Li Min recorded before his death, and he couldn't wake up the entertainment industry who pretended to sleep
Author | Lorca comes
Edit | Yan Fei
Title map | Visual China
"Does anyone think about how I feel? 28 years to be a singer, standing on stage and being insulted by others! ”
On the evening of August 17, a recording of a suspected famous singer Li Min Coco's complaint about the variety talent show "The Voice of China" was exposed on Weibo. The nine-minute online recording recounts the unfair treatment Li suffered during the recording of The Voice of China last September.
In the recording, a voice suspected of Li Min roared angrily: "It doesn't matter if I sacrifice myself, I didn't expect that they were all a bunch of bad people, go and fix me, because I told the truth, I don't want my life, I just want to help these children." I said the format was unfair, and the program team said that the format was like this, and there was no mentor to change it. ”
She revealed that because of the objection to the "unfair format" of the program group, "they (the program group) want to do something with me, they say, you have to leave this stage."
Subsequent videos also showed a physical altercation between the two sides.
The recording also mentioned that because Li Min suffered a leg injury and was wearing 7-inch high heels, he could not stand alone on stage for too long, so he "asked him (the trainee) to stand by my side and support me." But when the final recording was made, the program team arranged the students to the other side of the stage, which eventually caused Li Min to fall on the stage.
Li Min's last performance on "The Voice of China" had no trainees around him.
That night, the 9-minute recording once topped the Weibo hot search list and was widely spread on major social platforms. Subsequently, The Voice of China's official Weibo issued a statement in response, saying that the recording was "disseminated by some self-media accounts on online platforms and maliciously edited."
In fact, this is not the first time that the variety show group has overturned. Previously, Ying Caier, Yuan Li and other artists revealed that when they participated in the recording of TV variety shows, they were unfairly treated by the program group. Hong Kong singer Eason Chan once revealed on a Hong Kong variety show that when a talent show reaches the mentor selection link, the director will intervene.
In response to the chaos in the format, operation, insider and other industries in the variety show industry, New Weekly interviewed veteran variety show screenwriter Huang Xiaoshen.
The format is changeable,
Zero initiative for artists?
New Weekly: In the production process of a variety show, what is the proportion of power of the program group/producer?
Huang Xiaoshen: Generally speaking, the producers are absolutely dominant. But commercial variety shows will tilt some of the power to sponsors or organizers, so they will still have a certain autonomy to decide which artists to invite to participate in the show. Because sponsors will measure the market's demand for artists, if the other party has a certain amount of traffic or can bring enough attention, the program group will consider using this artist.
(Photo/"Blame You for Being Too Beautiful")
New Weekly: So how does the program team/producer manipulate the recording direction of a variety show?
Huang Xiaoshen: First of all, we can simply divide variety shows into two categories, one is the non-strong campaign category and the other is the strong campaign category. If it's not a strong campaign, and everyone just plays games or chats, we may give the artist an initial script, and the script only contains a general topic or direction, indicating what the screenwriter or program team wants to present to the audience. But in the early stage, we will continue to communicate with the artists and write their real thoughts in the script.
New Weekly: When recording non-strong campaign programs, will artists follow the script smoothly? Have there ever been any cases where cards were not played according to the rules?
Huang Xiaoshen: Not necessarily. The artist is likely to present according to the way we discussed before, or it may change according to the mood of the day or other reasons.
This is still very related to the personality of the artist. Some artists like to follow the negotiated script one by one, without any deviation. But some artists may think of something, so they temporarily add some content to the script, or see the mood freely. But overall, the situation is under control and does not deviate from the general direction of the show. And many times, the artist's free play part is edited to make the show look good.
(Photo/"Blame You for Being Too Beautiful")
New Weekly: So will the uncontrollability of strong campaign programs be higher?
Huang Xiaoshen: There may indeed be a big difference between strong campaign programs with a selective nature.
I was once involved in the production of a talent show. The program is supported by sponsors and platforms with a large background, which is equivalent to the platform sponsoring itself, in this case, their right to speak is almost 100%. It just so happened that I was in charge of setting up the format, which involved the elimination and promotion of strong campaign shows.
From the audience's point of view, until the last moment, it is definitely not known who will advance and who will be eliminated, which is suspense for anyone in front of the screen.
But that time I found that the organizers intervened a lot in the outcome of the competition throughout the recording process. Before the official recording, I often received people sent by the organizer telling me that this issue must find a way to get which artist to advance, even if the number of votes is not enough. If the artist may be eliminated, the staff must set new rules for the artist to stay.
In that show, maybe before every performance, I would receive more or less intervention to make sure I had to protect someone, which made me feel very painful sometimes. Because it is often an hour or two before the recording, the organizer gives the request, and the time is very urgent. As soon as I received instructions, I had to go and talk to the artists who were judges or guests to keep as many people as the organizers wanted to keep.
(Photo/"Blame You for Being Too Beautiful")
New Weekly: Do most artists who receive requests obey?
Huang Xiaoshen: Some artists may feel that it doesn't matter, they think, "This is just my job." Since the sponsor or the organizer asked me to do this, then I will accept it, it doesn't matter." As long as the money given by the organizer is in place, there is no problem with some artists.
