"You don't know what actor ratings are, do you?"

Liu Rulan narrowed her eyes, noticing Xiao He's distracted state, and looked suspicious.

"Uh, of course I know, but I've never thought about it before."

Xiao He scratched his head awkwardly.

It's like judging a university competition. You may have heard of the competition and know about it, but it always feels too high-end. It's a competition that only very outstanding senior students participate in, and it has nothing to do with ordinary little Karami like them.

He only remembered this incident when he suddenly heard about it.

—Actor ranking, mainly refers to the national actor professional title system, which is an official classification and recognition of actors' professional ability, artistic attainments and professional qualifications. It has strict thresholds and high-standard requirements and is a reflection of actors' professional ability.

It is divided into four levels from low to high: Level 4 actor, Level 3 actor, Level 2 actor, and Level 1 actor.

This ranking system can also be seen as a system of professional titles within the system. A first-class actor is equivalent to the highest artistic title within the system, and may enjoy special government allowances. It represents the pinnacle of career development in the performing arts sector.

For actors who don't work within the system, this rating system is also very helpful.

Official professional certifications and market endorsements can make their future career development smoother, not only enhancing their current competitiveness but also paving the way for a solid long-term career path. They can even access social optimization and promotion channels, obtain the same treatment as those within the system, and successfully transition to government employment in the future.

Of course, this rating system seems to have many benefits, greatly helping actors and having a high degree of professional recognition. However, it is not something that just anyone can take. It has very strict requirements on education, acting skills, works, qualifications, industry contributions, and so on. It also requires recommendations from judges and experts and support from relevant organizations. Therefore, there are relatively few actors in the industry who can continue to be rated higher.

Moreover, with the advent of the era of internet traffic, more people are focusing on the commercial value of actors and pursuing the rapid monetization of traffic. They no longer rely on official professional certifications, and the existing commercial value of traffic no longer needs to be proven by actor ratings. In addition, the preferences of mainstream domestic awards are not suitable for the standards of works in which many traffic stars participate... Therefore, very few traffic stars are now doing this thankless and arduous task.

—That's just the thinking of a company that's racking its brains and is single-mindedly focused on making money.

Liu Rulan, however, was not that kind of person.

No matter what the current situation of the artists they manage is, or how much money they have, who can say for sure what the future holds?

Aside from Su Shengxi, who lacked ambition, both Shu Han and Tong Junhui were sent by Liu Rulan to participate in the rating process. Unfortunately, Shu Han failed the rating due to his educational background, while Tong Junhui was rated as a Level 3 actor early on and obtained the corresponding certificate.

This can be considered as Liu Rulan trying to leave them a way out.

If Tong Junhui hadn't gotten into so many troubles and been involved in the case, given his achievements and reputation, it wouldn't have been a bad idea for him to retire from the entertainment industry and transition to an education career.

However, the final path left for him was one that Tong Junhui did not have the chance to take...

It's unclear whether Liu Rulan was also thinking of Tong Junhui. She remained silent for a moment before continuing helplessly, "It's my fault for not telling you. When you contact Yang Heng later, you can ask him about the selection of third-level actors. Maybe you can get a recommendation from their theater."

If he had the opportunity to be backed by the National Theatre, let alone a third-level actor, Xiao He might be able to advance directly to their second-level actor track once he gained the necessary qualifications.

"Have I already passed the CET-4 exam?"

Actor ratings have a set time limit for their acting career, and they can't skip levels arbitrarily. Since Liu Rulan said that, he must have already been rated as a level four actor...

Xiao He looked bewildered and began to carefully recall in his mind.

It seems like... it was a very, very long time ago, around the time Linghui Entertainment Studio had just been established.

Liu Rulan was truly starting to have a headache: "When you first fell into online bullying because of the villain Meng Zetian, I contacted Teacher An and several leaders of their college and applied for this rating for you according to the procedure."

The selection process had an educational requirement, and Xiao He had a bachelor's degree, which made things much easier for everyone.

Fortunately, Xiao He's performance in the spy film "Shining Stars" was excellent. Director Wen Hongyuan and the others had high hopes for Xiao He and had no intention of getting him involved in such a vicious media storm. So, Xiao He successfully obtained his Level 4 certificate based solely on the role of Meng Zetian and recommendations from a few people found by Liu Rulan. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Based on Xiao He's current achievements and two Best Actor awards, he is basically only one year away from becoming a Category III actor.

However, the concept of years of service is essentially about accumulating seniority. Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. Xiao He's two highly prestigious awards are already enough to qualify him for a promotion of three levels.

In fact, Liu Rulan felt that it was too slow. Based on Xiao He's performance, he should have been aiming for the second-level actor level by now!

"Ahem, that's not true, not true..."

Liu Rulan spoke her mind directly, which made Xiao He quite angry. He quickly reminded her to protect herself: "Let's follow the rules as they stipulate, otherwise it might cause another public opinion storm."

That's a Level 2 actor! A provincial-level troupe might only have ten or twenty people, not to mention the actors in the industry who currently have that level. They are basically veterans who have been famous for twenty or thirty years, have won numerous awards, and have an excellent reputation in the industry. They are truly deserving veteran actors and seasoned performers.

Xiao He couldn't even imagine how many people would curse him if he didn't follow the seniority system and instead found a way to rise to the top in one go.

This isn't just genius or good luck; this is directly challenging the entire [N O V E L I G H T] rule system of the industry!

Seeing Xiao He's hesitant expression, Liu Rulan couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Pfft—hahaha, of course I was just joking, why did you take it seriously? Even if you wanted to, we don't have the connections yet! Otherwise, do you think you'd have a chance? Even Yang Heng is still diligently working his way up to level three! Look how scared you are!"

Yang Heng has far more connections and background than Xiao He. He has won numerous awards in his field and has achieved considerable success internationally. If it were truly possible to skip grades so easily, Yang Heng would have already taken off! Why would it be Xiao He's turn?

But it's really interesting; sometimes teasing kids can be quite fun!

Xiao He, the teased child:...No, no, it's precisely because you are Liu Rulan that I'm afraid you'll really charge in!

This top agent always says he has no connections, but when something really happens, he has all the connections he needs!

This is called blind trust in his agent!