TVB was faced with a plethora of problems recently. Following the corruption scandal of TVB executive, Stephen Chan (陳志雲), and senior management fighting over the validity of royalties, a large number of TVB employees resigned recently. This included the departure of over ten scriptwriters. If the situation continues to deteriorate, many series currently in production may be greatly affected. Popular artists, such as Fala Chen (陳法拉), Myolie Wu (胡杏兒), and Wayne Lai’s (黎耀祥) work may be halted at any time due to disruption in the production process of currently filmed series. TVB Faces Stiff Competition From Rival TV Stations In 2012, there will be an addition of three free broadcasting television stations in Hong Kong, which includes Ricky Wong’s (王維基) City Telecom, Richard Li’s (李澤楷) Now TV, and iCable’s free broadcasting arm. The Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority has completed the examination and approved the three companies’ petition for the free television broadcasting licenses, while the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau will likely submit the materials to the Executive Council for review within one month. Next year, there will be three new free local television stations competiting with TVB and ATV. Since former TVB executive, Ho Lai Chuen (何麗全), moved to rival station, Now TV, he has been recruiting ex-colleagues to join him at the new company. According to reliable sources, more than half of TVB artists and production staff were being actively recruited by Ricky Wong’s City Telecom. In addition to promising salary increases, City Telecom allegedly will pay for the early contract termination fees of TVB employees interested in working at the new company. It was understood that TVB had more than thirty employees who handed in their resignation letters, in which the directing and scriptwriting departments were the hardest hit. Even Producer Lee Tim Sing (李添勝) became the object of recruitment. It was understood that “Golden Scriptwriter” Cheung Wah Biu (張華標), who had agreed to return to TVB earlier to partner with Tim Gor on Rosy Business 3 <巾幗梟雄3>, was recently recruited to join City Telecom as well. Allegedly, over ten scriptwriters resigned due to low salary wages at TVB. The production department was severely impacted. A high-level emergency response plan was drafted to retain employees, including increasing salaries by half. TVB Acknowledges Resignation Movement Asked about recent resignnations at TVB, Deputy Director of External Affairs, Tsang Sing Ming (曾醒明), noted that TVB received no more than ten resignation letters to-date and that the situation was not serious, “There are 280 employees in the Program Development Division, with over 80 scriptwriters. The remaining staff perform data collection and writing duties. Over the last several days, the resignations came mainly from the drama department. The number of resignations were a little higher than usual.” Asked whether TVB immediately offered salary raises to retain employees, Mr. Tsang said, “The Human Resources department said that salaries were adjusted in July, with the most generous increases occurring mainly among assistant director and junior scriptwriter positions.” Mr. Tsang stated that TVB had a large number of employees; staff turnover and new employees joining the company were normal occurrences. Mr. Tsang stressed that the temporary influx of resignations did not have an impact on production. Producer Lee Tim Sing admitted that former TVB employees were recruited by other television stations. However, Tim Gor turned down other companies’ recruitment offers, “My contract will not expire until next year. At that time, I will be 65-years-old and my capacity will be limited.” Tim Gor admitted that working in TVB will push one to his own death, “The work never ends! Since arriving at work, I have worked from morning until night.” Regarding TVB artists and production staff being hired to work for other televsion stations, Tim Gor acknowledged that he heard this was the case, stating it was time TVB examined the reason why employees were filled with grievances. Wayne Lai Urges Wage Increase TVB may suffer a ”vacuum” of scriptwriters at any time. Series currently being filmed, Palace Schemes of East and West <東西宮略>, starring Fala Chen (陳法拉) and Roger Kwok (郭晉安), and Lucky Father <當旺爸爸> starring Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) and Steven Ma (馬浚偉) will inevitably be affected. Filming The King Makers <造王者>, Wayne Lai (黎耀祥) was not concerned that the current resignation movement will affect the quality of the series. ”There will be senior, experienced staff overseeing [the production process].” Wayne Lai also felt that salary increases were a priority, “In fact, the turnover in scriptwriters has always been a serious matter. Based on what I know, even a scriptwriter possessing a university degree will only receive a monthly salary of several thousand dollars. I would like to take this opportunity to say that TVB should increase the salaries for the company’s artists and production crew in order to increase morale.” Currently filming Exchanging Happiness, Myolie Wu said, ” TVB films numerous series each year. Even if faced with such a situation [high staff turnover], it will be able to handle it.” Appearing at a promotional event, Maggie Cheung felt that staff turnover at television stations were the norm. Creds: Oriental Daily/Apple Daily/Dramasian
guess time to start watching new tv station... assuming pa gets it uploaded =) competition is good, but if all the artists are split, then we might have an issue
Yeah, I'm sure PA will do cos PA is awesome. True that,if the artist don't blend well in the series it would pull down the performance of the series.
Kinda sad too see a lot of them go. But its always good to see them bring up new actors.. kinda annoying to see the "usual" leads over and over. But TVB should keep the actors, at least increase their wages!
TVB is in a big mess thanks to these people......sigh.... I dont want TVB to just disband in less than 50 years. TVB got to hire some new meat....the good ones. They should make a competition show for acting and not just singing. I guaranteed a mob will show up and a lot of them are better actresses and actors r better than the ones in TVB now. Yea i agree man, they definitely gotta stop using the same people over and over again.
It's good for the overall Entertainment industry in HK, more competition will usually equal better quality stuffs for the viewers and for the avg worker, they will have better wages cause these companies will want to keep their employees content. I'm sure that will be good for the young artists and writers etc, they will now have more opportunities.
about time to have competition! Hope steven will goto the new one. haha. aww... that means I can't watch the series that's not on TVB on my chinese channel then??... [video=youtube;DxTysp8Q0W8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxTysp8Q0W8&feature=feedu[/video]
TVB series have been real average for many years, only a few good ones each year, recycling the same old stories, boring scripts, same actors, maybe now with competition we actually might see better series. Hopefully the new stations will give them real kick up the backside, TVB really need it.
I wonder which series will get canceled lol The new company is willing to pay for the actor/actress's current TVB contract to be cut short and increase their wages so not surprising to see so many actors/actresses and scriptwriters go over there lol I wonder if the new company has planned any series yet... Will they try to get Steven Ma? lol But yeah, hopefully this will mean that TVB will produce more quality series since each year there seems to be only a small handful of really good series.
actually tvb not having a monopoly might be a good thing. possibly more dramas? I'd say heck yes. The thing is, no one show is going to be watched by like all of HK unless they do heavy promotion.
payback is a bitch isn't it? Too bad no bosses will realize that until there's a mass resignations ... Too bad bosses think they can step all over their talents / employees; especially in this economy.
let the bad scriptwriters go already. most of the tvb series that have been coming out are seriously crappy. no originality or creativity at all. they keep making sequels for this series and that series. forensic heroes 3? burning flames 3? they did like a series for almost all professions? police, ICAC, CIB, firefighters, airplane pilots, chefs, lawyers, etc...