TVB Seeks Drama Script Improvements
With prime-time viewership ratings plunging to the teens this year, TVB has been more careful in assessing the script quality before proceeding to film.
Kenneth Ma (馬國明) was slated to start filming for new drama Legal Spokesperson <法言人> in September, but due to Murder Diary’s <刑偵日記> unexpected low ratings, TVB Chairman Thomas Hui (許濤) mandated that all new dramas need to be assessed by a team before receiving approval to film.
After completing Invisible Team <隱形戰隊>, Kenneth started filming Legal Spokesperson in December. Although the drama was delayed by three months from its original filming schedule, Kenneth believes the steps for greater quality assurance are important. “For artistes, it is good news if there is now a team that will be assessing the script and determining whether it needs revision. This will allow us to be more prepared, because we’ll likely have the entire script before the start of filming.”
Produced by Lau Ka Ho (劉家豪), the legal drama stars Rosina Lam (林夏薇), Stephen Wong (黃嘉樂), and Jonathan Cheung (張頴康) as lawyers, while Kenneth will portray a business manager at the law firm. Although Kenneth has portrayed a lawyer in the past, he commented on his “demotion” this time, “In the drama, I was accused of money laundering so I could not obtain a lawyer’s license. However, my character is very well-rounded in his skills, as the law firm needs me to look for new business clients.”
The cast has been busy studying the script to tackle the tedious legal jargon. “Even in the office scenes, we have a lot of jargon in our office scene discussions.” As filming will last through March, which means he will be working through the upcoming holidays, Kenneth said, “It’s going to be a long process.”
Other Affected Dramas
Aside from Legal Spokesperson, other dramas were also experienced filming delays because of the need to improve their scripts. Falling in Love with You in Childhood <童時愛上你>, which stars Samantha Ko (高海寧) and Owen Cheung (張振朗), started filming in March but was postponed until June because the script needed to be revised.
Another affected drama was 12 Nights of Pageantry <選美的12夜>, which was supposed to be Yoyo Chen’s (陳自瑤) first leading role. The production was planned for a July start, but was halted for script revision. Jessica Kan (簡淑兒) stated that artistes do not have too much say, and will have to wait for the company to re-schedule.
This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.
they should watch their own shows. shouldn’t take low ratings to realize their shows suck.
shouldn’t they already be doing this? seems odd not having the full script beforehand
They need more fresh ideas than better script, honestly. It’s so boring by now to make police, doctor, lawyer dramas. Bring back more wuxia, bring back triads, do more supernaturals like Exorcist Meter. See what Koreans are doing? Copy them! So many Chinese wuxia to adapt. Make more The Four, Twin of Brothers kind of wuxia.
i’m glad they’re taking steps to improve the quality of their dramas, but i feel like the other things like the story and production can be improved as well. try new ideas and see what the audience likes!