, and dramatically slashed production costs, this sector has seen explosive growth over the past two years, attracting a swelling wave of production teams. Beyond professional studios, a number of university student groups have quietly entered the fray, taking on real commercial orders.

Recently, an AI-produced comic drama titled "Rules of the Weird, Starting from the Good Egg Supermarket," created by a student startup incubated at the Network Audiovisual Industry College of Sichuan University of Media and Communications, made its debut on the Hongguo short drama platform. Based on the hit game "Egg Party," this 25-episode fan-created series follows top game streamer Wu Di, who is mysteriously pulled into the Egg Party world, where he and two timid teammates battle through bizarre levels to ultimately protect Egg Island. The core creative team consists primarily of current juniors, capable of delivering a finished episode in as little as seven days from script receipt.

This isn't the team's first project. Since entering the AI short drama arena in September 2023, they have produced over 40 drama series, crafting custom content for leading IPs like "Egg Party" and "Delta Force," including several titles distributed in overseas markets. On August 21, we visited the Network Audiovisual Industry College to see firsthand how this series was brought to life.

Inside the college's studio, a few students were busy "card-drawing" in batches. They meticulously sift through AI image generation tools to select character designs that match their needs, cataloging each one into an asset library. This is a crucial preparatory step before any AI short drama begins production. Liu Miqun, founder of Hejing Culture and head of one of two student startups incubated by the college, returned to campus after graduating to launch his venture. He now leads a team primarily composed of juniors, managing AI short drama orders through a four-stage workflow: script breakdown, digital asset creation, AI video generation, and post-production editing.

While the process may seem streamlined, the most grueling phase is the second step—building assets. "A single series typically requires locking down 60 to 70 character designs. The appearance, scene styles, costumes, and props for all roles must be determined in advance," Liu explained. This is essential to maintaining character consistency throughout the series. "It's absolutely unacceptable for a protagonist to look one way at the start and completely different later on." Once all assets are approved on the platform, storyboard scripts are distributed to student groups, who then generate images from text and videos from images in bulk. After the director reviews the generated clips, they are edited, dubbed, and scored, finally resulting in a finished drama.

In the AI short drama industry, delivery speed is a key benchmark of a team's professionalism. Liu noted that their standard setup pairs one director with four AI image generators, plus editors. A typical S-grade premium short drama takes 15 to 20 days from asset approval to delivery. However, urgent commercial orders can be expedited; the "Egg Party" series saw its first installment delivered in 10 days, with the second taking just 7 days. "We got the script last Friday and delivered the entire series this Friday," Liu added.

The team uses a custom-built AIGC aggregation platform, developed in partnership between Sichuan University of Media and Communications and Volcano Engine, which integrates mainstream image and video generation tools. Zhang Zhibin, the college's deputy dean overseeing the program, revealed that the platform is planned to be offered free of charge to universities across Southwest China in the future.

Turning classrooms into production sets, graduates are returning to campus to launch new ventures. The Network Audiovisual Industry College, jointly established by Sichuan University of Media and Communications and Beijing Zhongshi Xingchi, with participation from national ultra-high-definition video innovation application bases, doesn't recruit students independently. Instead, it selects from current students in relevant majors, directly involving them in real commercial projects. The selection criteria aren't overly stringent, according to Zhang. Most recruits are juniors passionate about AI creation and filmmaking, learning by doing. "Those who can stay focused and push projects through naturally stick around; those who remain are genuinely passionate about this work," he said. The preference for juniors stems from their lighter course loads compared to freshmen and sophomores, who have dense general education and required courses, allowing more dedicated time for projects.

Income is calculated based on the duration of produced content. Liu explained that a skilled team working full-time can complete 2 to 2.5 short dramas per month, earning roughly 4,000 to 5,000 yuan in practical training subsidies. "For juniors, this is real income, and it also helps them build a commercial portfolio." The college has so far incubated two student startups: Zero Point Boiling, founded earlier with 7-8 core members, and Liu's Hejing Culture, established after his 2024 graduation, now boasting a team of around 20.

Zhang, however, emphasized that AI lowers the technical barrier, not the aesthetic one. "You must understand audiovisual language, camera angles, lighting, and composition. AI merely replaces the camera; the underlying requirement is that creators possess solid filmmaking skills. Otherwise, you can't even judge whether a generated image meets the standard."

Over two years, the team has completed 40 dramas, and a self-produced feature film is on the horizon. Liu stated that their current primary model is contract production: clients provide scripts and budgets, while the team handles production and delivery. "Running contract work first is about building our capabilities, so we can eventually create our own content." Zhang added that over the past two-plus years, they've produced over 40 series, including several for overseas audiences. One standout is the all-English-dubbed fantasy drama "Summoning the Gods," which achieved the team's S+ visual quality standard. Another historical drama, commissioned by the Sichuan Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission, recreates the true story of researchers stationed in the Gobi Desert in 1965. "When many professional filmmakers saw it, their first reaction was that it was live-action footage," Zhang said.

The overseas market is a key focus because international users have established content payment habits, demand continues to grow, and there's room for domestic teams to expand, Zhang reasoned. Beyond contract work, the team is also advancing self-produced content. "To make the team self-reliant and give students more room to grow, we need our own IP," Zhang said. They are already in talks with investors to secure funding for future independent projects. Additionally, their feature-length film has a working title: "When Will You Return," an AI-produced drama depicting a cross-strait family reunion story spanning over half a century. "For historical period pieces like this, the costs of live-action sets and extras used to be enormous. Now, AIGC technology can recreate them fully," Zhang explained.

Liu said he decided to restart at his alma mater because he saw AI's potential to transform film production: "The limitations of traditional production models are becoming increasingly apparent, and I wanted to do something in this direction." Today, he leads a group of juniors, producing a drama in as little as seven days, steadily working toward that unreleased feature film. "As AI technology matures, we hope that one day our work will truly make it to the big screen," Zhang added.