On the afternoon of 6 December 2023, Mr Gong Yu, Founder and CEO of iQiyi, Vice Chairman of the China Literary and Art Volunteers’ Association, and Doctor of Automatic Control Theory and Applied Engineering, Tsinghua University, visited the Department of Acting of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and gave a fascinating industry talk and lecture to the teachers and students of the Department of Acting at the New Experimental Space.
Starting from his own experience, Mr Gong Yu talked about the development of the culture and entertainment industry in the Internet era. What made the audience gain a lot was that in the lecture, Mr Gong Yu shared his years of industry experience in vertical sections such as “Talents Needed at the Front End of the Industry”, "Media Content Ecosystem", "Network Video Ecosystem" and "IP-centred Content Creation", so that teachers and students in the audience could understand the development rules and trends of the film and television industry from different perspectives and in an all-round way. This lecture has strengthened the professional belief of the students of the Department of Acting to set higher standards for themselves starting from the foundation years of their university, and to make unremitting efforts to “forge” themselves into composite acting talents.
After the lecture, Professor Xiao Ying, Dean of the Department of Acting, invited Mr Gong Yu to discuss the strategic cooperation between the Department of Acting of the Shanghai Theatre Academy and iQiyi. Professor Xiao Ying said at the meeting that the Department of Acting hoped to work together with iQiyi to build a film and television education and teaching alliance, in order to solve the problems of long decision-making cycle and difficult status quo for casting in the film and television industry by the way of the Department of Acting delivering acting talents to the market, and build a win-win situation, so as to achieve the higher level of serving the national cultural development strategy. The two sides discussed this topic, and would continue to follow up this issue, and revisit the teaching plan and content from the perspective of the industry. All the teachers of the Department of Acting will work hard to cultivate outstanding performing arts talents that meet the requirements in the context of the new era.
