[2013.08.22] ANTHONY WONG, TONY LEUNG KA FAI, SAMMO HUNG JOIN TVB

Having played Ip Man, Anthony Wong will return to TVB for the series KUNG FU

Sammo Hung will demonstrate his cooking abilities from his Seven Little Fortunes days

Tony Leung Ka Fai will star in a series, the script of which naturally is the most important segment.

TVB Assistant General Manager Au Wai Lam describes TVB as a luxury bus, steady and safe but still needing "maintenance" to prevent sudden "stalling".

TVB CEO Dr. Norman Leung suggests an artist deployment table that can show an artist's work distribution for half a year.  Any schedule conflict can be changed on the fly.

Former Director of Broadcasting Franklin Wong knows television production like the back of his hand.  He directed BELOW THE LION ROCK, which became a television classic.  Now he can show his skills in TVB.
courtesy of mingpao.com

Although viewers' television viewing formats have gradually changed, TVB's prime time 3 series line up remained most viewers' entertainment at home. Since the new free television station has made no news yet, TVB is almost the only choice. Will everyone have to watch the same group of artists in every series and suffer from "early psychosis"? TVB assistant general manager Au Wai Lam revealed the 2014 production chart, confirming the rid of the paper flying habit but also setting up a new system to avoid actors from continuously repeating, strengthening light comedy and martial art action series, abandoning sequels and heavy series, and the addition of 3 major film Best Actors Anthony Wong Chau Sun, Sammo Hung Kam Bo and Tony Leung Ka Fai to the line up, as well as two classic series DOUBLE FANTASTIES (MO SEUNG PO) and THE MISADVENTURES OF ZOO (LAU MUN WONG DAI), and the hiring of former broadcasting director Franklin Wong Wah Kei to make a BELOW THE LION ROCK style social realism series.

Although 2014 is over 4 months away, TVB has already confirmed its new production team direction next year. TVB assistant general manager Au Wai Lam revealed the future direction. He said, "This year our future production direction will be different from before. In the past we came up with the creative and the production team summary then reported them to other related departments, but this year I call all the departments together and listen to each department's opinions about series and programming, discuss and gather opinions from even more areas in order to get closer to viewer taste. Production makers sometimes would have a common illness, easily creating programs according to their own preferences, but sometimes personal preference does not equal viewer preference. The so-called 'critical but not commercial hit' actually is a kinder way of saying it. How can you make a program that no viewer watches?"

Au Wai Lam continued, "Thus, series that requires viewers to think deeply with their brains, like BULLET BRAIN (SUN TAM GO LUN BO) and BEAUTY AT WAR (GUM JI YI) this type of so-called heavy series will be out next year, and comedy and martial art action series will be added to the ratio. Next year Wong Chau Sun will make a television series KUNG FU for us. Leung Ka Fai will join us and perform in JI JUNG CHIU JIK. If all the current negotiated actors' scheduling fits, the cast will truly be very strong. In addition Hung Kam Bo will work on a food show for us. He during the Seven Little Fortunes era was responsible for cooking. Jackie Chan's favorite was his curry chicken. Hung Kam Bo will cook on screen for the first time on our program. Wong Chau Sun will also have his food program. Actually when he cooks he is about studying traditional methods. Food programs for viewers will be even fresher subject." With 3 major film Best Actors gathering at TVB, viewers' desire to watch will definitely be excited.

At the same time TVB also invited former director of broadcasting Franklin Wong Wah Kei to make a series for TVB. Au Wai Lam revealed, "Mr. Wong Wah Kei was BELOW THE LION ROCK's first generation director. Actually we thought about remaking BELOW THE LION ROCK for its 40th anniversary, but later the talk turned into using current social realism subject to make a series. Everything will revolve about people's lives, like hopes and dreams for children, the wealth gap, housing problems, etc. We are not just reflecting the people's displeasure, but examining it with everyone through a dramatic format the social reality that people can relate to."

Because of realism, its cast will not be artists who viewers are used to seeing. They will be outside recruits and new faces. The show will air Sundays during prime time starting in the middle of next year. Speaking of the most basic, the most important is still the script. Au Wai Lam said that overseas a production cannot start without a completed script. Although artists expressed that they did not mind "paper flying", actually working without a completed script would only affect production progress and hinder artists' rest period. Thus starting from early this year, he already gave creative and production departments a year to make changes. Starting next year all scripts must be 80% or over complete before going into production.

Au Wai Lam showed a series production progress table, from starting to discuss scripts, what to hand over first drafts, to final script the road map was complete. Another was the artist in studio production schedule, its purpose was to clearly know each artist' schedules to avoid scheduling conflict and the same artist appearing on all 3 series in one night, which gave viewers "early psychosis". Au Wai Lam added, "This was Chair Dr. (Norman) Leung Nai Pang's suggestion. Using this new table, each department confirms execution through looking at the guidance. The paper flying situation will not be permitted again. With a script earlier, we would know when the same set could be used and focus on completion. Unlike now when after a set is demolished we realize that we are still missing one scene and have to rebuild it. In addition artists can have more time to study their characters and rest, as long as work wraps up 3 hours earlier one day, it is good news to the artists and the crew."

Au Wai Lam admitted that changing the existing habits all at once would not be easy, but if they did not change they could easily "stall". He described TVB as a luxury bus, everyone had a comfortable ride. For over 40 years it drove safely without much risk, so no one maintained or repaired it. One day if they opened up the hood, they would realize all the problems within. If they did not repair them early, at any minute it could run less smoothly or even stall. "I always share with colleagues the most successful moment of a company or a person is also the easiest to turn around and become a loser, because it cannot see its own flaws and forget to remind itself."

"Honestly, TVB's competition is only with itself. With or without a new free television station, now we still have other industry competitors. When our programs aren't doing well then we have to examine them. As long as we have good programming, no new competition will have any effect."