Wong Cho Lam Promoted to TVB Scriptwriter; Gets Backstabbed by Jealous Colleague
The Oriental Daily newspaper received a complaint letter from a person claiming to be a TVB scriptwriter, lashing out that Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍) will be entering the scriptwriting ranks! Cho Lam will write and star in this new TVB drama. The anonymous complaint letter questioned what qualifications Cho Lam possessed to spearhead the creative development of a television drama?
In a telephone interview, Wong Cho Lam stated, “I am not worried about other people’s criticisms. In the second half of the year, my story will be filmed. Since this story belongs to me, which is based on a partially true story, it is best that I write the script myself. Earlier, TVB approved the project; there is no problem!”
Earlier, TVB Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, Mona Fong (方逸華) has officially tendered her resignation before the Board of Directors. TVB Executive Chairman, Norman Leung (梁乃鵬), said that the Board of Directors has not yet received the notice. Mr. Leung noted that TVB executives, Mark Lee (李寶安) and Virginia Lok’s (樂易玲) positions will not be altered at the moment. In addition, it was ordered that the staffing size of Ms. Lok’s department be increased.
Source: Oriental Daily
Jayne: Congratulations to Wong Cho Lam! I wonder what his drama will be about. I do expect something original to TVB’s standard fare, as the company allowed an actor to write his own script (first time I have heard of such an incident)! Although Cho Lam will likely act as an assistant scriptwriter and not a script editor for the series??
I sense a lot of ambition in Cho Lam. No doubt he possesses amazing self-marketing and persuasive skills, in being able to convince TVB to allow him to write his own script, rather than turn over the idea to the company’s staff instead. He is a very confident man, even wearing the skimpiest outfits on stage do not faze him. Over the last 5 years, he’s done a remarkable job in leaving a strong impression upon viewers; whether you like him or not, you tend not to forget who he is. Is Cho Lam the new Eric Tsang?
Yeah, he could be another Eric Tsang. I didn’t dislike him in the past, and don’t like him ever since he portrayed female characters. If he’s a good artiste, he shouldn’t have become popular until he acted female characters.
Some artists are hindered by their look and cannot choose whatever they want to portray. He is good in acting male characters too, but, audience seem to prefer him acting as female characters. As an artists, he has to give audience what they want until such a time where he’s so established and loaded, he can do whatever he likes.
Personally, I think he has a great voice that is very suitable to sing slow songs. But, the image his music company gave him is a funny one and give him all the funny songs to sing. I’m sure if he’s tall and handsome, he wouldn’t need to do that.
If he’s tall and handsome, a lot of people will say he only sells his face and is talentless.
Yeah, it is the matter of look. Good looking and talent can’t go together in opinion of some ppl. In other words, good looking means the artists only can sell look.
Agree with you with his look and being a shortie, TVB definitely can’t promote him the same way they promote Raymond Lam. I’ve seen him in dramas and with his face, he can carry “hilarious” character quite well. I mean who doesn’t want to be tall and handsome? But, the audience prefer to see him to act as female characters and that is what brings in the money for him then I dont feel surprised that this is where he’s going to be heading.
If he can write a decent script that translates well into the small screen, that is his qualification. What snobbery!
Agreed. It sounds to me like the TVB scriptwriters are nervous. Maybe if they hadn’t been pushing out such “mediocre” series recently TVB wouldn’t be looking for new / fresh talent.
GO FOR IT CHO LAM!
“The anonymous complaint letter questioned what qualifications Cho Lam possessed to spearhead the creative development of a television drama?’
Uh, maybe he’s creative?
If Madonna can direct a feature length movie and people will watch even if it is crap, so can Wong Cho Lam.
U cannot compare WCL to Madonna!
Madonna has been in the biz for 30 yrs, and despite a crazy personal life, has done more good work than bad.
I think the complainer meant in terms of seniority and experience, not just talent. Imagine if u were a longtime scriptwriter working your way up f/ asst to senior writer. Then u hear about WCL getting total creative control and u are to work for him even though he has never even written a complete script before. Quite hard to swallow. And look at that pic of him, I would want to punch him in face too.
Anyway, I hope WCL doesn’t make this “true” story self-flattering and then cast his gf as the lead actress.
^What a funny statement. Tvb aired 2 new series this year and both of them copIed other series. Yet they are here to complain about creativity. How ironic.
If there’s any indication of how crappy the CURRENT TVB series are written, we might as well have Mr. Cho Lam write since it can’t be as bad as what we got now.
Him and his style of acting are not my cup of tea, but I appreciate a new generation of scriptwriters coming up and his effort in his performances.
Perhaps because I personally prefer the deadpan cynical comedy style of Dayo Wong; thus I’m not fond of the “Gods” comedy 😉
Err..to avoid confusion; Him = Wong Cho Lam..hehehe
Furthermore, this project might be Cho Lam’s first writing attempt; but it is not the first project by TVB to feature and custome-made for Cho Lam..
Congrats to him and hope that he can write some good scripts for TVB since some of the reall good scriptwriters have left TVB already.
I also wanted to add that it is sad for colleagues to backstab and hurt each other out of competition and jealousy. I guess that is normal and happens in every field that we work in. I have experienced that in my field as well feel that it is very unfortunate that everyone just cannot work together and encourage each other, but instead backstab and get jealous and envious of each other.
I think it might not be a jealous action but “complainer” just questioned Lam’s qualification. If you work in engineering and one day your boss adds to your team an accountant from payroll, there should be some negativity.
I’m excited to see what kind of series this will be and what kind of costars he will have in here.
Although he’s becoming more and more annoying with his lame jokes but he’s indeed a talented man. He can sing, dance and act.
Good career move!!!
I think it is like a promotion instead (well I might be wrong):
– TVB planed there would be a series in the end of 2012 (when other stations start to broadcast)
– TVB asked a person to send a complain letter to let people know about this series and its script writer
– People would want to check what the hell this guy had in order to write a script
I don’t think he can really act ,Johnston lee acting skill are more better than him among the 3 Fook Luk Sau ,he acting skill look inferior compare to TVB kelefe ,however he singing is ok ,he shall stay as singer not a actor ,agree?
i like WCL. He’s talented. The Gods are quite lame most of the time, but WCL is good, as in funny, in more serious dramas and movies.
I wonder why Jayne like this guy so much ,come on he can only be kelefe if he a actor and his acting skill are very inferior ,stop dreaming of become other Stephen chow,Mr Wong.
Moses,
“I wonder why Jayne like this guy so much ,come on he can only be kelefe if he a actor and his acting skill are very inferior ,stop dreaming of become other Stephen chow,Mr Wong.”
I’m neutral about Wong Cho Lam. I don’t find his brand of humor to be extremely funny, but based on interviews, he sounds like a good boyfriend. Even if I do not prefer an actor’s looks or onscreen acting, I can still find some of his personality traits to be admirable.
Thus the reason why this article was posted. I find it admirable that Cho Lam will be one of the first artists to be writing his own TVB drama. Even if some artists are creatively capable to do so, not many possess the combination of people skills to persuade Management to allow him to do so.
There can ever be one stephen chow. He is the highest standard for comediens and successful actor in serious or comedic genre so I feel Wong Cho Lam is unfairly compared in this regard. I don’t ever think he can ever be near that standard ever.
To compare with the other Gods, I prefer WCL. Johnson Lee acting sucks & I think he is quite an arrogant person in real life after the Gods fever shots to fame. Louis, well I think I just see him as any ordinary 3rd line actor in tvb. Not too fond of him. WCL really impressed me with his acting & dressing style as a woman. How many of us can put up the courage to go on stage to perform like he did.
@TVBFanatic,
In 2008, Johnson Lee produced, directed, and starred in his own independent film, “Citizen King” to good reviews.
I wonder if Johnson had ever tried to pitch his ideas to TVB and pilot his own produced, written and feature drama?
@Larry
Didn’t know Cho Lam started out as a writer for the children’s programs. I guess his new series may be a romantic comedy, as I can’t imagine him playing in a heavy drama.
Did Wong Hei ever do partial scriptwriting for TVB? My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I thought he may have worked behind the scenes for some time? He seems to be a good writer, coupled with the fact that he used to modify his dialogue to fit his characters more. Wong Hei comes across as well educated and literally talented.
