Earlier Ricky Wong offered a high salary to poach a group of TVB "green leaf" artists over to HKTV like Al Wai, Felix Lok, Deno Cheung, Jade (Rain) Lau, Luk Chun Kwong, Sin Ho Ying and many more.
Among the green leaf artists, one of them is Candy Chu Yun Yi. Perhaps her name doesn't ring a bell, but once you see her picture its like "Oh, her!" Candy is actually a 2000 Miss Hong Kong participant and a graduate at a performing arts school. She usually portrays an office lady (OL), secretary, bitchy lady or a prostitute. Candy's most memorable role was in Safe Guards, where she portrayed Evergreen Mak's wife Tsang Yim Ngor, but it turns out she's a big fan of cosplay and had been a Cosplayer participant. Now that HKTV did not get licensed, Candy is just like the other artists, standing on the street around the government building, protesting against the government's "black operations".
Nobody Knows Your Name, What's the Point? So why did Candy leave TVB that day? Because of one word: Respect. A few days ago, she and a group of artists were on NowTV's talk show [娛樂審死官] for an interview. Candy teared up emotionally as she shared her story: "At last during the Divas In Distress celebration because of the good ratings. That time, I really couldn't stand it anymore. I told the producer Poon Ka Tak the actual reason why I'm leaving TVB. It is not because I cannot do the work, but rather why is it after so many years I've been working for this company, I have never seen a single poster with my name on it. This is truly a big problem. You know TVB goes globally, I just want my name on one poster, but I realized I'm not on it, but that does not mean I wasn't part of the series..." At this point, Candy started getting very emotional, she continued: "How is it that the public knows you, but at your very own company, your name has never been on a single poster? At the time Tommy [Leung] was there too. I said to him, this is the reason why I'm leaving. As an artist, I can't even let people know my name, then what is the point of being an artist? I put in so much effort into something, and I get no name. The public can call you by your character name and say you've performed very well. They can really tell you what series you've been in."
Aside from Candy Chu, there is also Annie Kwan. She was a 2002 Miss Hong Kong participant as well and has been in the industry for 12 years. She had a little more "luck" than Candy because she has an entry on Wiki. However, she is too a TVB actress that nobody knows.
Per-Show Contract - No Work, No Income Annie expressed she got her tenth anniversary gold metal before she left. Why did she leave TVB? Because of the contract. What was wrong with the contract? Annie said: "TVB has many types of contracts. I was under the per-show contract. That is, if you have work, then you get paid. (How much did you per show?) A few thousand." The other artists exclaimed in response: "Wah! You got a few thousand? That's good, you really are lucky. You got a few thousand." Annie agreed, she's considered one of the luckier ones because she's debuted from Miss HK and fell in love with acting. She endured for 5 years, but she really couldn't go any further. "Actually I really couldn't live off what I was making, because... actually you can see...sometimes I think..." Annie starts crying at this point, then continues: "I'm such a big girl now and I can't even support my family. My family still has to support me. I think I'm just useless. In the recent years, I've been equipping myself. My friends have told me, your acting is pretty good. We support you, we like you, but I cannot tell people if you don't have any shows, then you got no money...I must find work to do in order to get paid."
After switching over to HKTV, Annie finally had an income and even started her own family and had children. "I didn't hope I would get promoted to become one of the first line artists....women don't last long. I'm 30 this year, I don't mind portraying mother roles. I don't mind trying different types of roles. The main leads definitely won't be us, there will always be 20 something year old young actresses in that position. All I can hope for is improving myself. Here (HKTV), I get to be part of the casting, I've auditioned several times. Regardless whether I get the role or not, I already tried my best. After all, one day people will start to appreciate me."
Source: Apple Daily
Translated by: aZnangel @
AsianEU Forum
