Tomorrow Is Monday: taking a rights-cleared story to a paid 50-episode comic drama

The 50-episode series was released on Douyin and Tencent Video; audience reach and paid income are separate measures.

On August 18, 2025, Vidu / Shengshu's official account confirmed the 50-episode release on Douyin and Tencent Video, naming Qiandeng Ruzhou, Pole Interactive and Shengshu, and describing a ten-person, 45-day production. Original-story platform Yanyan Stories also confirmed the adaptation and release. Watch some episodes on the original platforms before judging the figures.

Shengshu reported more than five million views on one platform in the first five days. After interviewing the three parties, Dumou reported on September 30 that all-platform views exceeded ten million within two weeks and that Douyin paid viewing had covered all costs. The view figures describe reach; only the latter is a reported financial outcome, and views cannot be converted into receipts.

• Find Tomorrow Is Monday on Tencent Video ↗

Sources for this section: Shengshu's official Tomorrow Is Monday release announcement · Yanyan Stories' official adaptation announcement · Dumou interviews the IP holder, producer and Vidu

Rights, audience demand and adaptation choices were settled before image generation.

Pole Interactive founder Yang Sheng told Dumou he wanted a clean rights chain and a story still under discussion. The apocalypse and system premise fit a familiar audience genre, while caring for loved ones distinguished the source. IP holder Qiandeng Ruzhou had also considered a film; the comic drama became an earlier way to reach viewers.

Much of the prose's inner monologue had to become actions and dialogue. Rights to the story and original character design underpinned later commercial options. A comparable project needs actual adaptation and distribution rights, then a judgment about whether the story works in brief, consecutive visual episodes.

Sources for this section: Dumou interviews the IP holder, producer and Vidu · Yanyan Stories' official adaptation announcement · Hylands law firm on its IP work for the series

Script development took nearly a month; art, engineering, editing and direction then worked in sequence.

Yang recalled almost a month spent on writing after the team chose to make the series. A long-form screenwriter struggled with comic-drama pacing, so the team brought in someone experienced in short drama. The reported 45 days cover the production period from early June to mid-July after the script, not the entire process from IP selection to release.

Dumou lists five original artists, two engineers, two post-production editors and one director. Art took roughly 30 days and AI video generation roughly 15, with assets handed to the next role as soon as ready. IP, technology and production partners formed a joint committee; weekly reviews covered art, storyboards and the director's account of needed changes.

Sources for this section: Dumou interviews the IP holder, producer and Vidu

The public record describes coordination and sources of rework, but not original prompts or a shot-level failure log.

The producer and technology partner describe artists defining principal characters and settings before tools including Vidu generated motion. Engineers and artists initially used different standards for a good image, and a drawing did not automatically become stable video, so the director and coordinators had to state visual goals and review changes. Original art mattered to continuity and to documenting creative contribution.

The interviews do not publish this show's per-shot prompts, settings, failed renders or side-by-side revisions. Generic Vidu tutorials cannot be presented as its production record. A team following the method should keep its own character sheets, shot briefs, candidates and rejection reasons to learn where rework actually occurs.

Sources for this section: Dumou interviews the IP holder, producer and Vidu · Pole CTO Xu Jinghui at a Fungimind workshop

Reported cost recovery is useful evidence, but it is not a verified settlement or profit-and-loss statement.

Dumou reported that paid viewing on Douyin alone had covered the project's costs before two weeks had passed. This identifies a more concrete business route than a large view count: viewers pay for content and proceeds pass through platform terms to partners. The article supplies no dashboard, settlement contract, cash receipt, partner split or complete cost ledger, so net profit cannot be calculated.

Later public figures conflict. In a January 15, 2026 industry report, Time Finance wrote of roughly RMB 2 million in 'net profit', then described that phrase as an online get-rich myth; it published no underlying accounts. On May 30, 2026 an event organizer's account of a talk by Pole's CTO stated RMB 1.5 million in 'revenue' and RMB 5,000 in 'cost' without saying whether the latter covered only model usage. Neither set of figures is on the same accounting basis as the September 2025 interview's two-week cost-recovery claim. We do not present them as verified project earnings or a result others can expect to repeat.

To decide whether this format can sustain itself, record rights and script costs, art, generation, human rework, post-production, voice, release and promotion, then compare platform contracts, settlement periods and received cash. An affordable story segment and small release test give firmer evidence than converting platform heat into a revenue formula.

Sources for this section: Dumou interviews the IP holder, producer and Vidu · Pole CTO Xu Jinghui at a Fungimind workshop · Time Finance's later industry report