Shanghai International Drama Writing Week talks about AI: From a stage accident to real problems for novice screenwriters

For the premiere of Ibsen’s play Posterity, Doug White hired an admiring stage designer and costumer, carefully selected the actors, trained them rigorously, and polished the monologue repeatedly.During the performance, there was a sudden commotion in the audience.Only then did he realize that the actor's big sideburns stuck to his face had fallen off, but he didn't even notice it and was still speaking his lines impassionedly.The sideburns floated up and down with the airflow, as if they were dancing. An unexpected little accident stole the attention of the audience.

This experience was brought to the 2026 Shanghai International Drama Writing Week.From October 4th to 12th, more than 20 Chinese and foreign playwrights, directors, educators, and critics discussed with young writers the vision of screenwriters and talent cultivation in the AI ​​era.The event was hosted by the Shanghai Theater Academy and hosted by the Department of Drama and Literature. Three round tables gathered 30 young writers.

In his opening speech, Dean Huang Changyong talked about "script first".The establishment of the Writing Week responds to the requirements of the Three-Year Action Plan for Drama Revitalization (2026-2028), and is also out of the practical needs of screenwriter training and drama development.He hopes that creators will combine skills with deep thinking about life, be exposed to different perspectives on drama through cross-cultural exchanges, and gain a platform for long-term dialogue.Vice President Nie Wei presided over the opening ceremony and master forum, and seven guests communicated from the perspectives of creation, research, teaching and translation.

White felt from that premiere that the simplicity of the stage and the participation of the audience can give the play a vitality that cannot be planned in advance.Drama is done by human hands and is therefore particularly fragile.Returning to the script, he is concerned about whether the work can reveal enduring human qualities and say things that are difficult to express in words, so that audiences from different cultures and generations can encounter them.Combining nearly fifty years of creative experience, Huang Zhelun also emphasized the vitality of on-site experience.He believes that it is this liveness that makes drama still necessary to exist in the era of artificial intelligence.He teaches screenwriting at Columbia University, encouraging students to try different styles and genres, and perform texts through classroom readings and workshops, allowing authors to hear and see how their words work on the scene.

Lu Xiaoping told another story: During World War II, the indigenous people on the Pacific islands saw the US military building airports, building towers, and wearing headphones, and then planes delivered supplies.They used wood and bamboo to imitate the facilities and waited for supplies to fall from the sky, but the plane did not come.This is what the physicist Feynman called “Cargo Worship Science”.Lu Xiaoping used it to talk about drama: the dance is exquisite, the lines are decent, and the structure is flawless. It may only be in form and not in the spirit of drama.He called this phenomenon “material worship drama”.

He described the true spirit of drama in one sentence: It must overflow contemporary mediocrity.%

《Pipa Ji 》- The Peony Pavilion 《- The Wild Duck 》 (The Wild Duck), in his view, all went into situations that were beyond the consensus of the times.The Master of Arts Theater Company of Nanjing University has performed works such as "Chiang Gong's Face" and "I Am the Moon", but it calls itself "Loser Theater Company" and focuses on people's moments of failure.He gave Aeschylus as an example: while the poet celebrated his own victory in the war, he still used empathy to understand the sorrow of the defeated Persians.The personal nature of art, as well as the distinctive spirit of tragedy and comedy, are what he values.

Sun Hye-joo pointed out that the saying that the 20th century was the director's century has long affected research and teaching, creating a bias that places more emphasis on directors and less on screenwriters.Most dramas are still based on scripts. He suggested strengthening the research and translation of musicals, documentaries and other fields, carefully studying successful works, mastering the patterns and rules of different types, and exploring historical and cultural prototypes.Yang Yang went on to talk about the "media-centric system": Nowadays, some dramas seem to be impossible to develop without multimedia.LED and holographic projection can expand expression, but they cannot be used to evaluate the quality of a play.He said: “We should still return to the screenwriter-centered perspective.”

