SARFT: Total actor remuneration must not exceed 40% of production cost

Recently, the State Administration of Radio and Television released the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese TV Dramas", which pointed out the direction for the future development of my country's TV dramas.

The development goal of Chinese TV dramas during the 14th Five-Year Plan period is to launch more than 10 high-quality theme TV dramas with profound ideas, exquisite art and excellent production every year during the 14th Five-Year Plan period; and to create 10-15 TV drama companies with strong creative and production capabilities.

In terms of regulating the market order, the Plan proposes to promote fair competition in the TV drama market, oppose vicious competition, unfair competition and market monopoly, prevent disorderly expansion of capital, encourage healthy interaction between capital and industry, and guide capital to serve the high-quality development of TV dramas. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of the entire chain of intellectual property rights in the field of TV dramas.

The "Plan" clearly states that actors and related institutions that engage in illegal and irregular activities such as tax evasion, "yin-yang contracts", and "sky-high pay" will be severely punished, and illegal and unethical artists will be prohibited from speaking out or appearing in TV dramas. At the same time, it requires the standardized management of market entities such as agents and brokerage companies in the TV drama industry.

The Plan proposes to resolutely oppose "sky-high pay" and strictly implement the production cost allocation ratio regulations that the total pay of all actors in each TV series shall not exceed 40% of the total production cost, and the pay of the main actors shall not exceed 70% of the total pay of the actors. Industry sanctions will be imposed on practitioners who violate laws and regulations.