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Courtesy of Chik Kei Yi
Chik Kei Yi
The one at the helm
By Jolly Lam
The success of the costume drama ¡§The War of Beauty¡¨ was overwhelming. More than two million Hong Kong people curled up on the sofa every night, devouring the scenes of four women grabbing power in the palace by plotting and intrigue.
Its success was not a fluke though, nor is the success of any other popular television drama series produced by Jonathan Chik Kei Yi.
Mr. Chik is known as the golden producer of the television industry. He has produced many popular dramas including the ¡§Healing Hands¡¨ series and ¡§The Criminal Investigator¡¨ series since he joined TVB in 1976. To account for his success, his sense of adventure may be a good explanation.
In the eyes of others, the Chik's productions are a guarantee of quality and success. But to Mr. Chik, it is sometimes risky to produce a new drama. ¡§The War of Beauty¡¨ is an example.
¡§The major television audience are the housewives, many of whom are less educated. Probably they may not want to spend an hour every night to watch something that they find difficult to follow,¡¨ he explained.
¡§Unlike other television dramas, the plot of ¡¥The War of Beauty' was complex and its pace was fast. Some audience may find the drama difficult to understand.¡¨
Nonetheless, Mr. Chik still took the risk of producing ¡§The War of Beauty¡¨ because he wanted to gain the middle-class audience as well.
¡§I believe that the audience for prime time dramas should not be the housewives only. Therefore I always try to add new elements to television dramas in order to attract an audience of a greater variety,¡¨ he said.
His bet paid off. Not only did ¡§The War of Beauty¡¨ get high ratings, but it also received good reviews. He commented that high rating dramas are not necessarily of high quality. Most people watch television dramas simply because of their idols.
He is also adventurous in casting. He likes to create possibilities when allocating roles. For example, in ¡§Mr. Diana¡¨, Gallen Lo Ka Leung had to dress and talk like a woman. Besides, he prefers casting new actors and actresses in the dramas as they can be easily shaped and fitted into different roles.
Also, he often uses famous actors and actresses to play evil leading characters. In ¡§Secret of Heart¡¨, Cheung Ka Fai played the character Wang, who tried to get rid of his brother. Another character, Wah, played by Ada Choi, stole and always tried to make friends with rich people.
In ¡§The War of Beauty¡¨, all the characters seemed both good and evil. They tried to destroy one another for their survival in the palace.
¡§All these artists are the idols of the audience. Most of the audience would like to see their idols being nice in the drama,¡¨ said Mr. Chik.
However, all dramas featuring popular artists as bad guys were successful.
¡§There were always some reasons or stories behind the bad characters that shaped their traits. Sometimes people may do bad things because they have no other choice. That is what interests the audience,¡¨ he said.
Recently, Mr. Chik has been preparing for a new drama, ¡§Yellow Earth Great Plains¡¨. Before filming commences, he has been researching for months.
¡§The drama is set in the Loess Plateau of Northern China. Therefore we have to find out basic information about the place, like its appearance and the clothes residents there wear,¡¨ he said.
He is also working closely with other departments on the details of the drama. ¡§I work with the art department to see how to create the setting of loess landform,¡¨ Mr. Chik said.
As a producer, Mr. Chik has to take care of every detail from the costumes to the emotional problems of the artists. ¡§The role of producers is to coordinate everything including makeup, performance of the actors, filming style and the dialogues,¡¨ he said.
He has to take care of the emotions of the actors and actresses. ¡§During filming of ¡¥The War of Beauty', arguments existed among the four actresses. I had to settle down the conflicts between them so that they could concentrate on their work,¡¨ he said.
He remarked that producers of his generation are more all-rounded. Most of them have gone through every stage in television production. Though the production mode in television industry has undergone great changes throughout these years, Mr. Chik still enjoys his work, so do the audience.
