After years of struggling, Vietnamese actors and filmmakers are finally starting to earn salaries that reflect their hard work.
In 2005, Le Hoang set a record in Vietnam when he earned VND100 million (US$6,000) for directing the film Gai Nhay (Bar Girls), produced by the state-funded film studio Giai Phong.
Until then, the highest sum a director could hope for was VND25 million ($1,500).
Hoang quickly shot to fame and became the idol of many young directors across the country.
Following Hoang’s success, several private film studios began emerging and offered higher salaries to both directors and actors.
The Thien Ngan film studio, for example, signed a VND1 billion ($60,000) contract with Hoang to direct and edit a series of four films.
One of the films, Nu Tuong Cuop (Banditti), set another record when its soundtrack earned VND100 million.
Meanwhile, other young directors like Vu Ngoc Dang who worked on the film Dep Tung Centimeter (Beautiful in every centimeter) and Nguyen Quang Dung who directed Nu Hon Than Chet (The kiss of death), soon broke Hoang’s record earning several hundred million dong for each of their films.
My Uyen, a television series actor, says Vietnam’s film industry was once the domain of state-funded film studios only.
As such, incomes for actors and filmmakers were generally always fixed.
“If you refused to act because the payment was low, the studio would just look for others,” said Uyen.
But private film studios, wanting to make a name for themselves by producing quality work, realized they had to pay almost twice the standard rate to attract experienced actors.
Despite improvements in the film industry, however, directors say it is still harder for them to make money than it is for TV series directors, whose income depends on the number of episodes in a series.
As there are usually dozens or even hundreds of episodes, TV directors have an easy time earning hundreds of millions of dong.
There is also a stark contrast in the incomes of TV actors compared to film actors.
Tri Nguyen and Ngo Thanh Van are among the top income earners for feature films but they rarely earn more than VND85 million for each film they’re hired for.
On the other hand, TV actors like Minh Hang from Goi Giac Mo Ve (Summoning up dreams), can take home up to two hundred million dong for a series.
Despite the offer of more money, some actors say they still prefer to hold out for quality roles even if it means taking a pay cut.
“If the actors insist on choosing the character suitable to them, they can never get rich and if they’re lucky, they’ll earn just enough to live on,” said actor Truong Minh Quoc Thai.
But it’s worth it if it means playing a role that you really love, he adds.
Time is another consideration when actors are choosing roles.
For instance, a TV series consisting of 30 episodes takes weeks for actors to study the scripts and even more time to understand the characters, Thai said.
Tuong Phuong, director of the Phuong Nam film studio, often asks his actors to discuss scripts with him for months.
Director Le Hoang set a record in 2005 for earning $6,000 for his film Gai Nhay (Bar Girls).
At the time, it was the most money ever made by a Vietnamese director.
In his latest film, Cau Chuyen Phap Dinh (A court story), Phuong spent 7-10 days on each part of the film, while the standard rate used by most private film studios is just two days for a part.
Working at a slower rate, directors and actors both earn less each day.
Phuong says he feels guilty for making everyone work longer, but sometimes it’s necessary.
“You have to invest your time to make it acceptable,” he said.
When American filmmakers came to Vietnam to make Nguoi My Tram Lang (The Quiet American), local stuntmen moved up another notch on the pay scale.
Stand-ins were paid $50 a day just for rehearsing.
Many were soon earning up to $1,000 a week.
In 2005, several local stuntmen traveled to India to work on a Bollywood film where they each earned $100 a day, nearly equal to their American counterparts.
Unfortunately though, the Bollywood experience and others like it have proved to be few and far between.
Local actors and film directors are hopeful, however, that the industry will continue to move forward to provide salaries that are more on par with the international pay scale.
A music gala will take place in late August to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gathering many world stars. Ho Quynh Huong will be the only Vietnamese pop star attending the gala.