In the face of AI, Luo Huaizhen proposed in a dance drama - AI Mom - that creators should actively contact and participate in the development of technology, and at the same time deal deeply with human emotions and ethical issues, and think about how people and technology can coexist.Stanislav Semeddev shared the three stages, six skills and nine principles of screenwriting teaching. When talking about using AI, he required students to first clarify their goals, understand their own emotions, form unique associations, and then use tools to test writing.

Hu Kaiqi discusses how texts cross the distance of language and culture.He understands drama translation as stage translation: retaining the artistic characteristics of the original work, but also taking into account the aesthetic reception habits, cultural experience and stage expression of the Chinese audience, so that the translation can truly establish a connection with the audience.

The round table hosted by Yu Rongjun started with how excellent scripts are produced.Meng Bing believes that the author must be sincere, go deep into the characters' hearts and social reality, and find persuasive behavioral logic.Director Ma Junfeng values ​​whether the script can create an emotional connection with the audience and whether the author dares to express his true self.Wen Fangyi said that in the adaptation of historical materials, expression motivation is more important than text content; close communication between editors and directors can solve technical problems and improve efficiency.Sun Ganlu attaches great importance to uniqueness and also reminds the author to look objectively at the social acceptance of the work.The novel "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" has been adapted in different artistic styles, and movies and TV series are also in progress. He is willing to leave the greatest space to second-time creators: “ professional things must be left to professionals.”

When Xu Yu hosted the screenwriter education roundtable, “cross-border” became a specific talent training issue.Ma Wenqi listed works such as - Silent Glory - Tree of Life - Blossoms - The Longest River in the World - My Sister - Island Keeper - and so on: The screenwriting team includes graduates of the drama creation major of China National Drama.When a large number of talents trained for the stage turn to film and television, is this a cross-border success or a loss of theater talents?Do the ideas and directions of training need to be changed?

Yan Quanyi came up with a script that could not be rehearsed.The story is about Zeng Guofan and his counselors. It has profound ideas and the teachers gave it high marks, but seven of the ten characters are old students.It is not easy for many Peking Opera troupes to produce just two old students.He asked directly: Among all the Peking Opera troupes in the country, which one can perform?%This example involves the awareness of drama genre and industry awareness.Yan Quanyi hopes that students will first dive into an opera type, master its core, and be nourished by regional culture; what can be sung in Peking Opera may not be sung in Yue Opera.

Yang Yang reminded teaching to be wary of only judging and judging, and guided students to express their real life experiences; Lu Xiaoping emphasized aesthetic judgment and creative values; Yang Yang suggested using AI to increase opportunities for students to present their works, and at the same time train language expression, judgment ability and humanistic warmth.

The third roundtable hosted by Liu Yanhui focused on the future of AI and screenwriting.Director Xu Jun is wary of the shift in tools from auxiliary to dominant, emphasizing people's life experience, emotional depth and artistic inspiration.Starting from physical experience, Situ Jiayi emphasized the value of real life and interaction, and also recognized the help of AI in structural model integration and drama composition.

Li Shitao regards in-depth reading and profound experience as required courses for screenwriters. The script should carry the author's life feelings in specific moments and situations.Guo Chenzi hopes that teaching will shift from simple technical training to vivid feelings, and establish the author's true connection with himself, others and life.Fang Jun pays attention to the new business formats spawned by AI, and proposes that talent training should not only cultivate content providers, but also cultivate creators with personality and warmth.

The needs of the performance market also entered the discussion.National commercial performance data for the first half of 2026 announced by the China Performance Industry Association, excluding performances in entertainment venues: 324,300 performances, a year-on-year increase of 1.96“; box office revenue of 30.408 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.41”; and 98.8118 million audiences, a year-on-year increase of 5.28%.Small theater operas, immersive dramas, environmental dramas and other forms are constantly emerging, and there is still a continued demand for original scripts.

During the nine-day writing week, in addition to forums, writing workshops, script readings, performance observations and art site visits were also arranged.