TVB’s 2011 Anniversary Awards ceremony will take place soon – counting down to the awards ceremony, the main leads, supporting artists, newcomers, etc. from this year’s popular series such as “Lives of Omission”, “Ghetto Justice”, “Forensic Heroes 3”, “The Other Truth”, etc. have been at the center of many entertainment news headlines of late. However, the success of a series as well as the ability of a character to be able to shine is actually a joint effort between the cast onscreen and the crew behind the scenes – an outcome that is achieved through a collaborative team effort. Oftentimes, audiences are only able to see the ‘shining stars’ in front of them (the many popular artists who grace their TV screens each day) and the awards are usually given only to those ‘stars’ who perform in front of the cameras. Unfortunately, the soul and driving force behind a series – the producers who oversee the creation and production process of a series – are too often overlooked by audiences or are part of the ‘small corner’ of audience’s knowledge of a series.With TVB’s awards ceremony imminent, ND Daily’s reporter reached deep into TVB City and interviewed 4 behind-the-scenes ‘heroes’ who were responsible for bringing much luster and brilliance to HK’s small screen this year. The 4 TVB ‘golden producers’ interviewed for this segment will share the various joys and frustrations that went into producing this year’s highest rated series, the siu sangs and fa dans that they were responsible for developing, as well as their attitudes toward the upcoming ‘battle of the TV stations’ and the poaching phenomenon.
** The 4 ‘golden producers’ interviewed for this article:
Part 1: Mui Siu Ching (梅小青)
Part 2: Chong Wai Kin (莊偉健)
Part 3: Tong Kei Ming (唐基明)
Part 4: Amy Wong Sum Wai (王心慰)
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Part 1: Mui Siu Ching – a unique eye for talent, dares to be a pioneerMui Siu Ching is one of the few female producers amongst the mostly male TVB drama series producers. Though her physical stature may be small and not very eye-catching, this female producer known affectionately amongst the artists as ‘Siu Ching Jeh’ (big sister Siu Ching) has produced many of TVB’s highest rated TV series – in fact, three of her ‘representative works’ had taken the #1 ratings spot in recent years. In terms of artists, the number of actors that she had a hand in pushing to the ‘first-line’ position are countless --when other producers were afraid to cast artists such as Wayne Lai, Moses Chan, Gordon Lam, and Leon Lai (prior to him becoming a ‘heavenly king’) as main leads in their series, Mui Siu Ching – with a unique eye for talent – dared to be a ‘pioneer’ and became the first producer to utilize these actors in lead roles.
As her newest series “Forensic Heroes 3” competes for Best Series of the year at the awards ceremony, there are also rumors that Mui Siu Ching and her ‘golden producer’ husband Lau Kar Ho may leave TVB after being poached by other TV stations, which could have a huge impact on TVB’s future given the increasing drain of TVB’s talent pool onscreen and off.
Recently, ND Daily’s reporter met up with Siu Ching Jeh for an in-depth interview during which she shared with us her ‘golden principle’: “As soon as a series starts filming, I throw myself into the production 100%. It’s almost as though I become a completely different person, someone that people should not come near.” Also, amidst the rumors of an imminent departure, Siu Ching Jeh candidly reveals that any future decision to stay or leave “has nothing to do with the recent ‘poaching phenomenon’.”
Formula for success
From “Beyond the Realm of Conscience” two years ago to last year’s “Can’t Buy Me Love” to the current “Forensic Heroes 3”, Mui Siu Ching’s productions the past 3 years have all been anniversary grand productions. Of course, just because a series is considered an ‘anniversary production’ doesn’t mean that it will be a ratings guarantee, however Siu Ching Jeh’s productions very rarely miss the mark in the ratings category. Her most recent project, this year’s anniversary series “Forensic Heroes 3”, has already achieved 3 ‘highest ratings’ milestones for 2011: the highest rated premiere episode, the highest average rating for an entire series, and the highest rated finale episode.
When it comes to ‘gathering the soldiers’ and ‘sending out the troops’, many people mistakenly think that producers are only responsible for giving the orders up top and they have a group of ‘warriors’ reporting to them who actually do all the work. For Siu Ching Jeh, this is definitely not the case – her philosophy is to personally be involved in all aspects of a series’ production, similar to the way a mother personally takes on the responsibility of raising her own child; no matter what the task, Siu Ching Jeh does not rely on others to do it for her.
