In recent years, China’s low-budget, fast-paced, and melodramatic micro-dramas and short dramas have been rapidly gaining popularity. However, the high-intensity, long-hour production style on set has sparked much discussion.
On the 5th, entertainment blogger “随便追追” (Sui Bian Zhui Zhui) suddenly claimed that there had been an accident on a Hengdian short drama set, saying, “the leading actress died on the spot, and the leading actor is still in a coma,” immediately igniting heated discussion among netizens. However, upon investigation by the media, local police and hospitals had not received any such reports, suggesting that someone might have fabricated the rumor. Afterwards, the post was also deleted from the “随便追追” Weibo, seemingly having been removed.
According to Cover News, on the 5th “随便追追” posted a message with both an image and text. In the image, a voice message had been transcribed to text, reading, “Just got the news, a male and female lead died in Hengdian; the female lead died on the spot, the male lead is still in a coma and hasn’t woken up yet.” The WeChat sender’s nickname was “善良的梁” (Shanliang de Liang), and the time was noon on the 5th.
In response, Cover News contacted “随便追追” and the netizens commenting in the screenshot he posted, but received no reply. Meanwhile, Cover News reached out to the Hengdian police and received a response: “No such police incident was reported that day.” Contact with nearby hospitals and emergency centers yielded similar responses: “No related emergency calls were received.”
On the afternoon of the 5th, the source “善良的梁” posted again, saying, “Everyone please stop forwarding this, make things clear before saying anything, everyone please delete (the posts).” Some entertainment insiders also posted, saying that the sudden-death incident was merely a rumor: “It was just some extras disgruntled with the production team spreading rumors on Xiaohongshu; then some marketing accounts reposted it and it spread.”
Nevertheless, many netizens still discussed the incident in the comment sections of the reports, saying things like “Short drama filming is now done with extreme all-nighters; I’ve already seen a lot of actors livestreaming late at night while waiting for their scenes,” and “True or not, this intense short-drama shooting style is scary.”
On the 5th, entertainment blogger “随便追追” (Sui Bian Zhui Zhui) suddenly claimed that there had been an accident on a Hengdian short drama set, saying, “the leading actress died on the spot, and the leading actor is still in a coma,” immediately igniting heated discussion among netizens. However, upon investigation by the media, local police and hospitals had not received any such reports, suggesting that someone might have fabricated the rumor. Afterwards, the post was also deleted from the “随便追追” Weibo, seemingly having been removed.
According to Cover News, on the 5th “随便追追” posted a message with both an image and text. In the image, a voice message had been transcribed to text, reading, “Just got the news, a male and female lead died in Hengdian; the female lead died on the spot, the male lead is still in a coma and hasn’t woken up yet.” The WeChat sender’s nickname was “善良的梁” (Shanliang de Liang), and the time was noon on the 5th.
In response, Cover News contacted “随便追追” and the netizens commenting in the screenshot he posted, but received no reply. Meanwhile, Cover News reached out to the Hengdian police and received a response: “No such police incident was reported that day.” Contact with nearby hospitals and emergency centers yielded similar responses: “No related emergency calls were received.”
On the afternoon of the 5th, the source “善良的梁” posted again, saying, “Everyone please stop forwarding this, make things clear before saying anything, everyone please delete (the posts).” Some entertainment insiders also posted, saying that the sudden-death incident was merely a rumor: “It was just some extras disgruntled with the production team spreading rumors on Xiaohongshu; then some marketing accounts reposted it and it spread.”
Nevertheless, many netizens still discussed the incident in the comment sections of the reports, saying things like “Short drama filming is now done with extreme all-nighters; I’ve already seen a lot of actors livestreaming late at night while waiting for their scenes,” and “True or not, this intense short-drama shooting style is scary.”
It is understood that short dramas currently have relatively tight production budgets. Because the set is charged by time or days, and actors’ salaries are paid daily, crews often try to compress costs with intensive and long-hour shoots — every day earned in advance counts.