Raise your hands up for freedom! Yet another artist is leaving TVB :
this time around, it’s veteran actor Ha Yu (夏雨) – with his contract
ending on April 30th, Ha Yu has decided not to renew, thereby becoming a
free artist. After he regains his freedom, will he be joining CTI or
NowTV? Or perhaps head up North (Mainland China) to dig for gold? He’ll
decide when the time comes.
Ha Yu started with TVB in the Chinese
Folklore 《民間傳奇》era (1974 to 1977), left the company briefly to
immigrate to Canada, then returned in 2000, where he has remained for
the past 12 years. During this time, he soared to popularity with Heart
of Greed 《溏心風暴》 and experienced record-breaking ratings the following
year with Moonlight Resonance《家好月圓》 , for which he also took home the TV
King award. His nickname in the past was ‘bulging veins’ (青筋現) [TN: a
phrase meaning ‘having a fiery temper’ or ‘getting upset easily’], but
now, this ‘old horse’ is no longer constantly ‘fired up.’: “TVB is quite
good to me and we’ve had a pleasant collaboration all these years,
however the pay outside is at least two times that of what I’d get here
and in some cases even higher – I’m pretty much leaving because of
money.”
At 66 years old, Ha Yu reiterated that he is NOT retiring
just yet – he’s merely changing environments in the hopes of earning
more money so that his wife and children in Canada can have a more
financially stable life: “I don’t know how many more years I’ll be able
to work – since TVB is my ‘maternal home’, hopefully they give me the
chance to go out and earn more money while I still can.”
TVB’s salary typically on the low sideAt
the end of March, our reporter had invited Ha Yu for an interview –
since his series Daddy Good Deeds 《當旺爸爸》 was airing, it would have been
good timing for promotion, however Ha Yu replied at that time: “Contact
me in mid-April instead, as that would be a better time to talk.”
As
a result, we sat down for this interview after Daddy Good Deeds had
already finished airing – since the ratings for the series were quite
high, there was no more need for promotion, so the topic of ‘leaving the
nest’ came up instead: “I’ve had a ‘per series’ contract with TVB all
this time and actually still have one series left, but with the contract
expiring at the end of April and less than 10 days left, it’s too late
to start another series.”
According to Ha Yu’s contract, even if
the company is not able to start filming on the remaining series before
it expires, they are still required to pay his salary. Since the company
was at a disadvantage in this instance, Ha Yu wanted to handle the
situation carefully, so he delayed the interview with us [Mingpao] until
the middle of April (closer to his contract end date) – hopefully TVB
won’t be unhappy.
“I thought about it (contract renewal) for a
long time – in fact, the company and I had several discussions about it
and there were also talks about a raise, but the offer was not as
desirable as outside. Therefore, I decided to return to being a free
artist. Currently, I have not signed to any other company and there is
nothing unpleasant about my collaboration with TVB – after collaborating
with them for more than 30 years, I am leaving primarily because of
money. For many years, TVB was the only major TV station in town and
therefore ruled the industry – their pay has always been on the low
side, but in the past, if you don’t work for TVB, who else could you
work for? There was no choice. This year though, with the addition of 3
more TV stations, there are more opportunities – in fact, the offers
from all the other TV stations are way better than TVB, as all of them
offer pay that is more than 100% greater, in some cases even more!”
It
is rumored that Ha Yu might join NowTV to once again collaborate with
Moonlight Resonance and Daddy Good Deeds producers Lau Ka Ho (劉家豪) and
Mui Siu Ching (梅小青): “After Ka Ho and Siu Ching left, they did talk to
me, but they’ve only been with their new job for a little over a week.
Their overall direction is to collaborate with Mainland and tomorrow
they will be going to visit Hunan Television and Zhejiang Television,
however they won’t be able to come up with a plan until they return – a
lot of details are not yet known. Therefore, the rumor that they pulled
me to join them when they left is false. I am returning to ‘freelance’
status first – if in the future there is an appropriate opportunity to
collaborate with NowTV, I’m sure they will seek me out.”
No desire to win TV King twiceCTI’s
Ricky Wong has been anxious to recruit new artists and has even been
setting his sights on artists who are currently still contracted with
TVB – with Ha Yu’s confirmed decision to leave TVB, of course he will
become a recruitment target: “Mr Wong already sought me out last year,
but I did not sign with him. We had dinner together and I told him that
since I’m still contracted with TVB, I definitely would not sign with
him. He did follow up later on as well, but I insisted on waiting until
end of April to discuss further – he also made me an offer, but I have
not decided yet.”
With his current situation, Ha Yu admits that
he welcomes all offers to collaborate, but will be basing his decision
on whichever company can pay the most: “I’m not young anymore and I
don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do this – plus it’s hard to
say whether I’ll continue to lead series [at TVB] and I don’t want to
wait until I’m no longer needed to leave.”
