During a session at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei, creators from Turkey and Japan discussed how to capture attention in crowded mobile feeds. İlkin Kavukcu, founder and CEO of the Turkish studio İki Dakika Creative House, stated that a strong opening hook does not always require a dramatic twist. Instead, Kavukcu said her studio seeks moments of emotional recognition that allow viewers to see parts of their own lives in a story. She noted that audience sharing serves as an indicator that a series has successfully connected with viewers.
İki Dakika Creative House distributes content on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Kavukcu explained that the studio aims to build long-running stories centered on characters rather than a series of one-off plot twists. She also described a business model where brands are integrated into the creation of a story world, allowing them to help shape the fictional world and its economic model instead of just appearing in an episode. Kavukcu reported that İki Dakika has worked with approximately 30 local and global brands and is currently developing co-productions with Italy, a move she attributed to shared cultural themes like tradition and family.
Sawamura Naomichi, CEO of emole Inc. and founder of the Japanese short-form drama platform Bump, identified four popular genres in Japan: female rivalries, hidden identities, infidelity and revenge, and lightly suggestive dramas for men. He noted that female rivalry stories rely on sharp dialogue and characters who are easy to mock but remain endearing. While Sawamura said this genre resonates in Taiwan and South Korea, he stated that hidden-identity stories have broader international appeal because they keep viewers watching by delaying the protagonist's reveal. He added that infidelity and revenge stories can quickly establish a central betrayal, providing an immediate reason for viewers to want to see the protagonist retaliate.
Sawamura emphasized that the first episode is critical for Bump, noting that the company tracks audience drop-off within the first 30 seconds and whether viewers proceed to Episode 2. He said a strong opening must establish the protagonist’s emotional stakes, the central conflict, and the anticipated payoff. He also suggested that making a villain’s behavior sufficiently infuriating builds the audience's desire to see them punished.
Regarding production, Sawamura said Bump typically spends about two months developing a project before script approval, followed by roughly 30 days for filming and post-production. He stated that a 25-episode series with a total runtime of about 45 minutes can be filmed in four days, and the company currently has 20 to 30 projects in production simultaneously.
The leaders also discussed the expansion of microdrama intellectual property (IP). Kavukcu said, “We are already doing this. We can shoot in both vertical and horizontal formats, as long as we have a long enough production schedule.” She added that companies in Turkey, including Disney, are interested in trying this. Sawamura noted that Bump already has examples of IP being developed further, specifically manga and animation. He cited Bandai Namco’s Gundam franchise as an example, stating, “Gundam represents a market worth JPY500 billion to JPY600 billion [$3.2 billion to $3.8 billion].” He suggested that because their app is similar to a manga app, they can consider adapting microdramas into manga or animation. Bump has also tested co-productions in South Korea and the U.S., where local partners helped shape scripts around social media trends, relatable relationships, and cultural context.
According to company information provided for the session, Bump has surpassed 4 million downloads and has generated more than 7 billion social media views.
