Him Law and Other HK Artistes Get Huge Pay Cuts in Mainland China

China’s economy has suffered a hit after the COVID-19 outbreak, prompting the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) to set new restrictions on production investments and actors’ compensations.

According to reports, the NRTA is limiting production budgets to around RMB 4 million per episode. Cast pay cannot exceed 40 percent of a television drama’s overall production budget. Lead actors cannot exceed RMB 400,000.

A source from Mainland China revealed that many Hong Kong actors, who are normally paid about half a million yuan per episode, will get at least a 50 percent pay cut if they get cast in a mainland Chinese series. Actors like Raymond Lam (林峯) and Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎), who are paid up to RMB 500,000 per episode, will have their pay cut to around RMB 200,000 per episode.

It was reported that Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) had received a pay cut when she filmed Yu Zheng’s (于正) Winter Begonia <鬢邊不是海棠紅>, receiving only RMB 150,000 per episode.

Him Law (羅仲謙), who had plans to break into the mainland market a few years ago, was reached out for comment. He said, “Recently I’ve been taking up more jobs in Hong Kong. It’s not something I have control over. No matter what, I’ll hold onto any opportunity that comes my way.”

Source: On.cc