In 2005, Ha Yu won the
Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in the series My
Family《甜孫爺爺》—being the fiery-tempered person he was at the time, he felt
that he should have been male lead, so he was not too happy with a
‘supporting actor’ award. In 2007, for Heart of Greed, his name was
listed after that of Moses Chan (陳豪) and Raymond Lam (林峯) on the
promotional poster, which resulted in him complaining about the company
[TVB] not respecting experienced veteran artists; in the end, it was the
veteran artists – ‘Dai Kai’ (Louise Lee), ‘Sai Kai’ (Susanna Kwan), and
‘Bau Bau’ (Ha Yu) – who shot to popularity because of the series.
Finally, things had changed and ‘parent’ level artists were elevated to a
higher status.
“I feel that myself as well as Louise [Lee],
Michelle [Yim], etc. all contributed greatly to the success [of the
series].” That year, Ha Yu desperately wanted to win the TV King award
but in the end, lost to ‘Dak Dak Dei’ Moses Chan. In 2008, with his role
as ‘Joe Bau’ in Moonlight Resonance, Ha Yu finally won the TV King
award and with that, his fiery temper subsided.
“What is there to
fight over now? I received what I should have received already [TV King
award], so I have no desire to receive it again – it’s the truth! With
so many artists at TVB and quite a few amongst them in lead roles, it
could take years rotating through everyone. I’m already happy that my
many years of hard work was finally being recognized. To get the award,
it requires so many things to be ‘aligned’ – good script, good cast and
crew, good production, good promotion, good ratings, etc. – it’s harder
than reaching the sky! And for this to happen again in order to win it
twice is even harder! Plus, even though I’ve been at TVB for 30-40 years
– longer than most of their ‘biological’ sons, the fact of the matter
is that I’m not ‘biological’ – so it’s best to go out and earn some
money first! Seeing how healthy and active Chow Chung (周驄) and Wu Fung
(胡楓) are still, I should be able to work for another 10 years at least –
though when it comes to our health, it’s hard to say. Since I still
have the energy and ability right now to push ahead, I want to seize the
opportunity.”
Ha Yu expressed that TVB should be understanding
of his mentality at this point in his career: “They even told me that
it’s impossible for them to give me the same amount of money as outside
and even if I go to the Mainland, I will only earn a certain amount.”
Lost money with real estate in CanadaThe
year that Ha Yu won TV King, Ms. Lok [head of production and resources
Virginia Lok] had expressed interest in signing him and Michelle Yim to
full management contracts. They discussed it a few times, however in the
end it was left up in the air – as a result, neither of them signed.
Later
on, an acquaintance from the Mainland wanted to offer Ha Yu a job
opportunity – he asked the acquaintance to contact TVB to arrange it,
however the response that the person ended up getting was ‘he [Ha Yu]
has no room in his schedule.’ Actually, the artists department never
even contacted Ha Yu to ask him whether he was available or not – based
on this action, Ha Yu knew full well in his heart what was going on; to
his understanding, the same situation occurred at least 2 to 3 times
more: “I cannot blame the company – as a business organization, it makes
sense that they would take care of their own artists first; it’s not
surprising at all.”
Ha Yu expressed that he has a few
opportunities coming up: from May to July, he might host a variety
program for a rival TV station or he might film a series in Mainland
China (depending on whether the production team wants to utilize HK or
Mainland artists) – he has not committed to either opportunity out of
consideration for TVB’s feelings, as he didn’t want them to think that
he had signed with another company while still contracted with them.
In
August, he will be filming a series in Singapore for 2 months: “Last
year, I filmed a small production in Singapore and it became the highest
rated series of the year, so they invited me back to film the sequel –
the pay is twice that of TVB’s.”
Ha Yu is not shy about admitting
that he is taking money into consideration – it was rumored earlier
that he had lost 60% of his assets during the Asian Financial Crisis:
“It actually wasn’t that bad – I lost a little in investments and in
real estate, but it wasn’t as reported. I’m not one to take huge risks,
so I will never be rich but I also will never have big losses either.”
There
were recent reports that he had invested in real estate that yielded
huge profits, however Ha Yu explained that in actuality, he was
financing the property through a mortgage and actually only broke even:
“In 2000, when our whole family decided to return to HK, we sold our
house in Canada for a price below the market value – now the property is
worth a lot more than that!”
Not long after the family returned
to HK, Ha Yu’s wife felt that it was better for the children to get an
education in Canada instead, so she returned to Canada with their 3
children while Ha Yu stayed behind to work in HK. Though he has made
some money over the years via investments and real estate, Ha Yu
expressed that with the constant traveling between HK and Canada, the
financial burden is actually quite huge.
