Bowie Lam’s TVB Contract Renewal Terms: “Show Me the Money!”
Since filming for TVB in 1991, Bowie Lam has filmed series after series on an almost non-stop basis. He indicated that he has a wide choice in selecting which series to act in. However, when Bowie Lam received the Best Actor Award at the 15th Asian TV Awards held in Singapore in December, TVB did not celebrate his victory until one month later.
Yesterday, TVB held an event celebrating the international television awards bestowed upon its artists. In attendance were Bowie Lam, Wayne Lai Yiu Cheung, and Susan Tse Shuet Sum. TVB managers, Stephen Chan Chi Wan, Virigina Lok Yi Ling, Catherine Tsang, and Producer Lee Tim Shing also attended. Mr. Chan said, “We did not treat Bowie Lam poorly!”
Although Bowie indicated that he did not mind the late celebration on TVB’s behalf, he admitted in a mainland interview that he will be shifting his career focus to China . After his TVB management contract ends in June 2011, he will sign a per-series contract with TVB, filming only twenty episodes per year.
While onstage, Mr. Chan said, “Earlier, everyone’s focus turned to Bowie . I hope everyone understands that the company did not him poorly. Each year, the event to celebrate international television awards for our artists is held in January. We have to wait until all the awards results are announced.” Afterwards, the press asked Mr. Chan whether he was attempting to clarify matters that TVB did not value Bowie ? Mr. Chan smiled, “No, my statement was intended for the press. Bowie understands that each year this celebratory event is held in January.” (Do you need to console Bowie ?) “He is not hurt; there is no need to do so. I am not concerned that he will misunderstand. He is a very understanding person. If we do not value our artists, then we will not nominate them to enter international award competitions.”
Winning the Best Actor Award for his performance in Sisters of Pearl <掌上明珠>, Bowie Lam shared the stage with Wayne Lai, who received the Best Character Award at the 2010 New York Film and Television Festival. When the press asked whose award was more prestigious, both Bowie and Wayne said, “Please do not talk about this.” Will Bowie accept Mr. Chan’s explanation? “It’s better to have a late celebration than none at all! Mr. Chan did not treat me poorly.”
After completing the filming of TVB series Jiujiang Wine <九江意釀>, Bowie will take his time to negotiate new contract terms with TVB. Will Bowie trade an award for a contract? Bowie looked at his trophy in hand, “This award does not barter for anything. As a matter of fact, I will never use awards to trade for anything else.” (What was Bowie ’s most important term in negotiating his contract?) “The most important thing is money! I have a very good relationship with TVB. If my salary and freedom are increased, then that’s all it takes to renew the contract.” (Are you asking to increase it to the pay level of “Best Actor” ?) “That’s a good idea, but I have not thought about how much to increase yet!”
Bowie also noted that he was interested in appearing in international productions and hoped that Ms. Lok would make the proper arrangements. “It would be great to film a Japanese drama, while receiving free housing and meals!”
Compiled from the Sun, Mingpao
Jayne: Since Gem of Life, Bowie Lam seemed to have kept a low profile. He comes across as an intensely private person, so don’t know if earlier speculations about his sexual preferences by the Hong Kong paparazzi have impacted his decision to turn to mainland. Or is it again TVB’s inability to keep veteran actors happy?
Although not finalized yet, Bowie ’s decision to move on, while not completely severing ties with TVB, seems apparent. His arrangement would be very similar to Bobby Au Yeung, who has turned to making China series for real money. Both actors have an excellent body of work showcasing their acting talent and it is sad to know that their future TVB output will continue to decline.
Bowie’s style of natural, understated acting is quite westernized. I can’t think of anyone at TVB who excels in this style of acting as much as he does!
“Bowie’s style of natural, understated acting is quite westernized. I can’t think of anyone at TVB who excels in this style of acting as much as he does!”
Very well said Jayne. I couldn’t put it any better.
Bowie is extraordinary and I am happy with his decision to film 20 episodes per year. It makes sense. An artist should suffocate the audience. Acting progresses through observations of real life with a little added imagination.
congrats to bowie for a smart decision. i will miss him though.
It’s been some time since I’ve seen Bowie Lam on screen. I wonder how much more the Hong Kong actors make in the mainland in comparison to their salary in Hong Kong?
I love Bobby and was quite pleased to see him in a mainland production…same for Myolie. Isn’t Charmaine also shooting a mainland series?
