Three associations jointly issued a document to regulate the signing of actors in TV dramas (web dramas).

In response to the escalating disputes over actor billing in the TV drama (web series) industry in recent years, the China Television Production Industry Association, the China Internet Audio-Visual Program Service Association, and the China Radio, Film, and Television Society Actors Committee jointly issued a "Notice on Standardizing TV Drama (Web Series) Actor Billing" to their member units. This move aims to eliminate the chaos of "tearing up scripts" from the source, guide the industry back to the core of artistic creation, and build a clear and healthy literary ecology. According to feedback from within the industry, in recent years, some TV dramas (web series) have sparked controversies in various stages such as casting, contracting, filming, promotion, and broadcasting due to issues related to actor billing and ranking, leading to work stoppages, project delays, public opinion conflicts, and other situations that seriously disrupt normal creative work, worsen the industry ecology, and elicit strong reactions from all industry sectors. "When ranking overwhelms acting skills and position replaces quality, literary works lose their soul," industry insiders point out. Such trends not only promote a misguided value of "popularity above all" but also foster negative "fan circle" culture among young people, giving the entire industry a negative image of being superficial and utilitarian. Standardizing billing is an urgent necessity. The "Notice" states that actors should consciously adhere to professional ethics, focus their main energy on artistic creation, and not disrupt the normal order of creative work by affecting billing ranking. Actors and their agencies should fulfill social responsibilities, actively guide fans to chase stars rationally, refrain from creating public opinion conflicts due to billing ranking, and firmly resist online attacks and irrational behavior caused by billing ranking issues. Regarding actor billing rules, the "Notice" specifies that actor billing should be classified and managed based on the nature of the role, the volume of the character's dialogue, and actual participation, using the titles "lead actor," "special appearance," and "appearance." The notice emphasizes that these categories only apply to actors with clear relationships to specific roles. Based on the classification, actor billing should be arranged from fewest to most strokes in the legal name's surname (for compound surnames, the strokes of the first character are counted; for ethnic minorities, the strokes of the first Chinese character in the registered identity card name are counted). If the strokes are the same, the strokes of the second and third characters of the name are compared in sequence until a unique order is formed. The "Notice" requires that actors should ideally use their legal names for billing. If using a widely known stage name, it should be in the format of "real name (stage name)," and not solely use stage names, English names, nicknames, etc. For external publicity materials and public information, including posters, trailers, press releases, official social media content, and offline event materials, their actor billing rules must be consistent with the credits of the opening credits and should not vary based on different platforms, scenes, or channels. To ensure a smooth implementation of the new regulations, the "Notice" sets a buffer period of about a month, and will officially come into effect on July 10, 2026. From then on, all premiering TV dramas and web series must strictly adhere to the new regulations. The responsible persons of the three associations stated that they would establish a normalization monitoring mechanism to inform the industry of projects and agencies that fail to comply with the regulations and cause adverse effects. Those with serious consequences will be included in the industry's risk alert range. It is widely believed within the industry that the issuance of this "Notice" reflects the industry associations' proactive attitude towards addressing persistent issues, guiding practitioners back to the core of creation, upholding professional ethics, collectively fostering a healthy, orderly, and positive industry ecology, and promoting the continued healthy development of China's TV drama (web series) industry.