Over 1 million HKD in living expenses per yearAs
the primary breadwinner in his family, Ha Yu admits that the financial
pressure definitely exists. He has 2 sons and 1 daughter – his eldest
son is 22 years old and studying arts in his 3rd year of college, his
second son is 20 years old and also a college student, his youngest
daughter is 14 years old: “We created educational funds for each them to
use for their schooling once they reached 20 years old.”
His
eldest son likes singing and has aspirations to join the entertainment
industry – in fact, he won first place at a singing contest in Canada
not too long ago: “I did explain to him that nowadays, it’s very hard to
make a living as a singer, as 9 out of 10 albums lose money -- artists
such as Kevin Cheng and Bowie Lam started out as singers, but it wasn’t
until they entered TVB and became popular that they returned to singing.
I explained to him the difficulties of this industry and how unstable
it can be, as you never know when you’ll encounter the right opportunity
– it could take 3 years, 5 years, or even 10 years. I wanted to make
sure he’s prepared.”
Many younger generation born after the 80s
and 90s are used to ‘enjoying life’ and so are not always aware of the
difficulties in making a living: “The burden on my shoulders is quite
large, as the living expenses are high – others may not be aware, but
having to take care of family in Canada, HK, as well as my children’s
educations, the expenses are as high as 1 million HKD each year.
Therefore, I need to work hard to make more money.”
Ha Yu admits
that leaving TVB was not an easy decision to make – after all, TVB is
the place where he grew up and also made a name for himself. Even though
he is already 66 years old, he is grateful that his health is still
good, he’s still alert, and his memory is good: “Of course, there are
the ‘small illnesses’ that come with old age, such as high blood
pressure and occasional arthritis, so at this moment in my career, I
wouldn’t be able to film kung fu series.”
Hopes to film a series in the MainlandSince
returning to TVB in 2000, Ha Yu has gained much fame and popularity,
however he states: “Actually, I don’t make much money just relying on
TVB’s salary. After I won TV King, there were more opportunities to
travel and perform on stage, which is what brought in more money.”
Luckily,
in recent years, the entertainment industry has become more ‘old-age’
driven, resulting in experienced veteran artists having higher market
value. Watching the HK Film Awards and seeing veteran artists such as
Deanie Ip, Lo Hoi Pang, So Hung Suen winning awards, it’s quite
encouraging: “Listening to Deanie’s acceptance speech, she said that she
is already 60 years old and never imagined she would get the chance to
go up on that stage – it was very moving to hear.”
Though
Mainland China is considered by many as a ‘gold mine’ for artists, Ha Yu
states that due to his age, he’s not necessarily the first choice of
most Mainland producers: “There are limitations that they can only
utilize 5 HK artists in a production, so of course they are going to
choose siu sangs and fa dans first. There are fewer opportunities for
artists of my age – plus I’m quite picky when it comes to choosing roles
– in the past, there have been offers to do cameos in a few episodes,
but I declined. At TVB, I was still doing lead roles, plus it’s not like
we are in dire need of money, so there’s no need to lower my
standards.”
After becoming a free artist again, Ha Yu hopes to
have the opportunity to film a Mainland series: “One reason is because I
came from Mainland and second is because I can use my own voice to
speak Mandarin – I’ve hosted TV shows before in Taiwan and when I first
started out in HK working for RTV [Rediffusion Television], I performed
various skits in Mandarin. There’s no language barrier for me.”
When
he says he ‘came from Mainland’, Ha Yu is referring to the time back in
1962 when, at the age of 17, he stole across the border from Guangzhou
(China) to HK, making the difficult trek through Shenzhen and climbing
mountains as well as deserted areas. He started off doing hard labor at a
construction site, then later joined the Shaw brothers acting classes,
entered RTV, then jumped ship to TVB – at the blink of an eye, it has
already been 50 years.
After leaving TVB, if he gets the
opportunity to film a Mainland series, Ha Yu wouldn’t consider it as
merely ‘digging gold’ in the Mainland – for him, it’s akin to returning
to his village home.
‘Rain House’ (雨房)Ha
Yu uses an iPhone 4S and his wallpaper is a picture of himself and his
daughter – whenever he can, he tries to keep up with the latest
technology, including learning how to use apps and taking pictures with
special effects to upload on Weibo. He says that Niki Chow and Michelle
Yim helped him open his Weibo account and currently he has over 10,000
followers – he learned how to use the computer to accept scripts over 10
years ago, as he didn’t want to fall too far behind with technology
trends.
He also has a creative mind – hanging on the door of his
house in Sai Kung, a wooden engraved sign reads ‘Yu Fang’ [TN: literally
translated as ‘Rain House’]: “It’s just for fun actually. I had come up
with 2 names – ‘Yu Fang’ (雨房) and ‘Ha Lau’ (夏樓) – but ended up using
only ‘Yu Fang’. The sign was a gift from my fans in the Mainland.”
