Segamat.com

From Star Online
By YIP YOKE TENG

For someone whose name is now a box office guarantee, it is hard to believe that David Teo, the man behind successful movies like Adnan Sempit and Jangan Pandang Belakang, was not at all interested in movies 10 years ago.

WHO is the Chinese personality you will find behind Remp It, Congkak, Jangan Pandang Belakang and some 40 other popular Malay movies? Well, it’s none other than David Teo, the producer. His name, along with that of his company, Metrowealth International Group, is no stranger among Malay movie-goers. In fact, his name is a box office guarantee. His company’s latest flick, Adnan Sempit, made history by netting RM7.7mil in the box office in a matter of 35 days. It was later declared the No. 1 all-time hit in the Malay film industry.

Generous soul: Teo believes in ‘kongsi rezeki’ or profit sharing and rewards his performing directors and staff with luxury cars and houses. Other films like Remp It, which exposed the activities of illegal bikers, grossed RM4mil; and horror flick Jangan Pandang Belakang, the first Malay movie to be screened in several South-East Asian countries, raked in a whopping RM7.5mil. Of the 43 titles he has produced so far, 26 have made more than RM2mil in box office collection – which is big in Malaysia!

Most of his films did not sell on a cast of big names, and the cost of production was fixed at between RM1.5mil and RM1.8mil. For someone who now carries so much weight in the Malaysian entertainment industry, it is unthinkable that Teo, 46, who is also a director on the board of the National Film Develop ment Corporation Malaysia (Finas), was not at all interested in movies 10 years ago.

“I dated my wife for six years before we tied the knot, and we watched fewer than five movies together throughout that period,” said Teo in a recent interview at his new bungalow in Bukit Rimau, Shah Alam. “I used to just throw away the entertainment section in the newspaper as I was only interested in reading about politics and economics.”

The interview was on Chap Goh Meh and he, his wife Jane and their four children aged between five and 18 were getting ready to welcome his media friends, most of whom were Malays, to their home for a Chinese New Year open house-cum-house warming. New Year decorations in red and gold adorned the house, calligraphy couplets were splashed across the wall and Chinese snacks were arranged neatly on the coffee table.

Hailing from Segamat in Johor, Teo, who declares himself “half-Malay”, did not grow up in a Malay village nor did he study in a Malay school. In fact, he always failed Bahasa Malaysia and English in the school exams. He took up an architectural draftsman course at the Federal Institute of Technology in Kuala Lumpur with the RM25,000 he had earned working part-time making drain blocks.

But the money was not enough to cover the cost of his studies till the end, and so he did not graduate. “I was too shy to ask for money from my parents,” said Teo, the seventh among eight siblings. Soon after quitting the course, he joined a direct-selling company and worked there for 15 years, rising to become a director. He sold a variety of products, from herbs and stainless steel utensils to electrical appliances, but never anything related to entertainment.

However, the sales business brought him close to Malays who became either clients or down-liners. He worked closely with them, stayed in their houses on business trips and ate with them. He started to see things from their perspective and would occasionally blurt out some pantun (verses) during conversations. “They taught me how to speak Bahasa Malaysia correctly when the I wrongly used or pronounced words,” he said.

As he put it, the ups and downs in his life could well be the plot for a 40-episode drama, but those experiences made him bold enough to jump into something he was totally clueless about – film-making. At that time, Metrowealth’s business revolved mainly around direct selling; and as one of the directors, the entrepreneurial Teo was always on the look out for ventures that would make money.

“A friend told me that if you want to make good money, make a movie,” he said. “So I started, but soon after, I realised how true the saying in Bollywood was – if you want to beat your rival, ask them to make a movie.” Teo said the toughest challenge in the otherwise lucrative entertainment business was temptation.

“You are in a very glamorous business; everything is beautiful; everyone sweet-talks you into spending money on them and gorgeous actresses would offer to sleep with you in exchange for a role. “Only one per cent of those involved in the business can beat such temptation, and that’s me,” he said with a laugh. It’s a million-dollar business but losses can also run into millions, said Teo who has encountered several failures and experienced how shattering they could be.

Early on in his film career, he was dealt three strikes within two years. His first movie, Syukur 21, produced in 2000, cost RM3.7mil which was way above the original budget of RM800,000. The company lost RM2.7mil from the movie. The second, No Problem, took the low-budget approach and cost only RM650,000 to produce but the collection was a meagre RM100,000. His third attempt, Mendam Berahi, which featured celebrities from Indonesia and the Philippines, fared no better and caused him to lose RM700,000.

By that time, the investing company was going to pull out and he had drained all his savings, but he would not quit. “If I had left at that point in time, I’d have lost that huge sum forever,” he said. The first three projects may have failed but they were not totally fruitless for Teo. Before that, he did not even know what “production” meant but he had, through them, somehow picked up directing and editing skills and mostly figured out the tricks of the trade.

The fourth film and what followed next have all been money generators. “Now, I am familiar with what the audience want and I am fast in getting things done. To add to that, I have my people going around cinemas and talking to movie goers to research market preferences. We do that on a daily basis,” he said.

So, what exactly do the audience want? What’s the winning recipe in all his box office films? “The trend among youths changes every six months. A successful movie has to be able to tap that. It has to be a trendsetter. You cannot stick to the same formula – a different approach works during different times,” he said. Remp It was a hit at the box office as the subject triggered the imagination of the youth although it is still taboo. Scenes of action and romance drew both controversy and criticism, but good or bad, they still generated publicity about the film.

“My philosophy is, movies must entertain, and the one thing I must achieve is that it must be worth the RM10 and two hours each viewer invests in it,” Teo said. His company’s productivity is eye-opening. It made 10 films last year and has targeted 15 for this year. There are six production teams working at any one time. Teo says he trusts his directors, artistes and the rest as they were trained by him.

He is also known for his generosity – he rewards his performing directors and staff with luxury cars and houses. “That’s our kongsi rezeki (profit sharing) policy, I believe if you make someone a millionaire, you become a multi-millionaire,” he reasoned.

Bahasa Malaysia will remain the language for all his movies, he said firmly. “We would not be able to compete with China and Bollywood, where the minimum investment is US$10mil per movie. “Furthermore, what else should be the medium for a Malaysian production other than Bahasa Malaysia, the national language?”