Streaming toward success

But Cai was a quick learner, and she soon developed a system to break down projects into thousands of deliverables to ensure that every step of the process was finished to deadline.

She says the key to making a successful series is to watch as many excellent dramas as possible, and read popular review sites like Douban to find out what genres audiences want to see.

Her entry into the industry was marked by something of a coincidence, since 2015 was the year regarded as a turning point, and one that reshaped China's film and TV landscape as the nation's major internet companies began making forays into the traditional entertainment industries.

Han, who was born in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 1980, says she has also witnessed the huge change in China's TV and film industry.

"The production process has become quite different. In the past, I could spend two years producing a single TV series, but the internet backers now require us to work on several projects at the same time," says Han.

As online dramas rely on new viewers clicking on the very first episode, streaming site financiers often make new demands about adding advertising content.

"It can feel like the work never ends," says Han.