TAICCA CEO Erica Wang On TCCF Mission, Funding Strategies & Taiwan’s Expanding Role In Tech-Driven Content

Erica Wang Min-hui, CEO of Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), has just overseen her first edition of the government-backed agency’s flagship event, Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), but she is no stranger to the organisation and its various activities. 

Wang joined TAICCA in August, previously holding the post of Deputy General Manager of PwC Taiwan, where she was involved in overseeing the agency’s deployment of funding from Taiwan’s National Development Fund (NDF). She joined TAICCA shortly after Sue Wang Shih-sze, who also serves as Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Culture, was appointed as chair, replacing Homme Tsai who left the agency at the end of May. 

Established in 2019, TAICCA is funded by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and also manages capital from the NDF, a government investment fund founded in the 1970s to help develop the Taiwanese economy. At the time of its launch, TAICCA secured $323M (NT$10BN) from the NDF and was recently granted a second tranche of $323M. 

Sitting down with Deadline at TCCF, Wang explains that TAICCA has three main objectives: “The first one is to industrialise Taiwan’s content production, the second is to build scale, as we have many micro studios working alone in Taiwan, and the third is to build international connections.” 

TCCF, the six-year-old pitching, market and forum event that took place this week at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre, helps facilitate all three objectives – particularly the last one, by bringing in international partners and supporting co-productions and other forms of collaboration. This year, large delegations came from France and Korea, mostly via pavilions hosted by French institutions and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), in addition to a growing number of participants from Southeast Asia and Japan. 

During the four days of the market, TAICCA signed a slew of MoUs with local and international companies, including Japan’s K2 Pictures and Taiwan’s Lunta Ventures, to explore future collaboration. “The MoU is the first step to confirm we have the will to work together. We will then discuss more solid details and operate based on individual agreements,” Wang explains. 

Earlier in the week, TAICCA also announced co-investment in two content funds with local and international partners: a $30M fund established with CJ ENM Hong Kong and Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecom and TVBS Media; and a $20M fund with Far EasTone and Fubon Cultural Creative. On the last day of the event, TAICCA also announced that it is co-investing in a new Taiwanese production outfit, Mirror Entertainment, with local publisher and producer Mirror Fiction Inc. 

Beyond the headlines, few could argue that Taiwan’s film and TV industries are fragmented and lack large-scale studios and financing resources, at least compared to larger neighbours such as Japan and South Korea. Despite that, it’s an industry that regularly scores artistic successes – this year with Tsou Shi-Ching’s Left-Handed Girl screening in Cannes and Shu Qi’s Girl in Venice – while Taiwanese drama series continue to attract investment from Netflix and local streamers.

But Taiwan is a relatively small market for either cinema or streaming, with a box office that has been lacklustre since the pandemic, despite the recent success of local action thriller 96 Minutes, which grossed $6M in September. As with other mid-sized mature markets in the region, local content usually needs to supplement domestic revenues with international distribution. 

Wang explains that Japan and Korea are natural targets for Taiwanese producers as they’re large and relatively mature markets with cultural similarities. “They’re also a role model we can learn from, especially on the technology side, and we also wish to expand our market there,” she says. “We’re also looking at Southeast Asian markets for co-production, co-funding, and expanding the market as whole.”