I also like Bowie’s style of acting. Very subtle and not OTT, but at the same time very good. He deserves the award, but it’s unfortunate that TVB doesn’t give the hype to these awards as compared to their own anniversary awards which we all know are fixed based on who they want to promote or keep happy.
I’m glad he is turning to the mainland market, and I’m sure a lot of veteran actors will continue to do so. Even Charmaine is starting to explore it.
I agree with you Jane. Bowie’s acting is very believable. I don’t know TVB series are so overacted now.
Many former TVB stars all go to China for more opportunities and to make more money. However, the ones that are faithful to TVB still work for them. Honestly, TVB did give a lot of current stars the fame that they needed towards the beginning of their career. Many stars of today all came from TVB.
TVB is where the exposure is as in publicity because they have a huge network but everywhere else is where the money is. That’s why actors always go back to TVB. Many who went to China had steady work but frankly how many follow their news? To me they seem to disappear from face of the earth. But China itself is a controlled and big market, akin to Korea and Japan, self sustaining and able to sustain others so these actors continue to find work, fame and act on. But even Korean stars had to branch out, like TVB stars had to branch out. The pay from TVB is low if you compare to their fame. In America per episode an actor can earn like quarter of a million which is ridiculous but that’s fame. In TVB, the money comes from advertising, which is why you see actors once achieved fame just go on advertising overdrive which gives me an impression they just want to “dig gold” as Tavia puts it. They act in everything, sacrificing their professional integrity as an actor, never really improving. BUT I understand why. You need money for food. If actors feel they’re lowly paid, imagine the writers.
TVB gives fame but real money only comes from advertisement.
Mainland gives less fame but each series fees is much higher than TVB.
Some people might be tired of being too glamorous and constantly in the news and going to the mainland will allow them peaceful time to act.
the thing I don’t like mainland series is that they don’t have good supporting actors and actress like TVB.
Even favorite Hong Kong actor/actress in the series it never interested me. I might watch 1 time but never watch it again.
Another thing is the background. No matter how beautiful I still like watching series take place in Hong Kong. I had been watching Hong Kong series since I was 8 years old and had been hooked. Always have to wait til Thursday to watch the continue episodes.
@JN,
I don’t agree with you because I think China has a lot more talented stars than HK(even the supporting cast too). One thing is they have way more people and also most of them are trained and have to go to university as well. Hong Kong, on the other hand, I really don’t think has any acting classes like before but I can be wrong…
I think you are too TVB/HK oriented that you don’t want to give mainland China series a chance. I have a friend like that who is focused on TVB only and refuses to give series from any other country/company a chance. She is really missing out on so many great series.
I have been watching TVB series since I was 5 and loved them way back then too. However, I also watched Taiwan and a couple of China series since China did not make a lot of series back then. I even watched Singaporean series too. I was focused on TVB back then but still gave series from other companies a chance.But TVB is no longer the same that is it today which I find sad. I believe that there are good and bad series from all companies and countries, so you should always give everything a try and not limit yourself to TVB only. Also you should not think that series from China or that any non TVB series is not good.
Frankly I don’t like china TV production too. The usual ones are rather slow moving, traditional and always dubbed which is annoying.
The bigger production with collaborations always simply cast any big times without much consideration for suitability.
I am hoping Chinese directors like Zhang Yimou might consider doing what American directors are doing; moving to the small screen. If Zhang Yimou directs a 100 episode series, I will definitely watch.
But right now I am not a fan of mainland TV productions. I just find the pace too slow and the storytelling too traditional.
There are classics along the way which is still enjoyable today which shows production style never really changed.
I feel disappointed every time a TVB actor leaves for the China market. Yes, there are Chinese series like The Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West which are absolutely classic. But if you talk about modern dramas produced by China, honestly, I don’t think I can stand watching them for more than 5 minutes. I can’t relate at all to the plot, the lines, the characters.
Yes, China’s rising and all that, but there’s still a big big big cultural difference between the Chinese in mainland China and Chinese elsewhere.
Uh, JN did give the series a try. Didn’t he/she said ‘I might watch 1 time but never watch it again.’ So, he/she did watch. Just that thes series could not retain his/her interest.
When will TVB realize that they’re promoting the wrong people, losing a lot of credibility by giving acting awards to people who don’t deserve them, and letting a lot of the great and well loved actors/actresses go? TVB, please wake up and make long overdue changes.
Bowie and Bobby are both amazing actors for sure~
Bowie is a very very good actor, tvb show pay top wages!! pay much more or go to atv ot china!! Bowie may not be handsome, but has style and brain, and a great voice