Joey Meng Turns Down TVB Management Contract
The former ATV starlet is now the biggest talk of the town. Due to the critical and commercial success of her first TVB television drama, Inbound Troubles<老表，你好嘢! >, TVB higher management executives are now actively trying to convince Joey Meng (萬綺雯) to sign a management contract with the station. Although the terms of the contract are attractive, Joey ultimately decided to turn down the special offer, expressing that she prefers her current flexible work relationship with TVB.
Joey joined the industry after winning second place at the 1989 Miss Asia Pageant. She debuted in the 1990 ATV television drama Hey, Big Brother <司機大佬>, starring alongside Richard Ng (吳耀漢), Susanna Au Yeung (歐陽佩珊), and Christine Ng (伍詠薇). Joey shot to fame after starring as Ma Siu Ling – a ghostbuster – in the successful My Date with a Vampire <我和殭屍有個約會> television series.
Joey left ATV after starring in the 2008 legal drama, The Men of Justice <法網群英>. In early 2012, Joey signed a three-year per-serial contract with TVB. Her first drama with the station was Inbound Troubles, which is currently the highest-rated television drama of the year.
Not Interested in Being the Next Charmaine Sheh
After the success of Inbound Troubles, head of TVB management Virginia Lok(樂易玲) offered to sign Joey and her manager into the big TVB family. Joey would get paid up to $50,000 HKD per episode, earn the opportunity to choose her film and television offers, and would be promoted as TVB’s “next Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼).”
Not wanting to break her current work relationship with her manager, who has been with Joey since she first started her career in ATV, she ultimately decided to turn down TVB’s hefty offer. For years, Joey has been employed by other television stations in a per-series contract, which has allowed Joey more freedom in choosing her jobs.
Joey, who never took joy in accepting jobs back-to-back, immediately agreed to film Michael Miu’s (苗僑偉) drama, A Change of Heart <好心作怪>, after filming Inbound Troubles. Joey was attracted to her character, expressing that it was a role she has never portrayed before. A source close to Joey said, “She hasn’t filmed in four years. She thinks she is still physically capable of doing more, which is why she agreed to film [A Change of Heart]. But she is never going to do two dramas in a row ever again!”
Joey had to push back her baby plans with husband, Chan Sap Sam (陳十三), as a result from signing a per-serial contract with TVB. If Joey agreed to join TVB’s management, her baby plans would be further postponed to a few more years.
A source said, “Joey is very loyal. Although [the management contract] has an attractive remuneration package and would also guarantee her a lot of freedom, Joey doesn’t think it would be fair for everyone. If she does sign into management, she would always have to turn down offers, and that would not be very fair for the company. She also feels very safe and satisfied with her current manager, and she doesn’t want a change. TVB has been treating her well, and she knows it, which is why she immediately agreed to film Food for the Slaves <食為奴>, and has already saved room in her schedule to film the future Inbound Troubles sequels.”
Source: 3 Weekly #697 via kuangaitvb.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Joey Meng, I feel you can be the next Chermaine, even better than she, as you are much prettier and more elegant, and with that touch of class.
I just wonder, being a 1989 Miss Asia Pageant winner, can you still afford to postpone baby plans? Isn’t the biological clock ‘tik tok, tik tok’ louder and louder?
Have a baby first, then work later. Be like Kenix Kwok, Sonija Kwok,..
What is Chan Sap Sam (陳十三) doing? Let him be the bread winner !
I think her husband, Chan Sap Sam (陳十三), is a scriptwriter. They met in ATV’s drama series “My Date with a Vampire” . Chan Sap Sam was the scriptwrtier and Joey Meng was the 1st lead actress.
There is nothing wrong with the woman being the bread winner these days. Times are now different…
OMG, you are always so confused, and in delirium.
Excuse me, YOU are the one that is ALWAYS confused and still live in the stone age….
There is nothing wrong with women being the bread winner, though, unfortunately, men can’t get pregnant!
Yeh no mgmt contract cause I hate seeing the same faces in every series. I like that she has this fresh appeal in different series like niki.
awww i would love to see her in even more tvb dramas, i’m really loving her after watching inbound troubles
but at the same time i agree with Nelly, without the contract, she will continue to be a fresh face like Niki who is also another one of my favorite actresses.
really hope to see her more whatever she’s acting in!
