In recent years, news of the arrest, infidelity, and misconduct of artists has become commonplace, and industry regulators have increasingly low tolerance for "bad artists". They have continuously taken various measures to strictly restrict the public appearance of "bad artists".

The policy of boycotting "inferior artists" has been continuously strengthened

On September 29, 2014, the General Office of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (formerly known as the General Office) issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of the Production and Dissemination of Radio and Television Programs, Film and Television Dramas, and Online Audiovisual Programs" (referred to in the industry as the "Restriction of Ugliness Order"), requiring the suspension of the broadcasting of films, television dramas, television programs, online dramas, and micro films produced by illegal and criminal actors such as drug users and prostitutes as the main creators.

On January 19, 2018, the Propaganda Department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television reiterated at the regular publicity meeting that guests invited by radio and television should adhere to the "four absolute don'ts" standard: resolutely do not use actors who are disloyal to the Party and have no noble character; Vulgar, vulgar, and kitsch actors should never be used; Actors with low ideological level and style should never be used; Actors with stains, gossip, and moral issues should never be used.

In November 2020, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Show Live Broadcasting and E-commerce Live Broadcasting", which stated that effective measures should be taken to prevent illegal and immoral artists from being provided with public opportunities to appear and speak out.

On March 1, 2021, the China Performance Industry Association began to pilot the "Administrative Measures for Professional Self-discipline of Performers in the Performance Industry". According to the administrative measures, the China Performance Industry Association established a moral construction committee to specifically undertake the work related to the moral construction and professional self-discipline of performers. According to the evaluation results of the Ethics Construction Committee, "bad performers" will be subject to a boycott by the association's member units for a period of 1 year to a permanent period, and must apply within 3 months before the expiration of the boycott period. They can continue to engage in performance activities only after obtaining approval.

How to avoid risks and reduce losses for investors?

The term "bad artists" in the industry is actually a vague generalization, which generally includes illegal and criminal actors such as drug users and prostitutes, as well as those with ethical issues such as infidelity, scandal, and improper behavior. Blocking "bad performers" has become the biggest unpredictable risk in the current film and television industry. Despite legal and document restrictions, and the gradual improvement of industry self-discipline, for film and television drama producers and investors, the risk of banning film and television dramas caused by the closure of "bad artists" is still irresistible, and may cause incalculable losses to film and television drama investors.

So how can we avoid risks and reduce losses as much as possible?

Firstly, it is necessary to strengthen the awareness of risk prevention and control, and do a good job of background investigation of artists.

What kind of actors a film and television work employs is not only a matter of examining its acting skills and flow, but also artistic ethics and moral character, which are increasingly important factors. Therefore, it is very important to strengthen the risk prevention and control awareness of "bad artists". First of all, actors should maintain a clear head and always tighten the risk string of "bad artists", so as to be aware of the slightest and prepare for the rainy day. Before cooperation, "due diligence" should be conducted on the cooperative artists from as many aspects and channels as possible on a legal basis. For example, learn about artists through their friends, companies they have worked with, and actors, and repeatedly verify whether they have any bad records.

Secondly, a "moral clause" should be signed in the contract.

The investor must sign a "moral clause" in the contract for hiring artists, stipulating that during the shooting, production, distribution, and later broadcasting of a program or film and television work, the brokerage company and artists must comply with the relevant laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, and must not engage in any wrongdoing. If the aforementioned behavior of the artist causes the film and television work to be unable to continue shooting, unable to complete shooting, or unable to broadcast on time If the suspension of broadcasting or the adverse impact on the sales of film and television works, the brokerage company and artists should return all the fees already collected, pay a huge amount of liquidated damages, and compensate the investors and the broadcasting platform parties for all the losses suffered as a result.

The contract must also stipulate that the artist brokerage company and the artist shall bear unlimited joint and several liability. On the one hand, some artists have limited personal financial capabilities, but on the other hand, it has also prompted brokerage companies to pay attention to relevant issues, provide due training and management to artists, and try to prevent them from performing poorly.

Introducing and improving insurance can protect film and television

Given that after the closure of "bad performers", the film and television works they participate in were also closed down, resulting in heavy losses for investors. Many industry insiders have called for the film and television industry to learn from overseas experience, introduce completion guarantees, transfer some of the risks to insurance companies, and minimize the losses caused by subsequent film and television works that cannot be broadcast through insurance claims.

