How do you think top Chinese celebrities will deal with their overpaid salaries being capped now?

[kookful]

These people are used to getting MILLIONS of dollars per project. We're already beginning to see celebs leaving projects because of their salaries being downgraded massively (more than 50% salary drop) but with the new regulations, there's no way they would still be getting the kind of paychecks they were having in 2017. I've always thought celebs in China were overpaid and actually liked the new regulation (this will give more opportunities for rookies who actually have talent and love their craft but are overshadowed because A-list idol has millions of weibo followers so gets the gigs instead). What kind of changes are you expecting to see this year as this becomes implemented?

[pace]

Better production quality? That's not to say that C-dramas have poor quality of course, but I think with some dramas that star huge names, the quality isn't always there like with the controversy for General and I.

[kookful]

Better production quality? That's not to say that C-dramas have poor quality of course, but I think with some dramas that star huge names, the quality isn't always there like with the controversy for General and I.

 

 

Yeah I heard their salaries make up a huge portion of the projects. Such a shame because tons of C-dramas have good plots only to be ruined by the acting.

[Lemon Tea]

Hopefully less dubbing and a reduction of episodes with more focus on the quality of production.

[Briana]

May be the quality would hopefully be better,in terms of camera works, editing, cgi, costumes and scripts. Which is good because the goverment also seem to encourage chinese original sci-fi production rather than the luxurious and full of scheming imperial costume dramas. The drama episodes could be shorter as well bcs those A-listers wouldnt want to spend much time on filming when they only get half of what they usually get. Many would probably only take 1 or 2 projects in a year like south korean actors and spend the rest of their time doing cfs and pictorials. The trend of movie stars moving to dramas would decrease and more actors would prefer doing movies. We could potentialy found many less expensive but better actors on screen that actually know how to act rather than the same old pretty but expressioneless actors.

 

That's the ideal situation though which i m a bit skeptical about lol. I mean this year is only a trial, bcs the issue is still fresh,but anything could change by next year and the money also could go into those greedy producer own pocket rather than the staffs.

[Drama Drama Drama]

It will be the end of the overrated divos and divas and the quality of projects and actings will make the cachet not the popular pressence.

The script and quality is more important than divos and divas cachet claims because the quality production made the success not the star only.

My country suffers a lot of the same problem. Divos and divas think they are untouchable but the success are made behind scene with good work of producers, directors, script writers. A good story can be sucessful with unknowing or rising actors if they have talent and charm. For me paying millions of yuans to popular but talentless and overrated people is unfair.

[waycrispy1]

The tide is already turning so they better get used to it. The most successful recent drama was Story of Yanxi Palace which starred relative nobodies with an estimated combined overall salary that was only one tenth of the salary that only the male and female lead of Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace received. The most successful recent movie is Wandering Earth with basically all new faces except two who general audiences know of, and they practically worked for free just to get this movie completed. Also there is that acting variety that shows there are plenty of good actors who for years never really got a break. As long you don't have people who have no business investing in movies and dramas like you used to, real estate moguls and tech titans, making the decisions like only wanting people who were popular on hot searches to star in it and constantly throwing money at A-listers, this mess is bound to improve.

[Pinky Winky]

I like the new regulations too. Hopefully actual good actors with a passion for acting and not just fame/money will rise. Bad acting can ruin a good plot for me. 

[Arrivederci]

Hope more of it will go to the lesser paid production staff and won’t get pocketed by the studio execs themselves.

[TheBigMermaid]

It's a good thing. Better acting ahead.

[Nectarous]

Let’s hope it goes to better production value. It’s a little disappointing watching Three Lives... and the beautiful scenery is ruined by godawful CGI monsters and nine-tailed foxes. Not much improved from the early 2000s dramas. I mean, the movie District 9 proved that you don’t need a Marvel movie-esque budget to have great CGI/SFX or be a country with a major entertainment industry.

[musicboxprincess]

Yeah, basically agree with everyone here. Take them money and use them for the visual effects instead. Their cgi and costumes (esp for extras) are notoriously horrendous (like high school theatre level) which sucks because most dramas that I watched have good plots.

[waycrispy1]

Let’s hope it goes to better production value. It’s a little disappointing watching Three Lives... and the beautiful scenery is ruined by godawful CGI monsters and nine-tailed foxes. Not much improved from the early 2000s dramas. I mean, the movie District 9 proved that you don’t need a Marvel movie-esque budget to have great CGI/SFX or be a country with a major entertainment industry.

 

It's hard to compare CGI of a 60 or 70+ episode drama that must be completed in a few months to a series with only a few episodes a season or a movie that takes over a year a make for 2+ hours of content. It's a very time consuming task, not very many companies are willing to let their post-production drag on for too long.

[#goddamnitkongwee]

I think the drama is China investment or Hong Kong or Taiwan.

[reiichi]

It's hard to compare CGI of a 60 or 70+ episode drama that must be completed in a few months to a series with only a few episodes a season or a movie that takes over a year a make for 2+ hours of content. It's a very time consuming task, not very many companies are willing to let their post-production drag on for too long.

 

I think the problem is mostly poor planning. You don't have to finish all the visual effects of those 60-70 episodes drama before they start airing, just enough overhead. And sufficient budget is the most important for any CGI to look good, time constraints can be worked around by having several teams working in parallel on different scenes, since it's not a linear process.

[waycrispy1]

I think the problem is mostly poor planning. You don't have to finish all the visual effects of those 60-70 episodes drama before they start airing, just enough overhead. And sufficient budget is the most important for any CGI to look good, time constraints can be worked around by having several teams working in parallel on different scenes, since it's not a linear process.

 

I think you have to in China, Before the whole thing is ready to air, the completed version has to be inspected. 

[reiichi]

I think you have to in China, Before the whole thing is ready to air, the completed version has to be inspected. 

 

Can't completed episodes be inspected as they're finished though ? I mean, it would make a lot more sense to send each episode as they're completed, so if there's anything the sensors don't like you can change things more easily, like re-shoot a scene since you're still filming the rest, and even modify the screenplay you haven't shot yet, instead of either having to shelf the whole thing, or butcher it before releasing it.

[Nectarous]

If they also tighten the whole drama itself and go down to 30 episodes instead of 50+, that will leave more time and money for SFX/CGI. There are so many dramas where it seems like the writers threw every plot line they thought of into the script and it slowed everything down, obscured the actual plot, and was unnecessary filler to the point where entire episodes would be dedicated to the padding instead of the actual story. Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms dedicated waaaaaaay too much time to Dijun/Fengjiu, like giving them entire episodes, instead of a little time to build the start of their story and the rest to their own season (Pillow Book).

 

I think CDramas need to take a look at JDoramas and KDramas and see how tight their dramas are in comparison.

[cool_scooter]

Hope more of it will go to the lesser paid production staff and won’t get pocketed by the studio execs themselves.

Yeah... stuff like this always looks good until you think about who's really benefiting.