“Before, I thought Hong Kong was a place where you can make ends meet as long as you are hard-working,” he said. “But recently, it’s no longer the case. I haven’t had any work since shooting for C9 Tour wrapped up,” he added, referring to a ViuTV travel show.
In March this year, Mak, 52, decided to cross the border. Two months later, he signed with the Chinese entertainment agency Hai Xi Chuan Mei. It was the first time he had worked in mainland China after working with TVB for three decades, Mak tells the Post.
“I just finished shooting a mini drama series in Shenzhen, with each episode lasting around 10 minutes,” he says. “I have also done live-stream sales, promoting all kinds of products. Thanks to TVB, people in southern China know me.” The broadcaster’s channels can be picked up by viewers in China who live near Hong Kong.
Mak is one of a score of former TVB artists who have gone to China in search of work since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out more than a year ago.
In January, the television station brought back comedians and former TVB artists, Eric Tsang Chi-wai as deputy general manager and special adviser to the executive committee, and Wong Cho-lam as chief creative officer, to shake up the station’s entertainment programming.
According to Zhu, a former show business reporter for the Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily, 400 film and television directors are out of work in the city. Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild chairman Louis Koo Tin-lok recently paid close to HK$5 million (US$644,000) out of his own pocket to provide financial aid to more than 600 unemployed local artists.
Yet Zhu points out that a one-off subsidy will not last long. “Going to China for work provides a way out for the unemployed actors,” he says. “There are so many online films being produced there. They star many obscure artists. Hong Kong’s unemployed actors can easily find work in those productions.”
Mak says he is thrilled by the professional opportunities in China.
“I love eating, so I plan to host shows about food,” he says. “I will try everything. My Chinese agency is also a production company making drama series. It has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou and Hangzhou. But I have to learn Mandarin and China’s work culture, as I have not been to China since I was 12 years old.”
His venturing to China attracted a lot of attention from media there after he was spotted working as a pandemic control volunteer in Guangzhou. Commentators and journalists in China praised him for his generosity and for being a good role model for others in show business.
Another who has sought a financial lifeline in China is Ai Wai, 62, who left TVB in 2012.
In March, Ai finished shooting a drama series for video hosting platform Youku called Modern Dynasty, about the ups and downs of a Hong Kong tycoon’s family. (Youku is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, owner of the South China Morning Post.)
Ai was also in Midlife Crisis, working as a service station attendant for three days. “I earned HK$900 for three days’ work,” he says. “Instead of saying I joined a reality television show, the media wrongly reported that I have become a service station worker in real life.”
Ai says viewers in China born after the 1980s know him because they watched TVB when they were growing up.
“I opened a channel on Douyin last year which has nearly 400,000 followers now,” he says. “I also do singing shows and live-streaming sales in China.
“I will come back to Hong Kong in August to star in a movie produced by Louis Koo’s film company. Koo has been supporting the Hong Kong entertainment industry hugely since the pandemic broke out. But his generosity is hardly enough to revive local showbiz.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuaqyxKyrsqSVZLKvwMSrq5qhnqKyr8COmqmtoZOhsnB%2FkG1nbGtjZMKvscypo6ixlZl6qbvNoGSkp56cerXCjJqaraeiqHquu9WeZJygmaOubsPOq6JmnKKWuqJ50p6pop2j