“My husband Lau Ka Ho says that as soon as I start on a series, I become a completely different person and it’s best not to even come near me – every time we enter the studio to start filming, people feel a certain amount of trepidation when they see me. When filming, I’m the type of person who doesn’t rest or sleep. I place a lot of importance on the script for my series; oftentimes, even though the script that the writers give me are already quite good, I am used to personally reviewing the script in detail myself because of my background as a director – where necessary, I will do final edits on the script, as I usually factor in my knowledge of an artist’s potential in performing a particular scene. During the day, filming already keeps me quite busy, but at night, it’s actually even more tiring, as my work never stops – I’ll set my alarm to get up at 2am to work for an hour or so, then when I really can’t hold up any longer, I go to sleep, but set my alarm for 4am or 6am to get up and work. My bed is huge and whenever I’m working, it’s usually filled with all sorts of papers and other data that I have spread out around me – in the mornings, when I go into the studio for work, that’s when everything comes together and I gather all the information I need for that day.”
Siu Ching Jeh continues: “Each time, I work until I’m worn out and exhausted – even when filming a comedy (“Can’t Buy Me Love”), I had the experience of working until I cried! “Forensic Heroes 3” was the same thing – I worked until I cried. Sometimes, I do ask myself whether it’s necessary for me to go through such a painstaking process of reviewing and revising the script, but when I see the happy expressions on the artists’ faces each time they receive the final script, it motivates me to continue doing what I do. Sometimes, I also think about quitting my job after finishing a particular series, but then when I see the series succeed, it changes my mind. I’m a perfectionist, so I always try to strive to do the best job I can within my efforts.”
Siu Ching Jeh’s ‘production philosophy’ may appear simple, but in actuality, it’s really not as simple as it seems: “Without hard work and sacrifice, there won’t be success and even if there is, it won’t last long – in the process, I might ‘get lucky’, but that won’t happen all the time – only once or twice max.”
The joys of production
Asked about whether the ‘dream’ of being a producer is something that Siu Ching Jeh has pursued all her life and will never give up, she suddenly got a bit emotional and her eyes turned a little red:
“Back when I was in school, our family situation was very poor and there were many brothers and sisters that my parents had to take care of. My dad really wanted me to pursue an education in television, so he continued to work hard to pay for my education no matter how difficult it was. When I first entered the industry, I was one of the few females doing this type of work and in the beginning, the work was very grueling – my dad saw how exhausted I was and it pained him to the point that he told me perhaps I should quit. But I knew that my dad really hoped that I would be successful in this career, so no matter what, I refused to quit. Every time he saw my name come up in the credits -- whether it was for assistant editor, director, or producer -- my dad would sit in his little chair and smile. Whenever I see that, I would tell myself: this is my life career!”
Siu Ching Jeh continues: “I had just finished filming the series “Family Man” and one week before it was scheduled to air, my dad suddenly passed away. At the time, an uncle told me: ‘thank you so much for your series “Family Man” – it used to be very rare for my son to come home and visit me, but after watching that series, he comes over more often to accompany me.’ When I heard that, I was touched and filming series became a mission for me – I felt as though my dad was trying to tell me that filming series can still have a conscience. Even now, I feel that my dad is watching me from Heaven, so with each series that I produce, I hold myself to the highest of standards.”
The story of Siu Ching Jeh’s favorites
Mui Siu Ching was the first producer to boldly utilize popular ‘idol’ singers such as Leon Lai, Hacken Lee, and Paul Wong in her series. She was also the first to elevate artists Gordon Lam and Wayne Lai from lesser known supporting actor to lead actor status. In addition, she was also the first to discover that artist Moses Chan had comedic talent, plus she helped push Charmaine Sheh to the peak of her career through participation in 2 of her highest rated series. Mui Siu Ching definitely has a good eye for talent, so the artists are happy to be ‘lucky generals’ in her series.
Favorite artist #1: Wayne Lai
Most audiences believe that “Rosy Business” was the series that elevated Wayne Lai from a ‘green leaf’ actor to first line leading actor and thereby helped Wayne become the actor he is today. In reality, that’s far from the truth: more than 20 years ago, Siu Ching Jeh had already started utilizing Wayne in her series and she was actually the first producer to put him in a leading role with 2008’s “Pages of Treasures”.
“I really like Wayne alot as an actor. When he graduated from the acting classes back in the day, I cast him in a sitcom that I was filming called “Three in a Family” (茶煲世家) [1990] – in the series, he played Liu Wai Hong’s younger brother. Later on, he also participated in “From Act to Act” and I found out he had talent in the area of imitation – his version of Roman Tam is a classic! I tried casting him in a lead role for the first time in “Pages of Treasures” back in 2008. Wayne is a very professional actor with high standards – in order to portray his role as a forensics analyst in “Forensic Heroes 3”, he would go to the gym every day to keep himself fit; his wife even told me that she would give him facials every night! Even as we were filming the series, during the scenes where he was using the computer, he would have a small reflective board in his hand to help him with his facial expressions – he has very high expectations of himself, not just with his acting, but with all aspects of his character.
With “Forensic Heroes 3”, there was also added pressure, as many audiences were already used to Bobby AuYeung’s performance in the first 2 installments – plus Wayne had never portrayed this type of character before, so he had to work twice as hard in the role. Wayne definitely has great skill; take that court scene for example – from filming to editing, I had watched that scene no less than 20 times and it’s still one of my absolute favorite scenes. Right after we filmed that scene, everyone in the studio applauded – almost like at a concert, the applause continued for a long time. At the time, I told Wayne: ‘Awesome! I feel that our series will be a winner!’ With his skill and talent, he definitely has the air of a TV King.”
Favorite artist #2: Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung got the opportunity to participate in “Forensic Heroes 3” after Charmaine Sheh withdrew due to injury – in Mui Siu Ching’s opinion though, Maggie did a great job with the role:
“Actually, I had collaborated with Maggie in “Better Halves” back in 2003, so both of us understood that each has high standards. When Charmaine had to withdraw and I had to seek a replacement, the first person I thought of was Maggie – as soon as I asked her, she said ‘yes’ and immediately re-arranged her schedule, declining a few other projects in the process. Maggie has very high standards just like myself, and not just with her own performance, but with the entire scene she is in as a whole – for example, if someone is giving her a cup of tea to drink in a scene and the tea cup doesn’t match with the setting, she would crinkle her brow – she strives for perfection in the entire matter as a whole.”
Siu Ching Jeh continues: “There was one particular scene where Pro Sir’s daughter Mun Mun was telling him about a classmate who would always ignore her and Maggie’s character Mandy showed Mun Mun pictures of how the classmate would like in the future. The dialogue for that scene was actually quite complicated, so the director told Maggie that since she would be sitting in front of a computer any way, he could just put the dialogue up on the screen and she could just recite it from there. But Maggie refused and said: ‘No, No – I want to memorize the dialogue in its entirety and recite it back using my own understanding and comprehension of the dialogue. I can do it!’ If someone else were in that situation, most of them would readily take that ‘shortcut’, but Maggie has high expectations of herself.”
When Mui Siu Ching chooses artists for her series, the first thing she looks at is the artist’s work ethic – she is happy to support an artist with heart who takes their acting responsibilities seriously. Each time she supports an artist, she doesn’t feel that she is taking a risk – each time, she feels confident in her decision.
Siu Ching Jeh’s ‘golden’ accomplishments (recent years)
-- Producer of TVB’s highest rated drama series 3 years in a row: 2009’s “Beyond the Realm of Conscience”, 2010’s “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and 2011’s “Forensic Heroes 3”
-- 2011 highest rated series: “Forensic Heroes 3” garnered average ratings of 33 points for the entire series and the finale episode peaked at 43 points, thereby taking over the number one spot amongst this year’s series. FH3 is also a popular favorite in this year’s race for Best Series at the award ceremony.
-- Hot favorites nominated for awards this year: Wayne Lai (TV King), Maggie Cheung (TV Queen), Aimee Chan (Favorite Female Character), Nancy Wu (Best Supporting Actress)
Source: Sina Entertainment (Original source: Nam Fong Daily News)
Translated by: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics
