By Wo Yee Qi
Although his dream was opposed by his family and friends, he still insisted on pursuing his dream which has led him to be a successful director of a production house today.
He is no other than Chong Boon Yee, who graduated in 2001 and from the first batch of alumni of Han Chiang University College of Communication (HCUC). He is the founder of Earth Picture Production which is based in Kuala Lumpur.
Chong has been in this industry for about 18 years and all his hard work is worthwhile for his achievements today. To sum it up, his journey of success began when he enrolled at HCUC.
During that time, Chong wanted to pursue a course in mass communication at HCUC, but there was a disagreement with his family.
“My family was against my choice. From my family’s perspective, they didn’t know what the broadcasting field was all about. My mother expected me to take a course in the electronics industry or information technology.
“My high school friends also felt we should not take up a course based on our interest but choose one with high returns,” he stressed.
Chong picked his course against the choice of his mother and friends. Thus, it was not easy when he started this journey.
Before graduation, he underwent his internship at a production house from a choice of only a few at the time. However, he was very lucky to work at the same company for five years after his graduation.
Chong said after five years of hard work, he realised that he wanted to become a freelancer which he did for about five to six years. Then, he started switching from one field to another and collaborated with many people. Lastly, after another five or six years later, he felt that he wanted to start up on his own and set up his own production house called Earth Picture Production.
“In the course of running my own company, I tried different strategies and fortunately it developed well,” he said.
He also remembered his lecturer who had taught him two very important phrases in life which are ‘ask questions’ and ‘think carefully before you make a decision’.
“In the end, when we are at work, these few words also help us a lot. When you face anything, you must always strategise and think carefully,” he said.
The change with the times in the broadcasting field has introduced various new items that stand out in the broadcasting field and they keep changing.
The continuous changes in the broadcasting industry
Commenting further on his opinion about the present and future prospects of broadcasting, Chong said from the traditional media in the past to the emergence of online media, they keep changing.
“When online media came into place, the demand for film and television got higher as well. Today, the emergence of self-media is actually a trend. Everyone can be a media person, shoot their own video, and it is so diversified,” he said happily.
There is no doubt that hard work and perseverance have made Chong a successful director and what he is today, but most importantly he does not let success get into his head.
When asked for what advice he would like to give to the present graduates who are coming out to work now, Chong didn’t hesitate with his reply.
“I think they should be humble. Handling the media and broadcasting on radio and TV are hard jobs. First of all, hone yourself, it is impossible for you to reach the highest position as soon as you go into the industry. Thus, you must have a strong foundation and you will be more stable when you reach the top. You have to endure the pain of the process,” he said.
From his story, we can see that Chong is our pioneer whom we can learn from and his hard work and perseverance is worth embracing to become a successful person like him.
“The person who can survive until the end is the winner.” Chong said.
Leave a Reply