Taiwan's Book-to-Stage Playbook: A Sold-Out Play, a Podcast and Two Perfumes
A Taiwanese company turned a psychiatrist's book into a stage play that sold out three times, and it is now pitching the same story-making approach at an industry festival in Taipei.
The company is IPis Innovation, which develops what the industry calls IP, meaning a story, book or character that can be adapted into many different formats. Its COO, Mimi Wang, told Variety that the stage play "Marital Lost Love" ran three times, with every performance sold out. The play is based on a book by psychiatrist Deng Hui-wen. The company then extended the project with a podcast and two fragrances tied to the production.
The same firm is also working on a television series, "Do You Still Love Me?", developed from a novel. At the 2025 TCCF Pitching event, the series won five awards, including the udnFunLife IP Potential Award, more than any other project that year, according to the same report. Pitching is the part of the festival where producers present projects to buyers and funders.
Planned follow-ups for "Do You Still Love Me?" include brand partnerships, product placement (a brand's product shown inside the story), a revival of the reality show "Love Battle," and a related feature film, "99 Days to Countdown." IPis says its development plan rests on three pillars: emotional resonance, ESG standards (rules on environmental, social and governance conduct), and Taiwanese values.
Another project from the company starts with a novel by Yang Shuang-zi, "Siwei Street No. 1." It follows five women who share a house in Taichung. Yang also wrote "Taiwan Travelogue," which won the National Book Award. IPis plans a stage version of "Siwei Street No. 1" and food events built around a Japanese colonial-era Taiwanese cookbook.
The pitch sits within the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, known as TCCF, which runs from November 6 to 9, 2026, at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 2 on the seventh floor. The festival is organised by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), whose CEO is Erica Wang, and TAICCA's chair is Sue Wang. Owen Lee chairs udnFunLife, the events and ticketing arm of Taiwan's United Daily News Group.
TCCF Pitching selected 70 projects for its 2026 showcase, according to Screen Daily. The list includes "Bang & Burn," a Taiwan-U.S. action series produced by actress Gina Torres. TAICCA has also said that up to 26 Taiwanese original works in the publishing and comics categories will take part in the 2026 festival, and that five Taiwanese animations were picked for the Annecy animation festival in France.
For writers and artists, the appeal of this model is simple. A single story can be sold as a book, a play, a podcast and a television series, with each version reaching a different audience. For the people who make it, that means more work across more formats, and a better chance that a story gets finished rather than stalling at the pitch stage.