I think differently. Of the 3 Gods, I think Johnson as the best acting skill and his mimicry skill is also the best.
I agree wit that. Johnson just lacks the luck, I guess.
I agree on Johnson having the best mimicry skill and best acting. BUT he is not well liked which wouldn’t help him. The most liked is Louis Yuen as he is the longest we have seen. Contrary to popular belief, Cholam isn’t that famous but Johnson is the least famous but all 3 of them together are famous as a trio. Johnson was on point as Andy and Leon! Laughed very hard at his impersonation. WCL also nailed Raymond Wong on Bottled Passion and Sheren Teng.
Is Wong Cho Lam going to be ballet dancer?
Well, he has some experience writing scripts when he was in TVB Children programming shows back in early 2000s or even the variety crap shows….
I’ll give him a chance, except his recent series sucks as a lead actor.
Maybe we should wait until his script to be released first to know.
i like him … wll most prbly
i like him … wll most prbly watch hs show…
I don’t like his acting much and it’s weird if he acts serious but let’s wait until the series aired. Maybe he has talent in scriptwriting since he graduated from an acting college.
BFA (honours) in Acting from The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, School of Drama, Class of 2003.
http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/drama/drama_alumni.asp?lang=eng&mode=gui
Other famous alumni…
Class of 1988: Cheung Tat-ming, Anthony Wong
Class of 1989: Power Chan, Tse Kwan-ho, Barbara Wong (director)
Class of 1990: Sunny Chan, Jim Chim, Joey Leung, Alan Mak (co-director/co-writer for the Infernal Affairs trilogy, Overheard 1 & 2, etc.)
Class of 1991: Louisa So
Class of 1992: Athena Chu
There are probably more, but those are some of the more established and famous ones.
BTW, check out some pictures of a young Athena Chu from 20 years ago. Except for bushier eyebrows, she kind of looks the same…
http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/general/general_showcase_gallery_details.asp?performanceid=175&lang=eng&mode=gui#
http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/drama/drama_showcase_production_detail.asp?performanceid=179&lang=eng&mode=gui#
Looks like Wong Cho-lam performed in at least 3 productions during his time at the Hong Kong Performing Arts Academy…
Some minor role in a play called “When the Dream Fades” (never heard of it).
http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/drama/drama_showcase_production_detail.asp?performanceid=242&lang=eng&mode=gui#
He played one of the four main children in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (see the pictures).
http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/drama/drama_showcase_production_detail.asp?performanceid=674&lang=eng&mode=gui#
And it looks like he played the lead character of Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” which is totally awesome.
http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/drama/drama_showcase_production_detail.asp?performanceid=807&lang=eng&mode=gui#
From the list of alumni on the website, other artists I recognise include
1989: Jackie Lui, Edward Mok Ka Yiu, Phong Chiu Ngan.
1990: Emotion Cheung, Emily Kwan, Rain Lau
1993: Chun Kai Wai (ATV actor)
2003: Kaki Leung
The fact that kaki leung graduated f/ this academy does not add to its credibility.
not a fan of Cho Lam! However i do admitted that he’s very talented and you never know he might do good for TVB
I’m excited to read what the story is about. Is it a romantic comedy? Anyway he is talented and creative.
actually.. wong cho lam wrote a few plays and musicals before.. and he got his first class honour in theater studies.. so it is not surprising to me that tvb allows him to write his own drama.. he has a very good cv to speak about..
He’s a songwriter as well. Done some Voiceovers on some lame productions.
Versatile guy…. TeeVeeBee will work his ass off of him.
my gosh, that pix makes him look super gay. lol….
Actually I find that this news relates to many young people in the work force. The 1980s generation are branded as the “Strawberry Crew”, yet when some try to work past it, they get put down by the old ones.
Agree that WCL can be a talented artiste, but don’t like him to portray female characters. If he is good, he should pursue his acting as a male artiste, not as a female. It is disgusting to see him as a woman. It is cute in one or two scenes, but not in so many programs.
Why is it cute in one or two scenes but disgusting when more?