In 2016, star pay rose faster than house prices, curbing sky-high pay cannot be talked about on paper

To curb sky-high film salaries, we cannot stop on paper or shout about it. We must act as soon as possible to reduce excessively high film salaries as soon as possible and promote the healthy development of film and television art.

When a movie gives most of the cost to the actors, investment in post-production and screenplay will be reduced, resulting in crude production of the final work.

At the Shanghai TV Series Production and Broadcasting Annual Conference, Wang Leiqing, director of the Film and Television Center of Shanghai Radio and Television, announced shocking figures."In 2016 alone, the remuneration of first-line and second-line actors increased by nearly 250%. In some IP dramas that rely more heavily on traffic idols, the proportion of star remuneration in production costs has even risen to 75%." What is this concept? Wang Leiqing bluntly said that in 2016, star pay rose faster than house prices.

Nowadays, some film salaries are really ridiculously high, often costing tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan. The producer of the TV series "The Legend of Ruyi" offered a sky-high price of 150 million yuan to hire male and female protagonists, which triggered heated public opinion. Wang Leiqing introduced that it is normal for IP costume dramas that spend more money to cost more than 100 million yuan, while in 2016, the cost of such dramas was between 200 million and 400 million yuan. If calculated based on the average cost of 300 million yuan, in the big drama with the craziest remuneration ratio, the remuneration that actors can take will exceed 200 million yuan.

Some people may say that one is willing to beat and the other is willing to suffer. No matter how high the salary is, what does it have to do with ordinary people? In fact, this is not true. When wool comes from sheep, consumers will ultimately have to bear the sky-high salary. When cinemas purchase these movies with sky-high salaries, they have to "repay" them by increasing ticket prices. The excessive remuneration of TV drama stars is equivalent to passing the cost on to the producers and then to the TV stations. The way for TV stations to absorb the cost is to increase advertisements and then force viewers to watch these advertisements.

Excessive film pay also affects the quality of film and television. Everyone knows that the film and television industry is highly integrated with multiple types of work. The quality of a work depends on the combined effects of various industries such as photography, editing, music, clothing, props, and makeup, especially the screenwriters and directors who are the creative core of the work. The quality of a work is crucial. However, when a movie gives most of the cost to the actors, the investment in post-production and screenplay will be reduced, and the editing, editing, post-production and other links other than the stars will also be greatly reduced, resulting in rough production of the final work.

Looking abroad, the remuneration of Japanese, Korean and Hollywood stars usually only accounts for 20% to 30% of the total film budget. Many overseas production teams understand that the core foundation of a film and television work is the script and the behind-the-scenes production around the script. Disney's scripts have to undergo countless revisions, the management process is extremely strict, and the writers are also given great respect and corresponding remuneration. In South Korea, many screenwriters are respectfully called writers, and even stars are very humble in front of screenwriters. Many American film companies are willing to invest more of their budgets in post-special effects production, and sometimes spend huge sums of money to develop software for a fur or light and shadow effect. However, we have invested a lot of money in a few stars. How can we produce world-class film and television works?

In fact, our salary was not high from the beginning. More than a decade ago, the total remuneration of domestic actors accounted for less than 10%. However, due to the lack of effective management, coupled with the fact that some TV stations only valued the film and television works of celebrity actors, the remuneration of some stars became higher and higher. In recent years, everyone has also realized this problem. In 2013, relevant departments held a special seminar on the issue of high pay for actors and called for industry self-discipline. However, so far, they have not seen that sky-high pay has been curbed. On the contrary, they are getting higher and higher.

We can no longer hesitate to curb sky-high film pay, otherwise it will affect the long-term development of film and television art and harm the interests of the people. First, we must increase supervision, set a salary cap for actors, or limit star pay by paying personal income tax. If it is stipulated that the remuneration of first-line movie stars should not exceed 20% or 30% of the cost of film production, tax should be increased significantly if it exceeds it.

In addition, producers must boldly hire new people and assume the responsibility of cultivating new people for the industry. Television stations and cinemas need to improve their aesthetic standards. They cannot blindly pursue the film and television works of first-line stars, but can boldly recommend non-star works with artistic standards.

To curb sky-high film salaries, we cannot stop on paper or shout about it. We must act as soon as possible to reduce excessively high film salaries as soon as possible and promote the healthy development of film and television art.

Editor: Nancy