Actress Amy Chan [Sau-Man]’s contract with ATV officially expired in June 2008. After the contract expired, Amy had already come to an agreement with ATV on a new contract and was just pending the official signature . At the time, ATV was in a rush to start filming new series <
> [in which Amy stars as the female lead opposite male lead Lawrence Ng], so despite the fact that the new contract had not been signed yet, Amy agreed to first film the series and work things out with ATV later. Now, more than 2 years later, and long after the series finished airing, Amy claims that ATV never paid her for her participation in the series. Recently, during a meeting with a few other artists to discuss plans for her upcoming stage musical <<情歸何處>>, Amy revealed her struggle with ATV over the unpaid wages: “In their promotional trailer, ATV said that the series [<>] winning an award is proof that hard work pays off -- regrettably, I did not receive a single dollar for it.”
Shortly after filming of <> was completed, ATV’s management changed once again – originally, Amy’s new contract was settled with ATV executive Ho Ting Kwan and his staff, however when the new management took over, they told Amy that the company does not plan on filming any more series any time soon, so her new contract was put on hold indefinitely. Amy expressed that she does not care whether there are opportunities to collaborate in the future, but she does have a problem with ATV not paying her wages for filming <>. She claimed that, through her lawyer, she has repeatedly requested for ATV to pay the 7-figure salary owed to her for filming the series, however ATV has continued to delay the matter. Recently, after receiving a response from ATV that stated “We do not owe you anything”, Amy felt the need to pursue the issue further and seek justice for herself: “I told my lawyer: if a restaurant asked me to wash dishes for them for a day and promised me that tomorrow, they would sign a long-term contract with me as well as pay me for that 1 day of washing dishes, but then after I wash the dishes, they tell me they are no longer going to sign the contract with me, shouldn’t I still get paid for that 1 day? My lawyer said that ATV definitely should pay me for my work. There is no contract and they have not paid me, plus the series already aired last year – how could they pretend that the matter doesn’t exist? After so many years of collaboration with them, I was willing to start filming without having signed a contract because of one word: TRUST! It’s not like this was my first time collaborating with them, so I couldn’t believe they would handle the matter in this way! Definitely a lesson learned!”
With regard to the salary dispute with Amy Chan, ATV’s top executive Yip Kar Bao expressed that the matter was simply a misunderstanding with the contract -- upon consulting with their legal team, it was indicated that Amy Chan does not have enough evidence to pursue the matter, so “they do not owe her anything” and the matter is already resolved.
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