Lawrence Ng plays his ‘friendship cards’ for his debut as producer

Since leaving TVB, actor Lawrence Ng and producer Gary Tang collaborated in 2004’s ATV series "Tearaway Doctor"; then, 2 years ago, they collaborated again on the series "Men of Justice", which is finally being aired on ATV this month.

With regard to ratings for "Men of Justice", Lawrence admits that he does not think too much about it: “The series is being aired on ATV after all, so no matter how popular the series becomes, the ratings won’t be too high. However, at least the series gets a chance to air – there are a lot of audiences in mainland China and overseas, so hopefully more people get to watch it.”

Regarding previous reports about Gary Tang lacking confidence in ATV by saying that no one watches series that air on ATV, he clarified: “At that time, I said that it’s hard for ATV’s promotional clips to attract a wide audience – I didn’t say ATV is bad.” (Do you think it’s a waste of time then?) “No.”

Currently living in Beijing, Lawrence has indicated that he will only film 1 series per year, as he is busy with the startup of his own production company – a joint effort with his long-time friend Gary. Hoping to produce his first series at the end of the year, Lawrence stated: “I’m next-door neighbors with Eric Moo – his company already has a music department, so I will incorporate the television / film production part. We’ve already got sponsors willing to invest the money, so we’re basically just waiting for Gary’s script.” (Are you going to play your ‘friendship cards’ and ask other artists to participate?) “The series will consist of various short stories, each with its own storyline and characters, so I will ask many different people to participate. I’m already talking to Michael Tao and Bobby Au-Yeung – their schedules are very difficult to accommodate though, but we’ll see. As for myself, I will play the role of a forensic investigator.”

Earlier, after Gary wrapped filming on "Men of Justice", reports surfaced that he still owed salaries to several people who worked for him and the matter was eventually taken up in court. Asked if he [Gary] is afraid the negative publicity will affect his future series, Lawrence could not help interjecting – smiling, he answered for his friend and business partner: “It actually affected me the most because it delayed him [Gary] getting me the script. Also, when I meet with other producers and financial sponsors to go over details about our upcoming series, as soon as I mention Gary’s name, they ask me whether it’s the producer who is being sued. But actually, it’s not too big of a problem – hopefully the ruling comes down soon.”

Lawrence also admits that being the producer and the boss of the company is exhausting, as there is a lot of work involved such as having to network with other business associates, asking friends if they are able to participate in the series, etc. Now that he has been on the other side, he points out that as an artist, it is very important to have a good boss. He recounted an instance back when he was filming a series for TVB when he was extremely sick, to the point that he could barely get out of bed, yet the upper management at TVB still called him and urgently insisted that he go in to work. In contrast, when he was filming "Men of Justice", he had a fever one time and both the director as well as the producer told him to go home and rest first – definitely a huge difference.

Source: Oriental Daily
Translation: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics