---
id: "lib-2026-11-08-interview-with-the-non-professional-team-behind-a"
type: "library"
title: "Interview with the non-professional team behind a 12bn-play AI drama"
title_original: "专访《持械入宋》主创：草根团队如何做出120亿品质爆款"
lang: "ZH"
org: "文娱价值官 (on 36Kr)"
source_type: "Practitioner post"
date: "2026-11-08"
week: "2026-W45"
url: "https://nosov.ai/library/lib-2026-11-08-interview-with-the-non-professional-team-behind-a/"
original_url: "https://www.36kr.com/p/4060386455443330"
tier: "B"
tier_name: "Useful, limited"
tier_reason: "Entertainment outlet Wenyu Jiazhiguan interviews the three lead creators of the AI short drama Chixie Rusong; a first-hand account of a working AI video workflow, with all production and revenue details self-reported."
summary_basis: "full-text"
original_minutes: "12"
tags: ["business transformation", "future of work", "ai video", "short drama", "creator economics"]
---

# Interview with the non-professional team behind a 12bn-play AI drama

Original title: 专访《持械入宋》主创：草根团队如何做出120亿品质爆款

Tier B (Useful, limited): Entertainment outlet Wenyu Jiazhiguan interviews the three lead creators of the AI short drama Chixie Rusong; a first-hand account of a working AI video workflow, with all production and revenue details self-reported.

Summary based on the full text.

## In short

A 8 November 2026 interview by Wenyu Jiazhiguan (文娱价值官), carried by 36Kr, with the producer, planner and director of Chixie Rusong (持械入宋), a ten-season AI-generated historical short drama that topped Hongguo's AI chart. The core team of six has no film training and works from home across China; members include a stay-at-home mother, a ride-hailing driver and a delivery worker. They say they never buy traffic. Script adaptation, not video generation, takes most of their time, and repeated generation ("drawing cards") is the main production cost.

## Key numbers

- 12 billion: reported plays of the series on the Hongguo platform as of 6 November 2026
- 0.48% of 221,900: share of AI dramas that passed 100 million plays, cited by the outlet to show the series is an outlier
- about RMB 1 million: cost figure circulating in media, which the team confirms covers compute only; it rejects the RMB 10 million return estimate
- 6 core / 30 total: core creators on this drama, and members across several groups working remotely, none with film training
- 9 to 10+: reference images per generation, Seedance 2.0 versus 2.5, which helped crowd scenes

## What it reports

- Launched 21 August 2026; season 4 topped the Hongguo AI new-drama chart; season 10 heat reached 82.06 million; about 4 million people booked unaired episodes.
- Team: 6 core members on this drama, 30 in total across groups making different dramas; each works as a one-person company, so compute is 100% of cost; revenue is split by contribution.
- The circulating RMB 1 million cost covers compute only; the RMB 10 million return is a media estimate the team calls inaccurate.
- Workflow per person: read the novel, break down the script, write prompts, generate video, edit. Consistency comes from a shared asset library of character, scene and prop images and a shared understanding of the adaptation.
- Tools: Seedance 2.0 for the first season, then Seedance 2.5 (from 9 to over 10 reference images); Doubao for script work.
- Scenes with twenty or thirty characters need many regenerations because of consistency errors; long takes (currently 30 seconds) and facial performance remain weak points.
- An earlier drama hit 160 million Douyin plays but was removed from Hongguo after 6 days for breaching review rules.
- Preparation: IP chosen and team selected in about 7 days; first 10 episodes made by two people in a week.

## How they got it

A single interview with three creators, plus platform chart figures cited by the outlet.

## Limits

- All production, cost and team figures are self-reported; revenue is undisclosed.
- Play counts are platform-reported and not audited.
- The creators credit luck as a large factor; one hit says little about repeatability.

## Why it matters for companies

The case shows how far production cost has fallen for video content: a distributed amateur team with subscriptions and a shared asset library produced a ten-season hit, and the bottleneck moved to story adaptation and judgement. For media and marketing teams the operating lessons are a common asset library for consistency, budget for many regenerations in complex scenes, and early knowledge of platform review rules, which removed one of the team's earlier hits.

## Key passages in translation

> 1000万回报是媒体估算的，不准确。具体收入我没有对外讲过，而且我也没收到那么多钱。

The RMB 10 million return is a media estimate and not accurate. I have never disclosed our income, and I did not receive that much money.

> 技术是服务于内容的。

Technology serves the content.

> 目前时间成本最高的部分是花在剧本打磨上了。

At present the largest share of our time goes into polishing the script.

Original: https://www.36kr.com/p/4060386455443330