Remember the recent discussion about the Chinese drama industry going down the wrong path by valuing big names more than quality and creativity? The government has taken further measures to better the situation.
Manya Koetse from What’s on Weibo wrote on September 22, 2017:
“A document issued by the Chinese film, TV & radio industry association states that celebrities in Chinese TV dramas should no longer receive ‘excessive’ salaries. Top-earning stars’ high fees are considered ‘harmful’ for a healthy development of China’s entertainment industry.
On September 22, the China Alliance of Radio, Film, and Television (CARFT) issued a statement regarding the pay of actors in Chinese television dramas, Xinhua News reports.
The CARFT, a non-profit organization that works under the government, orders China’s production agencies to limit the expenses for cast salaries to no more than 40% of the total production costs for online/TV drama series. Within this percentage, the salary of the show’s leading actors cannot exceed 70% of the total salary paid to all actors.
The measurement is meant to improve the “healthy and orderly development of the [entertainment] industry.” China produces the largest amount of television dramas in the world.”
You can read the full article on What’s on Weibo where the situation is further discussed and examples of stars who received an abnormal high salary are given. You will also find Chinese netizens’ reactions mentioned there.
About What’s on Weibo:
What’s on Weibo reports on social trends in China and is thus a great site to explore if you want to learn more about China’s society beyond dramas! You can read more about them here. What’s on Weibo is also on Facebook and Twitter.
a wise decision, most of the famous actors and actresses with absurd salary have questionable acting capability anyway, hopefully this will be a big step for the Chinese industry in terms of quality, as much as I love C-dramas, Lord, the plot often sucks, interesting beginning with lame ending :/
This could have a bad twist for drama fans. Angelababy and HXM made over 300 million RMB last year as a couple. Now that they lower the salary, with these 2 loving money so much, they will have to do a lot more TV dramas than before to maintain their previous salary. Unless these two get dozens of highly generous endorsers. AB still has so many dramas coming out before the salary cut announcements. AB the genius with Huang Xuan. Another genius AB drama with Wu Xiu Bo.
Maybe this is why Huang Xuan, Dilraba, Shawn Dou, Tang Yan, Zheng Shuang, and dozens of others have been working without a break the last few years?
@Xia, I agree. I think it’s because producers and broadcasters focus too much on maximizing advertising money and related monetary profits. They stretch out every drama as much as possible. Occasionally there are a few reasonable rom-coms like Love020. But the majority of C rom-coms are filled with beautiful, self-righteous, outwardly impressive Mary Sue’s paired with rich, tall Gary Stu’s. Lopsided plot development with excellent Mary and Gary against a group of annoying, horribly flawed supporting characters.
I agree with past commenters that web-dramas often offer better value for audience’s time.