World’s Largest Film and Television Production Complex Lets Tourists Star in Short Dramas for US$30 as AI Disrupts Entertainment Industry: China’s Hengdian World Studios, regarded as the world’s largest film and television production complex, is turning to an unusual new business model as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the entertainment industry: allowing tourists to become the stars of their own short dramas for about US$30.
The initiative gives visitors an opportunity to experience acting, filming and storytelling inside Hengdian’s extensive movie and television sets, while providing a new source of business for directors, production crews and other entertainment workers affected by the rise of AI-generated content.
From Film Tourism to Becoming the Star
Located in Zhejiang province, Hengdian World Studios has traditionally attracted tourists who wanted to explore sets used for Chinese historical dramas and other productions. The sprawling attraction covers approximately 30 square kilometres and features more than 100 sub-studios and sets representing different periods of Chinese history.
The new programme changes the visitor experience from simply watching the entertainment industry to actually participating in it.
Tourists can reportedly book an hour-long acting experience starting at 218 yuan (around US$30). Packages including makeup and styling cost about 388 yuan. Larger packages priced at 3,800 yuan and 12,000 yuan are also available for families, groups and corporate team-building activities.
AI Creates a New Challenge for Hengdian
The initiative comes as China’s rapidly expanding short-drama industry faces an equally rapid technological transformation.
According to reports cited by Chinese media, Hengdian’s short-drama production industry employed more than 4,000 crew members last year and recorded growth of 237 per cent year-on-year.
However, the growth has been disrupted by AI-generated production. Reports indicate that approximately 95 per cent of 128,000 newly released short dramas in China during the first quarter of this year were produced using AI.
For actors, directors, extras and production workers whose livelihoods depend on conventional filming, the change has created significant uncertainty.
Hengdian has long been associated with heng piao—people who move to the area seeking opportunities in China’s film and television industry. With AI reducing demand for traditional production crews, many are now facing fewer employment opportunities.
Tourists Put Cameras Back to Work
The tourist programme offers a creative solution by putting professional directors and crews back to work—this time helping visitors create personalised dramas.
Directors can reportedly produce numerous short dramas in a single day under the new model. Former extras and industry professionals are also using their experience to coach tourists, demonstrating scenes and helping participants deliver their performances.
The result is a hybrid between tourism, entertainment and personalised content production.
Rather than simply purchasing a souvenir, visitors leave with the experience of having appeared in their own film.
‘Emotional Value’ Becomes Part of the Experience
The concept is also tapping into the growing Chinese trend of experiential tourism, in which visitors actively participate in attractions rather than simply observing them.
Some customers are using the service to fulfil personal fantasies through scripted stories. Popular scenarios reportedly include characters taking revenge on arrogant opponents or discovering that they secretly possess extraordinary wealth, status or power.
One Hengdian studio reportedly produced 17 short dramas over six months for a young mother, who described the experience as both entertaining and therapeutic.
The phenomenon demonstrates how short-form entertainment is increasingly being used not only as media content but also as a personalised experience.
A New Business Model for the Entertainment Industry
Hengdian’s experiment highlights a broader question facing the global film and television industry: What happens when AI can produce entertainment faster and cheaper than traditional human production?
Rather than competing with AI solely on production costs, Hengdian is effectively selling something AI-generated entertainment cannot easily replicate—the human experience of being on a real set, working with directors and actors, wearing costumes and becoming the protagonist of a story.
The model could ultimately become part of a much larger experience economy in which film studios, theme parks and tourism destinations combine physical locations with personalised digital entertainment.
For Hengdian, the cameras are still rolling. The difference is that increasingly, the tourists are in front of them.
