TFS, the Ho Chi Minh City Television Film Studio behind classic Vietnamese series such as Dat phuong Nam, has announced its first AI-made drama. Bai San (The Hunting Ground) will run to 15 episodes of about three minutes each and is being produced with CapCut, the video-editing app. It was unveiled in the city on 29 September, business site CafeBiz reports. The tie-up pairs a studio founded in 1991, also known for Nguoi dep Tay Do, Gia tu di vang and Blouse trang, with an app most popular among young users.
The story is adapted from a fantasy novel by writer Nguyen Dinh Tu. A male student becomes a dragon-man after an accident, a female student can read ancient scripts, and both are caught in a fight between beast-people and a secret society of hunters.
Studio director Pham Viet Phuoc says TFS wanted to adapt the book two or three years ago but could not afford its jungles, chasms and other effects-heavy settings. AI made the project possible again. CapCut is putting in technology and training worth about 2 billion dong, used for character sketches, set design and post-production.
The series is due around Lunar New Year 2027 across HTV's digital channels, and HTV is also considering showing it on television. CapCut's Vietnam operations head, Mai Dang, said the aim is to take pressure off time and budgets, not to replace the crew.
Director Hong Phuc called AI only a tool. Every frame still needs human decisions on lighting, setting, pacing and performance, he said, and the team has to accept that audiences may react to an AI production in different ways. HTV's Ngo Tran Thinh, who heads multimedia at the city's broadcaster, added that some shots took dozens of prompt attempts. AI output is not good by default, he said; the director and crew spent about a month working with the tools until they produced what the team needed.
The launch came days after Vietnam's Cinema Department, on 25 September, told companies and platforms to follow the rules for releasing films online, singling out some so-called short films. Thinh backed tighter control of AI films with no clear script or origin, and set Bai San apart: it has a named source novel, a known director and crew, and a clear distribution channel.
The organisers stressed copyright as well. The author has granted rights for the first 15 episodes, and Phuoc said TFS wants the series judged as a cultural work rather than a show of what AI can do.
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