The completion guarantee first appeared in Hollywood in the 1950s. In order to ensure that a film production can be completed within a predetermined time limit and budget, investors sought a guarantor to supervise and manage the film production process, which is to "insure" a film.

Completion guarantee companies (often large insurance companies) promise investors to complete film production on schedule and on budget. When there are risks that may threaten the completion of the film during the production process, the completion guarantee company will fully take over the production process and complete the film shooting and post production. In addition, if the film cannot be completed due to objective reasons, the guarantee company will also compensate the investor.

However, the author understands that China has not fully implemented the completion guarantee, and there are some simplified "completion insurance". For example, there is an insurance called "completion guarantee insurance", The introduction describes: "It is a very effective performance insurance that ensures that a project (whether a film or TV series) is produced on a predetermined budget and delivered on schedule according to the established production schedule and cash flow statement. The guarantee is provided by the completion guarantor (also known as the 'guarantee company')." "Yes, and before underwriting a production project, the guarantee company will evaluate the production risks and various production elements.". The guarantee is used to protect the financing party, the investor, or any person who has an investment interest in the project. "If the project cannot be completed and delivered in the aforementioned manner, the guarantee company will fully repay the beneficiary's investment capital or loan and its interest."

The above insurance looks very beautiful, but the completion insurance requires a comprehensive review of the film and television works insured. The requirements for review and evaluation are very high, the submitted materials are extremely diverse, and the insurance process is particularly complex. After insurance, the insurance company is also quite strict in supervising the use of funds for the film and television works and the filming progress.

In addition, the completion insurance mainly covers losses caused by natural disasters, accidents, and other reasons during the shooting of film and television works, such as accidental injury to the main actor, damage to shooting props, and other losses that result in the inability to continue shooting of the film and television works. It is not intended to assume insurance liability for all cases where the film and television works have not been completed (including cases where "inferior artists" cause the inability to continue shooting).

Through online search and consultation with insurance company employees, the author learned that a new type of insurance has emerged in the market, called "collapse insurance for artists", to specifically prevent the risks caused by "bad artists" to film and television investment. However, many insurance companies have not yet introduced such insurance, and the relevant insurance clauses have not been filed with the CIRC.

According to an insurance company employee, this insurance mainly prevents the insured from committing any criminal acts, violating public ethics or etiquette, or directly related to the insured, causing damage to their reputation, shocking the public, causing adverse conditions to the insured project, the insured's client, or products, and compensating for production losses caused by unforeseen personnel collapse events Expenses incurred due to rescheduling or cancellation of marketing activities, roadshows, etc.

It is reported that the premium for the collapse insurance provided by the artist is relatively high, and the compensation fee mainly refers to the compensation for the post production costs of visual effects during the post filming, but it does not mean that all post production costs can be paid, with a cumulative compensation limit.

Obviously, the emergence of completion insurance and collapse insurance for artists is a need for the development of the film and television industry market. We hope that in the future, completion insurance and collapse insurance for artists can gradually be standardized and improved, and can truly comprehensively and effectively avoid the risks caused by "bad performers" on film and television investment.

Application of late technology can reduce shooting losses

After the exposure of "bad artists", in order to avoid the impact on the film and television works produced by "bad artists", investors in film and television works will take different countermeasures. According to the degree of impact, investors can take remedial measures such as emergency gear withdrawal, gear shifting, and corner changing and retaking. Among them, the most commonly used method for corner changing and retaking is visual effect face changing.

Traditional visual effect face-shifting refers to comparing the scenes of the replaced characters in the play, performing the parts that need to be replaced by new actors again, using visual effect synthesis to replace each shot one by one, and repairing the threading problems caused by the inconsistency between the two shots frame by frame. Traditional visual effects require a large amount of new material to be shot, and post production is slow and expensive, usually billed per minute.

It is gratifying to note that a new AI assisted visual effect face changing technology is currently being studied and improved, requiring only a small amount of facial shots of new actors to capture a certain amount of conventional expressions such as emotions, sadness, and happiness. Use AI learning technology to generate new performance scenes based on the performance of characters in the play and the expression habits of new actors, and then use visual synthesis to synthesize new materials generated by AI to replace old materials. So as to quickly complete the post production and platform distribution of film and television works. However, this technology is currently relatively expensive and technically difficult, and the film and television effects after the facelift need to be further improved.

Therefore, many investors who encounter "bad artists" are hoping that this AI assisted visual effect facelift technology can be improved and put into industrial use as soon as possible, and save blocked film and television works with low cost and efficiency.

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)