The winter chill in China's film and TV industry seems far from thawing. Previously, Zhao Youting mentioned in an interview that he only received 10 script offers in the first half of the year, leaving a very long idle period. His agency, "Easy Entertainment" chairman Yang Tianzhen, confirmed the situation on her own podcast program "Naive or Not" when speaking with her artist Song Jia. She revealed, many actors are signed but filming cannot commence, helplessly saying, "Many actors simply have no work." Easy Entertainment is also the Chinese agency for Wu Kangren and Chen Haosen, making their job opportunities an area of particular curiosity.
On her podcast "Naive or Not," Yang Tianzhen recently talked with her agency's actress Song Jia, exposing the current harsh "cold winter" state of the mainland film and TV industry. She helplessly revealed the facts: "Now, since many actors have no work, our drama start-rate this year is very low, reportedly only 30% of last year's."
She said bluntly that many projects have already signed contracts with actors, but are ultimately unable to start production because investors or platforms have withdrawn. "Now it's like the whole landscape is gone."
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Industry insiders believe that the "film and TV winter" is mainly caused by three factors: AI has greatly reduced the cost of micro-short dramas, compressing job opportunities for grassroots workers; audiences are no longer blindly chasing after traffic-driven celebrities, and the market has shifted focus to content and quality; furthermore, film and TV capital is retreating, with established companies like Huayi Brothers and Bona Film Group continuing to incur losses, while the financing model of "big IP + traffic stars" is gradually failing.
The era that once relied on traffic and capital to prop up the market is slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Source: Comprehensive