The Dream Makers II

Plot

It has been three years since Zhou Weiyun (Zoe Tay) had been transferred from the Variety department to the Drama department to be the VP. Since the death of Yu Fan (Chen Hanwei), Weiyun's outlook on life had changed. She becomes more cheerful and personable in her dealings with others. She stays with her mother, who has dementia, and a maid and lives life like a swinging bachelorette, focusing on her work. She produces programmes that are sincere and from her heart. As she does not produce shows just to please the viewers, coupled with the rising popularity of internet content, the ratings for TV dramas have been falling, adversely affecting the advertising dollars as a result. There seems to be no breakthrough.

Her bosses decide to hire a powerful lady, Guan Xie En (Huang Biren) to be another VP for the drama department to pressurize Weiyun. She is a business management genius who is good in marketing and cost cutting, and takes over half of Weiyun's production resources. Although she is supposed to be allocated only the 7pm slot, she manages to pull in enough sponsors to take over the prime-time slot of 9pm, competing directly with Weiyun. Drama department is then split into two teams. Some of Weiyun's subordinates betray her for Xie En. However, Xie En is shrewd enough and pushes the disloyal lot back to Weiyun.

Meanwhile, since Weiyun's departure from the variety department, it had been under the charge of another VP, Lin Tao (Li Nanxing). Lin Tao is very creative and innovative, so the ratings for variety shows have been on the rise, performing much better than when it was under Weiyun. Actually, Lin Tao is anxious to be successful as he has a vengeful motive. Many years ago, he had set up a production house with his good friend, Richard, but Richard later absconded with his money and even stole his girlfriend. Lin Tao is determined to succeed and prove himself to Richard.

The three VPs have different goals in life, and different way of handling things. They are friends and rivals at the same time as they have to compete with each other, yet help one another, and are in the same boat.

Lin Tao has a cold surface, but is actually very compassionate. For four years, he has been helping Eddy (Edwin Goh), a young man who used to steal, watching over him and teaching him to be independent and making money through his own merit. After accepting Eddy as his godson, Lin Tao finds out that Eddy is Xie En's son. In the past, Xie En was spending time building her career, and after divorcing her husband, she gave up custody of her two sons. Eddy bore much resentment against Xie En, but his younger brother, Eden, had been deceived into thinking that his mother had died. Both of Xie En's children went to live with her when her husband died from cancer. Xie En tried very hard to be a good mother to make up for lost time, but her children were already estranged from her. Lin Tao thus becomes a bridge between the two parties.

Weiyun's nephew, Joey (Ian Fang) joins the entertainment industry. He is full of himself and behaves in an arrogant manner. Weiyun reprimands him frequently, so their relationship becomes very strained. Weiyun sponsors Joey's parents on a trip to Greece, but their tour coach falls off a cliff and they are killed in the accident. After Joey had overcome his grief, he becomes even more extreme. Weiyun tries to make amends because she feels guilty about his parents' death. The two young men's presence in their lives give Weiyun and Xie En a common topic to talk about and they become much closer.

Fang Tonglin (Rui En) is excellent both in hosting and acting, giving the reigning queen of the station, Zhao Fei Er (Jeanette Aw) a lot of pressure. Meanwhile, the relationship between Tonglin and Jason Lam (Qi Yuwu) had become more stable, with marriage on the cards. Jason has been promoted to executive producer, but he is still a perfectionist at heart, setting excessively high standards, thus making many enemies at his workplace. Fei Er still has not gotten over him, so she is very resentful and envious towards Tonglin. Fei Er is paired with Zhong Yiming (Romeo Tan), an actor who is popular in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as an on-screen couple, but privately, she dislikes his narcissism intensely. The two of them would try to sabotage each other whenever possible. However, when Yiming goes through a rough patch, it is Fei Er who helps him get back on his feet. He falls in love with her and tries to repay her.

When Jason is filming a scene involving Joey one day, an accident occurs which injures a passer-by. Joey pushes all the blame to Jason, and secretly begs his aunt Weiyun to help. As Jason could see that Weiyun is siding with Joey out of her own guilt, he takes the blame on himself and quits. He becomes a hawker, but though he seems not to care about his circumstances, he is actually very frustrated with his own plight. He has many arguments with Tonglin, who has become increasingly popular. Thinking that Jason still feels for Fei Er, Tong Lin breaks up with him in a huff. Fei Er is thus accused of being the third party, which badly affects her career and many start to criticize her acting.

A new television station is also awarded a TV license, which hit VBS very badly. There is much speculation over who would be head hunted to join the rival station. It turns out to be Lin Tao. Lin Tao has been secretly recruiting the best talent to join him. He wants to start a charity show, and hopes to reach new heights and impress his new superiors. He takes a risk with dangerous stunts. However, he never expected Eddy, who has just become a stunt double to get seriously injured. Eddy becomes a stunt double for Tonglin to win Lin Tao's compliment, but ends up falling badly. Lin Tao suffers another blow when he finds out that his new boss is his arch enemy, Richard. He is shattered that his years of hard work culminated in hurting his beloved godson. All these fighting and rivalry have left Weiyun bitter and disillusioned, so she seriously considers leaving the entertainment industry. Should she stay or go? Would Xie En ever forgive Lin Tao for bringing harm to her son? Should she try to retain Wei Yun and try to work as a team with her?

For this group of professionals in the TV industry, where they face challenges in their career, love life and family, what will their decision be? Will they be a positive influence and rise to the challenge?

