Taiwanese actor Darren Wang has spilled the beans on the unfair treatment and unreasonable terms he alleges he’s been subjected to while under the management of Taiwanese director Angie Chai.
According to the 24-year-old Our Times actor, his contract with Angie’s Star Ritz International Entertainment expired on December 17, 2015, but the agency went on insisting he was under their management, so he decided to launch a lawsuit against Star Ritz.
Through his lawyer, Darren emphasised he wasn’t being ungrateful. He said over the three years before he shot to fame with Our Times, he earned less than NT$1 million (approximately S$43,000) in total.
But now that he’s taking legal action to terminate his contract, Star Ritz is demanding a termination fee of NT$30 million (approximately S$1.29 million) plus commission of 1 million yuan (approximately S$210,000) for every film project he takes on over the next four years, terms which he considered unreasonable.
Furthermore, Darren alleged that Angie had turned down many job offers on his behalf, saying he was busy, instead of securing the best opportunities for him.
The actor added that before he started work on Our Times, Star Ritz hinted he had been earmarked for contract termination at any moment. And even after he won the lead male role of Hsu Tai-yu in Our Times, Angie went to the movie’s producers for an explanation on why he had been selected.
In response, Angie said her company had never been embroiled in contract disputes with any of its artistes. She added that a contract was agreed upon by two parties, and neither can unilaterally terminate the legal agreement.
Last December it was revealed that Darren was planning to leaving Angie’s management agency for one run by Frankie Chen, who directed him in Our Times.