The chance of debut is less than 10%, and 3 million people are claimed for leaving the circle: the cruel youth of the trainee group
Half a month to talk about reporters: Wu Yanxia Yang Shiyan
Nowadays, some minors with "star dreams" have signed artist contracts with performing arts companies and become trainees, hoping to make their debut after training and become shining idol artists on stage.
A lawsuit at the beginning of this year exposed the cruelty of the glamorous juvenile trainee system.
Two underage trainees under a Shanghai performing arts company wanted to go home to take the college entrance examination and proposed to terminate the contract, but the performing arts company claimed 3 million yuan.
This is not a case. Although there are more and more talent show and acting opportunities, the overall "debut" chance of trainees is less than 10%.
A large number of underage trainees face the dilemma of "debut to fame" and no money for "golden basin washing", and they can only be "captive" by performing arts companies, wasting their youth.
1
Idol underwhelming pressure
The trainee system originated in Japan and South Korea and is a model for performing arts companies to excavate and train artists.
Performing arts companies regularly recruit trainees and provide professional training. After a few months to as many as seven or eight years of "cultivation", some trainees meet the basic requirements for a Push into talent shows or related fields to make them an idol artist.
In recent years, the idol development talent show has become more popular.
"Become famous as early as possible. The company tends to choose younger trainees, who are only 12 years old." said He Wei, an agent of a Shanghai performing arts company. In addition to appearance and talent, age is a very important consideration.
Nowadays, talent shows generally require players to reach the age of 18. After several years of training, underage trainees can just make their debut at the youngest age.
Two years ago, 16-year-old Xiaochen was discovered by scouts in a street dance training class and became a trainee.
Xiaochen revealed that most of the trainees in the company are between 15 and 18 years old, mostly boys.
"In the company, there is no personal privacy, everyone's mobile phones are confiscated, and everyone eats, lives, and trains together."
These underage trainees go to school during the day and return to the company to train until midnight after school.
Training time is longer on weekends, even from 9 in the morning to 12 in the evening.
"Daily training is very hard. When I am not in school, I practice 15 hours a day. I can practice for more than 18 hours before the exam, but I am not the hardest." Xiaochen said "examination" refers to the company Weekly, monthly, and quarterly professional ability tests for trainees.
The company will rate the trainees based on the test results, and the trainees at the bottom will be marginalized or eliminated directly by the company.
The daily training load is heavy and internal competition pressure is high, which makes these underage trainees emotionally anxious.
"Young trainees keep coming, everyone is afraid of which exam will be eliminated." Xiaochen said.
2
Knowing that some contracts are not standardized, they have to sign
For some minors and their parents who wish to become famous, the first step on the road to becoming famous is to sign an artist management contract with a performing arts company.
The contract defines the rights and obligations between the brokerage company and the trainees.
"In order to ensure return on investment, performing arts companies often set harsh terms to restrict trainees." Fu Lei, a lawyer at Chongqing Hezong Law Firm, said that the performance period of the artist contract between trainees and the company is generally longer, 10 years or more. very common.
The contract generally stipulates that if the trainee unilaterally terminates the contract, he shall compensate the performing arts company with liquidated damages ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of yuan.
In the contract termination case for underage trainees at the beginning of this year, the performing arts company and two trainees signed an 11-year artist contract, and the contract stipulated that the trainees would not be allowed to sign contracts with other organizations regardless of whether they made their debut.
Liu Yue, a trainee from Liaoning, signed a contract with a Shanghai-based performing arts company in his freshman year.
At the on-site presentation meeting for the recruitment of trainees, the company verbally promised that after signing the contract, Liu Yue will continue to go to school and receive education in Shanghai and provide professional talent training.
However, after the signing of the contract, the originally stated matters such as schooling and talent training were not implemented, and even the information about the company's scale and training strength at the presentation meeting was confirmed to be inconsistent with the actual situation.
Liu Yue and his family believed that the company was falsely propagating and wanted to terminate the contract, but the Performing Arts Company informed that Liu Yue would compensate 1.2 million yuan for unilateral termination of the contract.
"My child's father and I are ordinary workers, with a monthly income of only a few thousand yuan, and most of them are used to pay for Liu Yue's extra professional course fees. The financial burden is very heavy, and it is impossible to pay liquidated damages." Liu Yue 'S mother said that before signing the contract, the company said that there would be no training unless the contract was signed, which left trainees and their families no choice.
"The artist contract has not been effectively regulated. In the terms of the contract, the training content and performance resources provided by the company for trainees are not clear enough." Fu Lei said, the performing arts company will even promptly respond to the latest cases and judgment standards of the People's Court. The artist contract is updated and iterated in order to remain invincible in future lawsuits.
Trainees basically have no bargaining power in front of the format contract provided by the performing arts company. Some children and their parents who are eager to become famous, know that the terms of the contract are unfair and even sign their contracts.
Once the contract is signed, the high liquidated damages will waste many years of trainees’ youth on the contract.
3
Disorderly market to be regulated
After two years of training, Xiaochen still didn't wait for her chance to debut, and she felt more and more confused.
"Except for occasionally participating in commercial performances, or running around in some variety shows, the company did not give me a very formal opportunity to perform." Xiaochen said that the performances she participated in were not paid.
Because according to the artist contract, the performances that trainees participate in belong to the exposure resources provided by the company, and the remuneration belongs to the company.
Liu Yue said that there are 20 trainees who entered the company in the same year as him, but the company will obviously favor two or three trainees with better qualifications in the allocation of training and performance resources.
Others are just "accompanying the prince to study."
Liu Yue, who was not able to terminate the contract smoothly, returned to her hometown for the time being to continue her high school, but she left too much homework and it was difficult to keep up with the progress of her classmates.
Because of a contract, Liu Yue's career path has been completely blocked, and with her current grades, there is basically no hope for college entrance examinations.
"The ratio of trainees to debut is less than 1/10, and most trainees will never have a chance to debut." He Wei said, "It seems that the trainees and the performing arts company are betting against each other, but it is actually a unilateral gambling by the trainees. Performing arts companies never suffer."
Unreasonable terms, coupled with unsupervised contract content, are making more and more minors the victims of entertainment shows.
In the artist contract signed between trainees and performing arts companies, the responsibilities and obligations of the trainees are often stricter, while the terms for performing arts companies are often less binding.
If trainees cannot "debut" after signing the contract, years of youth will be in vain. Not only will they have no academic career, but they can also burden the family with a heavy financial burden.
The legal profession believes that the signing of artist contracts between performance companies and minors is a new phenomenon in social development.
The physical and mental development of minors enjoys priority protection in accordance with the law. However, due to the lack of laws in related fields and the strong personal attributes of artist contracts, minors’ rights to education, health and other legitimate rights and interests may be infringed.
If performed improperly, it may have a negative impact on the development path of minors now and even as adults.
Industry insiders suggest that the competent authorities should strengthen supervision, implement main responsibilities, regulate the training of trainees in the entertainment industry, and issue institutional documents and model artist contracts; at the judicial level, the people’s courts should give priority to protecting minors in accordance with the law when handling relevant cases. Legal rights.
At the same time, parents, as legal guardians, must give full consideration to their children’s academic and future development direction on the basis of supporting their children’s dreams, and prudently sign artist contracts to avoid adversely affecting their children’s growth.
(The agents and trainees in the text are all pseudonyms)
Source: "Ban Yue Tan" Issue 20, 2020
Original title: "Being Famous?
Trap during debut: a contract wasted youth of underage trainees"