But some artists will still have their own insistence. I remember very clearly that once I sent such a message to a guest, but ta did not clearly promise me at that time, saying that he would think about it, but still make the final decision according to the artist's performance on stage. It will also be encountered that some artists are really angry, especially repulsive and resistant to the program team to let ta operate in the dark, and will express the idea that they will not participate in the recording of the show next time.
So you can see that in this process, the bottom line that each artist leaves for himself is actually different.
Variety show scandals are frequent,
Why are artists silent?
New Weekly: The hot search of Li Min's recording is all spontaneously spread by marketing bloggers and amateurs, on the other hand, in the entertainment industry, almost all stars are silenced, what is the reason behind this?
Huang Xiaoshen: The biggest practical problem faced by artists is that before entering the show and starting the actual recording, there will be many times of communication about the contract, which is related to the implementation of the final script. The contract they signed has a confidentiality agreement, which is the biggest obstacle in reality.
Even if I have a good personal relationship with a celebrity, I want to speak up for the other party, but if I face constraints such as confidentiality agreements, even if I tell the truth, I may still face lawsuits and accountability with relatively high compensation, which artists are unwilling to face.
On the other hand, the matter itself has passed, if this artist has such a relationship with me, is it necessary for me to speak up for the so-called justice with righteous indignation? Especially the more famous the star, the more parts to consider. Speaking up for this event may win the goodwill of some audiences, but it may also make some producers think about you.
(Photo/"Blame You for Being Too Beautiful")
New Weekly: Most artists are afraid of offending the program group, so will any artists be ostracized or even banned by the circle because of their voices?
Huang Xiaoshen: We often say that we want to ban which artist in a certain circle, but in fact, there are only a few people who can really achieve this level.
In reality, more often than not, my team knows that someone may not follow the arrangements of the program group, or there are too many things, then any show my team does in the future is likely not to cooperate with this artist again.
Of course, the so-called circle is actually there. After all, people who do variety shows are very mobile, I am in the A program group today, and tomorrow I may go to the B program group. Then when the B program group begins to recommend candidates, I may tell the artist's deeds, and after the B program group listens to the information I relay, it is likely that it will not consider letting this artist on the B program, there will be such a way of communication.
(Photo/"Blame You for Being Too Beautiful")
New Weekly: Can we understand that this is a kind of "silent ban" in the circle?
Huang Xiaoshen : If artists love to express their true side, it will affect all their cooperation in the entertainment industry. Inviting you will become a concern for the producers, and they will reach a tacit agreement that "silent banning" actually exists.
Celebrities shoulder the common interests of many people, including TA's company, agents, employees, etc., so speaking out is a matter that needs to be faced carefully. Maybe celebrities want to speak up for an event, but their agents weigh everything rationally.
In China, variety show announcements are also an important source of income for artists. At the same time, star artists also rely on the endorsement and publicity effect of TV stations. (Photo/Weibo screenshot @Duruo Muyi)
Why is the boycott of the audience useless?
New Weekly: Variety shows have frequent accidents, why are the producers still mixed?
Huang Xiaoshen: This is also one of my personal confusions in recent years. There are so many accidents in the variety show industry, but it doesn't seem to have much impact on the producers themselves. Including the previous sensational Gao Yixiang incident, the public's attention and follow-up impact are actually quite large. It stands to reason that it should be dealt with seriously. However, the end result was simply to stop the show.
First of all, the public is unfamiliar with the team behind the show, and it can even be said that it is unfamiliar. Even if there is an accident, the team behind it can still work on other projects, which is obviously no problem. Because the public does not have such a strong cognitive awareness of these producers, directors, screenwriters, etc. behind the program.
If these people go back to other types of variety shows, or do the same type of variety shows, but just change the name of the show, the public is actually very easy to reaccept. Because the public does not have any perception of the people behind the scenes, the big deal is that the program team re-invites a new batch of star faces to the show.
(Photo/"Blame You for Being Too Beautiful")
New Weekly: If the public boycotts just one show, will that boycott affect the producers?
Huang Xiaoshen: My observation is that after the Gao Yixiang incident, although many viewers said that they would boycott TV stations and program groups, in fact, most of them did not seriously fulfill their promises, or think about how to really refuse this matter.
Because it is a very specific thing, if I really carry out this matter, will I not watch this TV station in the future? If this TV station does a new variety show one day, and there are stars I like, fans will naturally watch it. Most ordinary viewers don't think about this level at all.
Looking back at Coco's affairs, in fact, during the recording of last year's show, this matter has already been exposed. But once the heat passed, things passed. It wasn't until her death that the matter was turned over again. Some of the things that the audience says they are going to boycott are likely to be forgotten in a few days.
As just mentioned, there are many ways and tricks that the producer or program team can play, change the packaging, change a batch of staff, change the name of the program, the audience will not know them, and will accept them with an attitude of looking at new things. What's more, the background of many production companies is still powerful in the entertainment industry, and it is difficult for the audience's resistance to have a substantial impact on them.
(At the request of the interviewee, Huang Xiaoshen is a pseudonym)
Proofreader: Zou Weiyun
Operation: Lu Zirui
Typesetting: Chen Yiqi