In February 2020, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of the Creation and Production of TV Series Network Dramas" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which covers the improvement of the notification of application and filing, "water injection" of objection content, and the proportion of actors' film remuneration. And other content to guide and regulate the TV drama industry. "
" sets the benchmark for the number of TV series as 40 episodes. It is based on extensive research conducted by industry associations. The main purpose is to guide TV series creation to squeeze out water and give the audience a better impression. The specific implementation measures will be continuously explored and improved, and strive to achieve real results. It is not a simple “one size fits all.” In addition, the adjustment and governance of the actors' pay ratio has achieved certain results. This time, specific system measures have been stipulated to consolidate the results and focus on the long-term, so that more funds can be invested in elaborate production and improve the quality of TV dramas. , While leading the correct values.” Recently, relevant persons from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Ministry of Culture and Entertainment of People's Daily Online to interpret the number of film and television series and actors' pay in the "Notice".
40 set cap? No "one size fits all"
The problem of "water injection" in domestic dramas has a long history and complicated causes. In recent years, some TV series and online dramas have artificially lengthened the number of episodes, which objectively caused problems such as narrative procrastination, lowered the artistic level of the works, affected the audience's viewing experience, and caused many viewers to "tucao". The feedback from the audience of
also attracted the attention of SARFT. Last year, under the guidance of the spirit of the document "Opinions on Deepening the Comprehensive Reform of the Film and Television Industry to Promote the Healthy Development of my country's Film and Television Industry", the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has solicited opinions from the industry on relevant measures to "effectively solve the water injection problem". The "Notice" released in February of this year made it clear that the filming and production of TV series web dramas should not exceed 40 episodes and the creation of episodes within 30 episodes should be encouraged.
"The number of episodes of a TV series should depend on the content, and the specific number of episodes needs to be analyzed in detail according to whether the story is rich or not. The current domestic TV series have a tendency to be too long or even flooded, which has caused dissatisfaction and even abandonment of some viewers. Guidance. Advocating 40 episodes and encouraging 30 episodes will provide a development direction for the industry. It is one of the measures to solve the problem of water injection, but it will not be a simple “one size fits all” in the implementation. We will also plan and establish projects, broadcast adjustments, and award awards. Multiple measures including comments have been taken to guide the creation of TV dramas into a virtuous circle.” The relevant person in charge of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television explained.
Fan Zhou, Dean of the Institute of Cultural Development of Communication University of China, said that the introduction of the "Notice" will have a huge impact on the industry: "The reduction in the number of episodes greatly reduces the ability of producers and platforms to make profits through advertising, and the reputation of the work Become a magic weapon for profit, and it will drive the entire market to become more rational.”
As the profit model of domestic dramas relies on copyright sales and advertising placement, under this market logic, producers and platforms tend to extend the series. Dilute costs. Wang Hailin, vice president of the Chinese Film and Literature Society, said that opposing content "watering" can force producers to strictly control costs and reduce waste of resources.
"To solve the'water injection' problem, in addition to relying on supervision, a more market-oriented transformation is required. The current buying and selling mode objectively causes the platform to have too much power. What audiences can see is in the hands of a few platforms." Wang Hailin believes When the market for TV dramas and online dramas gradually transitions from being oriented to institutions to directly facing users, low-quality "water injection dramas" will be eliminated by the audience.
re-raise the "salary limit order" to prevent the rebound of sky-high prices
In recent years, chaos in the film and television industry, such as star chasing and sky-high wages, has not only pushed up the production cost of the series, destroyed the industry ecology, but also misled the blind youths Chasing stars and fostering wrong values such as money worship. In 2018, the State Administration of Radio, Film and TelevisionIn the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Radio, Television and Online Audiovisual Art Programs", it is proposed to curb the bad tendency of the film and television circles to chase stars and speculate on stars, and strictly control the rewards of guests of variety shows.
In the 2020 "Notice", the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television once again emphasized "limiting the ratio of actors' pay", requiring that "the total pay of all actors shall not exceed 40% of the total production cost, and the pay of the main actors shall not exceed 70% of the total pay."
"As a public figure, celebrities have a great influence on the public, especially the youth group. Unreasonable pay may breed money worship, and the value of actors should not be measured by money." A person from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said that the problem of excessive pay for actors lies in It was effectively contained last year, “but we cannot stop there. We must establish a long-term mechanism to prevent backlash.” In Fan Zhou’s view, curbing the excessive pay of actors is of great significance to audiences and the market. The release of the "Notice" Can increase the proportion of outstanding dramas in the market. "This time the measures have made more stringent control over the funds of drama series, and to a certain extent can curb the problem of excessive differences in actors' pay, but in the final analysis, cultivating the audience's aesthetics and guiding the market to make more rational choices is the long-term cure. "
In Wang Hailin's view, limiting the ratio of actors' pay is very effective in improving the quality of works. "At present, in China, actors are the core element of whether a TV series is selected by the platform, while in foreign countries, mature drama platforms such as Netflix use scripts to determine whether to order or not. Producers can choose new actors who are not highly paid. Participate in filming. Reduce the cost ratio of actors and invest more money in production. I hope that all chains will not blindly follow traffic stars and so-called big IPs, but return to the creation itself and let the industry develop healthily." Wang Hailin said.
The industry threshold has been raised, or new changes in the industry have been created. After the "Notice" was issued, many people in the industry noticed important adjustments to the filing and filing procedures: in addition to submitting the materials required for previous filings, they must also commit to the relevant radio and television authorities. Basically complete the script creation. This means that if you want to establish a project for future TV dramas and web dramas, you must first complete a complete script. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the chaos of individual film and television companies using big IP or outlines.
In the past few years, some companies filed for the project when they only had "creative", and signed the actor contract, investment contract and even sales contract through the project, and then went back and rushed to create the script.
This blind pursuit of progress and quick success has caused chaos in the market order. The introduction of the "Notice" effectively raised the industry threshold, encouraged originality, avoided waste of resources, and guided the industry to focus on the creation itself.
Fan Zhou believes that the measures in the "Notice" hit the "industry pain point", and the increase in entry barriers may accelerate the elimination of the industry. "The follow-up of the policy should provide certain support for small and medium film and television companies to carry out normal creative activities. As the core member of the production, the pressure on screenwriters will also increase." Fan Zhou said. In this regard, the relevant person of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said that they will pay close attention to the impact of the new regulations on the industry. "It is not the end of these regulations. A series of measures will be introduced to promote the healthy development of the TV drama industry."
During the transition period, the content and style of the works have undergone tremendous changes, which urgently need to be observed and evaluated, but Wang Hailin is still optimistic about the introduction of the new regulations.
In his opinion, after the announcement of the "Notice", the production company will have to bear the script cost before the project is established, and will transfer the financial risk to the screenwriter. In the short term, the new regulations will trigger a turbulence in the screenwriting industry, but in the long term, it may trigger a series of benign changes in the industry, and even force the production of American dramas.
" screenwriters can evenThe company has been established, taking into account both script writing and project approval, without the need for a film and television company to replace its own declaration, and cooperate with production companies and platform parties in the form of co-producers. Take the risks yourself, but the benefits are also large. "Wang Hailin said.
Wang Hailin believes that if the platform makes ordering judgments based on the script, it will inevitably give birth to a series of high-quality works. "The signal released by the "Notice" is very clear. I hope that practitioners will take a positive attitude to cooperate and explore. , Creatively carry out creation under the guidance of the "Notice". "Wang Hailin said.
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