I do think people need to stop throwing Charmaine Sheh’s name around as if she has proven herself enough. Charmaine has a long way to go. She probably knows this as well thus she left TVB. You can’t possibly improve as an actress if you have the same scripts and characters over and over again.
If Joey had joined TVB from the start, she probably would have been one of the top alongside Ada, Noel, Kenix and etc. But Joey remained loyal to ATV as that was her mother home. I don’t know it kind of irks me that the media is trying to make a comparison between these two.
It is not fair to compare those two actresses. Charmaine Sheh joined the entertainment industry after winning the 2nd runner-up in Miss Hong Kong Pageant Competition in 1997, and Joey Meng won 2nd place in Miss Asia Pageant in 1989. There were 8 years apart.
Charmaine acted her first drama series in 1999 while Joey debuted in 1990. Therefore, Joey should be more senior than Charmaine.
That is why I am saying the media should not have even brought up Charmaine’s name…doesn’t make sense to me to reference Joey as the next Charmaine.
Agree with you, Crystal. Stupid media making noise out of nothing!
The media is always stupid so it is nothing new…
The comparison is not based on who has been out the longest but who is more popular and has wider exposure.
As much as I dislike Charmaine, you’ve got to admit she was one of, if not TVB’s leading lady before shifting to China.
So it’s an analogy of popular status.
Whatevs!
Though that could have been the intention. Problem is, given the age gap…what’s the point? It’s like comparing Andy Lau and Roger Kwok? One is senior and the other is junior, despite popularity, don’t you think it’s kind of disrespectful to Joey Meng?
I meant to say Moses Chan not Roger Kwok. Whoops.
To be fair, I agree that Charmaine Sheh was more popular than Joey Meng. It was not due to their acting and popularity, it was due to the viewership ratings of their employers, TVB vs. ATV.
Reasonable for her to turn down the offer since she acts for interest and not money. And why compare her to Charmaine? Before Charmaine, she was already ATV’s top actress. In fact she was ATV no. 1 actress without any other competition.
I’m glad her first series with TVB is so successful, there was so much talk why TVB give her lead role vs other ATV actresses. My Date with a Vampire remain one of my favorite series, hopefully TVB take over and do a sequel. Joey seem to have a very relax attitude, maybe her personality do not match with TVB politic thus why she turn down the management contract.
I think it is good that Joey Meng turned down the offer. As for the status of being the next Charmaine Sheh, I believe that both actresses have a long way to go and that acting is like a unfinished art piece.. There would always be things for them to embrace and to try. Every role they portray requires different emotions. Although tvb tends to have the same scripts and similar plotline.
Admit it guys, you only watched inbound troubles because of Joey 🙂
Of course. Or did you think we watched “Inbound Troubles” because of Wong Cho Nam?
When I was watching wo cho nam in this series, I could not stop thinking to myself he looks extremely feminine. Tight tee, skinny skinny jeans, and bright sneakers???!!!???
Perhaps it was due to his portrayals as woman in many shows and “Fook Luk Sau”. I used to think highly of him …… his voice singing for Roger Kwok in “Glittering Days”《東方之珠》. He has a strong voice. But I can’t stand watching him in female characters.
I watched it for Cho Lam…. I think he’s hilariously talented! And the rest of his band mates.
Roger is so boring!
not shy can giving birth until age of 49 ler. still got plenty of years ahead. hehehe
isn’t tavia now the “new charmaine, the no. 1 sister”?
Far from it. Tavia and Myolie share the limelight. If anything, Myolie replaced Charmaine, as she was pushed to win BA right after Charmaine left TVB. However, Myolie is branching out to Mainland because her fees have risen, so she didn’t film that much in 2012. Who replaced Sheren Tang in RB3? Who had to film the “ghost slot filler” Friendly Fire?
She is still goddest. So beauty and elegant. Like her when I first saw Fist of Fury with Donnie Yen.
All this hype as to how well and how much money HK TV artists are making in Mainland China produced tv series. Frankly so far only Ada Choi and Hawick Lau have played significant roles especially Lau who have migrated North for years. With 75 cable channels I can’t find others even C. Sheh and Joe Ma in big productions. Am I missing something here??