Courting popularity

When the popular TV series Draw the Line was shot in Hunan province earlier this year, three special "staffers" supervised every detail throughout the entire shooting, which lasted more than 150 days.

They are all judges from Changsha Intermediate People's Court. Temporarily putting aside their presiding over trials, the trio — made up of two middle-aged veterans and a young female judge — were invited as consultants to help the crew ensure that all elements, from props to the set decoration, matched reality.

"In the first few weeks, we shot for at least 15 hours every day, hence their workloads were very intensive," director Liu Guotong told China Daily in a telephone interview. "Sometimes, the judges even helped us write some dialogue, as their depictions could be more accurate."

As the first of its kind to panoramically showcase the country's achievements in judicial reform, the legal drama has been broadcast on Hunan Television and several streaming platforms, including Mango TV since Sept 19.

With guidance from the Supreme People's Court, China's highest judicial organ, the television project produced by Changsha-based Xiaoxiang Pictures was launched in 2019, with the tale co-penned by scriptwriters Fei Huijun and Li Xiaoliang.

In just over a year, the creators traveled to seven cities, including Changsha and Hengyang in Hunan province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Shanghai, to interview more than 200 judicial staffers in over 60 courts and collect more than 500 cases from which to seek inspiration.

The full cast and crew comprised around 400 people, who shot the outdoor scenes at over 170 locations in Changsha, and the indoor scenes on more than 40 newly constructed sets covering a total area of 3,000 square meters. A total of 10,000 costumes and 30,000 props were made for the drama, according to the producers.

With a fast pace, the TV series, starring Jin Dong, Cheng Yi and Cai Wenjing, recounts nearly 50 cases in its 40 episodes, covering everything from trivial quarrels to notorious cases, some of which reach into the darkest corners of humanity.

Such cases include that of a husband, who once pretended to be dead to escape his debts, and a mother suing a close friend of her daughter, who was murdered to protect the selfish friend.

How the rapidly expanding internet sector has created new careers, causing new problems, is also reflected in the drama, says the director.

For instance, one lawsuit recounts parents claiming 1 million yuan ($139,200) compensation from a livestream company, after their daughter — a livestream host — died of exhaustion from overwork. However, the young woman didn't sign a labor contract with the company. With new evidence appearing to show that the parents pressured the daughter for money, the case takes some thorny twists.

"A livestream host is not a traditional profession. So, how to define this new type of labor has been a challenge for judges," Liu explains.

The booming milk tea sector is also highlighted in the case of a store operator suing a giant brand for excessive franchise charges and its allegedly unfair contract.

"When a society develops to a certain extent, new types of disputes will often emerge, providing new challenges to propel judicial officials to seek more suitable solutions to adapt to the changing times," says Liu.

A native of Kunming in Yunnan province, the director recalls that he received the invitation to join the project in June last year, when he was shooting the TV series Faith Makes Great in East China's Zhejiang province.

Previously helming crime dramas about Chinese police officers, Liu recalls that he has been keen to take a closer look at the in-house working procedures of Chinese judges and judicial staffers.

He soon discovered that China has made a remarkable improvement in grassroots-level court services, with the process of filing a complaint now easier.

"A citizen can file a complaint online, and the verdict can also be delivered through an online trial," he adds.

Delving deeper into the subject, the director has discovered a lesser-known side of the judges.

"An important rule for being a qualified judge is to always pay attention to controlling your facial expressions and emotion. Even a small smile or a slight frown, despite being made unintentionally, could stir a reaction from any of the litigants," Liu explains.

"Also, you will find that most judges at the grassroots level are good-tempered people. As they often have to face litigants in an emotional state, they need to calm them down to better solve disputes."

The director also discovered that the interior design of court buildings also employs some clever psychology. For example, the stools at the reception desk for filing cases in a court's main hall are usually high, as it's believed that "a person who's sitting is less likely to become angry", says Liu.

The show recently topped the country's TV ratings on six major industry information trackers, including CSM Media Research. It has accumulated 1.4 billion views on Mango TV and 2.4 billion on Migu, two streaming sites popular with younger audiences, propelling it to become one of the most popular TV series this year, according to some domestic media reports.