Star pay rises are comparable to rocket speed, experts call for strengthening supervision and accelerating the improvement of industry norms

The annual income exceeds 100 million yuan and the remuneration exceeds 10 million yuan. This is no longer a mystery in the film and television industry. Recently, a TV series "The Legend of Ru Yi" adapted from an online novel claimed that the combined remuneration of the male and female protagonists would exceed 150 million yuan, which once again alarmed the industry. The protagonist's remuneration was enough to make a high-specification movie. Can the sky-high salary really equate with the actual acting skills of an actor? When can I put the brakes on the sky-high pay?

Original title: The price increase in celebrity pay is comparable to rocket speed. Is there any cure for the sky-high pay?

The annual income exceeds 100 million yuan and the remuneration exceeds 10 million yuan. This is no longer a mystery in the film and television industry. Recently, there was also a TV series "The Legend of Ru Yi" adapted from an online novel that claimed that the combined remuneration of the male and female protagonists would exceed 150 million yuan. The lead role's salary was enough to make a high-specification movie, which once again shocked the industry.

Can such a sky-high salary really be equated with the actual acting skills of the actor? It is still a falsely high quotation that is constantly blowing up the "bubble" of the film and television industry chain. The reporter asked when the sky-high salary would be able to step on the brakes?

The salary of artists accounts for half or even two-thirds of the production cost."In 2014, we were optimistic about an actor surnamed Zhang. At that time, the salary for a single episode was less than 100,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, in early 2015, one of his plays had good ratings and was popular online. Now, when we asked again in the autumn, the salary for a single episode was 400,000 yuan, and 30 episodes was 12 million yuan. We couldn't afford it." A person in charge of a film and television company in Shanghai told reporters.

How outrageous is the high pay for actors? It has increased several times in less than a year, but it is still a small amount. Jin Guijuan, director of the marketing department of Beijing Meilan Media Communication Strategy Consulting Company, reached a judgment through data analysis-"Artists 'salaries are rising. In many big dramas, artists' salaries account for half of the cost, or even three-thirds of the entire production cost."

Director Feng Xiaogang and many other well-known industry figures have pointed out that compared with global peers, this is an extraordinary phenomenon and will lead the production company's artistic creation to the dilemma of "looking at stars 'faces and working for stars."

In the income and expenditure books of some producers, stars are not only those who simply collect the highest remuneration, but also participate in dividends through certain channels. Some have even been participants in the "ratings bet".

In my country's stock market, there was Huayi Brothers '"star + director" shareholder model earlier, and recently, there was a "miracle" in which Tang De Film and Television used the opportunity to land on the GEM through "The Legend of Wu Mei Niang". Some stars bind with producers by becoming natural person shareholders. According to incomplete statistics, the listing of Tangde Film and Television alone has enabled many actor shareholders to gain more than 20 times of value-added income.

Can you count money just by looking at the face when price deviates from value?

Associated with the high pay of stars are myths such as "acting skills are insufficient to match their appearance","relying on their faces is reasonable to eat" and "appearance is justice", which contributes to the so-called "rationality" of the former.

"Some people just use 'one emoticons' on the screen to the end, almost having a 'facial paralysis' to last the entire audience. They have no acting skills to speak of, but they are paid dozens of times higher than other senior cast members.""There are also some actors who work hard on TV 'reality show' programs with higher pay, and they are relieved when they really enter film and television performance creation." Some senior industry insiders criticized the sky-high pay of stars.

Some actors are self-inflated and criticized by netizens-they are simply "Miss Numbers". They are good-looking, but they don't memorize lines or delve into scripts. After shooting, they will only read "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7" into the camera. They rely on others to dub them during post-production. They are not qualified actors.

The strong contrast between high pay, high appearance, low literacy, and low acting skills has also unilaterally contributed to the exaggerated trends of actors such as frequent plastic surgery and false "fan economy". Director Ang Lee has also repeatedly reminded that the key is to produce touching works. It is difficult for the film industry to develop sustainably based on the "face-based economy" alone.

Ishikawa, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, believes that "high prices and high quality" cannot be fully reflected in the current relationship between actor remuneration and literary and artistic creation. On the contrary, it is often the combination of some high-paid stars and three-to-five combinations that make up bad films and bad dramas. Production and production in the film and television industry can no longer stay at "high prices and low levels of repetition."

Can actors count their money just by fighting for their "appearance"?

In fact, the audience refused to agree. The latest survey by Tencent Video shows that more people born in the 1990s prefer plots and story types, far more than "face value". 74.3% of netizens born in the 1990s believe that story types and plots are the most important, and only 17.1% of netizens born in the 1990s believe that actors must have high face value.

Some commentators pointed out that "you can rely on your face to make a living, but you have to rely on talent." This statement is originally a false proposition. The fact is that the other party has been relying on your talent to make a living, and it also happens to have a good face. As a result, talent is in the face. Under the halo effect, you will not be able to eat by relying solely on your face. Only by holding the true chapter and being strong in your heart can you move steadily and far in the long distance of life.

The causes of "puffy and puffy" are complex.

The knock-on effect of high film remuneration for self-examination stars has affected the entire industry chain. Tencent, LeTV and other film and television platform companies have successively pointed out that "false high film remuneration" has triggered the adaptation of online literature at the front end of the industry chain.(IP) prices are inflated, the overall production costs are inflated, and even the transaction costs and post-marketing costs of film and television works have also risen.

Ishikawa believes that in view of the "puffy and puffy" of this industry itself, both on the stage and behind the scenes should be timely self-examination. "The key is that literary and artistic creation cannot fall into the eye of money. There can be a mutually reinforcing relationship between capital and works, and actors, but literary and artistic creation itself must respect the basic laws and cannot be greedy for money."

"Nowadays, some celebrities are seriously spoiled, and brokerage companies and brokers should be the first to be held accountable." Jiang Haiyang, member of the Shanghai City CPPCC and director of "College Entrance Examination 1977", said frankly,"An agent can make an actor and a drama, and an agent can also destroy a bunch of actors and a bunch of dramas."

He analyzed that when current agency companies sign up for actors, there are some additional clauses. A considerable part of the remuneration of stars who rise in the "rocket" goes directly into the pockets of the agency team. Some agency companies also use bad habits such as competition for film pay, competition for RV, and competition for the number of assistants. Bring it to the set, influencing the actors from the source and the market environment.

In addition, it is not ruled out that some new phenomena of "fraud" have "influenced" stars. For some time, phenomena such as "only ratings","only box office" and "only click-through rate" have been regulated by relevant departments, but new strange phenomena such as "marketing fraud" and "fan fraud" have also emerged. Some fake data and fake word-of-mouth affect the pricing of actors 'remuneration, making some stars become the "emperor" who wears the "emperor's new clothes" but cannot get rid of them.

Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University, pointed out that while China films continue to achieve new box office highs, they ignore the pursuit of the artistic and cultural connotations of films. Many films present aesthetic vulgarity and ethical nihilism. Therefore, at present, China films do not lack high-box office "products", but they lack "works" with literary value.

Experts believe that with reference to the relatively mature experience of some developed countries in regulating the film and television market, it is urgent to improve and improve industry norms and supervision mechanisms. Ren Zhonglun, chairman and president of Shanghai Film Group, suggested that promoting the promulgation of the Film Industry Promotion Law and leveraging authoritative industry associations to implement comprehensive regulation of star pay pricing, which will help effectively promote the entire industry chain of my country's film and television industry. Prosperous development.