Development

Following season one's overwhelming success, with high viewership ratings, on television and both official and unofficial video streaming portals, huge turnout for its on-ground events, and winning 9 out of 21 nominations for 12 awards in Star Awards 20, MediaCorp announced the sequel to the series on end-2014. As the series will coincide with MediaCorp's big move from Caldecott Hill to Mediapolis@one-north, MediaCorp announced plans to promote the show, including a mega-bulk publicity plan on major television, radio, and interactive media channels, and a charity gala premiere to increase sponsors' advertising profits.

The cast of the series had imaging sessions for the show in May. The production team had Jeanette Aw's wardrobe 'upsized' to match her role's elevated status. Rui En will be disfigured in the series, so make-up was done for her. In the imaging sessions, Julie Tan revealed that she began her preparation work for her role by watching Japanese dramas and practicing her expressions while looking into a mirror, and also made a trip to Taipei for five days to observe the behaviour of 'taimei's there.

The show began filming on 10 June 2015, and held its lensing ceremony on 19 June. Taiwanese actress Chen Meifeng appeared in the lensing ceremony during her 5-to-6-day stint, dismissing rumours that she is in a relationship with Li Nanxing. It was also revealed that the show will end on 15 January 2016 with 32 episodes. The imaging session for the poster was held on 29 June 2015, involving the main cast. In addition, Zoe Tay and Aw went to China International Film & TV Programs Exhibition (CIFTPE) in Beijing to promote the show. The bridal magazine sequence was shot on 24 July at the Peranakan Museum, with Aw, Romeo Tan, Rui En and Qi Yuwu.

TVB actor Damian Lau went to Singapore in September for the show. One of his scenes involves a flashback with him attempting suicide from a 13-storey HDB flat. Because the haze had hit unhealthy ranges, Lau was under the weather and declined all media interviews, but felt much better at the time Toggle interviewed him. During the filming, Li, dressed in his 90s' style haircut in the scene, brought in herbal tea for him, while Tay offered local cakes and snacks.

The production crew and cast (Tay, Li, Qi, Aw, Rui En and Romeo Tan), together with the Toggle reporting crew, head to Melbourne on 25 September for around 10 days of filming. Toggle made live reports throughout their stint. The cast also provided their experiences while filming for the show on Thursdays, beginning from 15 October. Filming wrapped up in October 2015. It began production in June 2015 and began its run from 4 December 2015.

Music

It was announced that Kit Chan, who previously provided theme songs for My Home Affairs and Devotion, will be performing for the theme song, Finally (《终于》). Serene Koong, who performed the theme song for the first season performed one of the sub-theme song for the series, All Alone (《当世界只剩下我一个人》). She revealed that her eyes became swollen from crying after binge-watching the complete first season twice, but eventually composed the lyrics of the song in half a day. Other sub-theme songs include Happiness Isn't Hard (the first season theme song), Learn to Love and Hate-Love (alternate composition of the theme song).

Social media

Online popularity contests involving cast members were held on Facebook and Instagram, which began on 11 October. Each week, users can support the casts' posts according to the challenge by liking them. The cast with the highest total likes on their posts will win for that week.

Two "Battle of the Queens" and three "Battle of the Dukes" challenges have been organized on social media.

Results

Online exclusives were also released on Toggle and MediaCorp Channel 8's YouTube channel. Titled "The Gossip Makers" (8卦四方), these videos attempt to poke fun of the Singaporean entertainment scene, and gets audiences ready for the return of The Dream Makers. Different topics include:

On-ground events

An autograph session for the series was on 7 November 2015, at Square 2, hosted by YES 933 FM DJ Kenneth Chung Kun Wah. Zoe Tay, Romeo Tan, Zhang Zhenhuan and Ian Fang were present at the event, and interacted with the audience. The first 150 audience to form the queue for the event will get to receive an autographed poster and a goodie bag each. A meet-and-greet session was held on 15 November at Junction 10, where Dennis Chew joined the above-mentioned cast. Similarly, the first 150 audience to form the queue for the event will get to receive a limited-edition tumbler and a goodie bag each.

Press conference

A press conference was held on 18 November 2015. Zoe Tay, Huang Biren, Jeanette Aw, Rui En, Qi Yuwu, Romeo Tan, Julie Tan, Zhang, Fang and Chew attended the conference. During the conference, the cast shared their experience in making the show.

Charity gala finale

Previously planned as a charity gala premiere, Mediacorp announced a charity gala finale at its new premises at Mediapolis@one-north which was held on 16 January 2016. Besides Zoe Tay, Huang Biren, Romeo Tan, Julie Tan, Zhang Zhenhuan and Ian Fang, supporting cast Joey Feng, Damien Teo and Maxi Lim also attended the finale. This event was hosted by DJs Chung Kun Wah and Lin Lingzhi. The event began at 7.00pm, but before that, a red carpet was held for the event at 5.30pm, where eight lucky winners from a Facebook contest got a hair and face makeover, and strutted down the red carpet along with the cast. The lucky winners also got a pair of tickets and pre-show cocktail party, for both the winner and an accompanying partner.

Apart from an entertaining showbiz talk, audience also got to take part in a charity auction, where items featured in the show, including Zhou Weiyun and Guan Xie En's identical dresses, lanyards, Fei Er's merchandise and Jason and Tonglin's wedding merchandise were put up on sale. Minimum bids began from $25 each of the lanyards and the glass shoe to $200 for each of the dresses. The highest bidder went to Chen Guang's lanyard and bear, where she was invited to the finale to collect these items on stage. The finale episode was then screened to round up the day's event. Over $20,000 went to Mediacorp Cares beneficiaries, from tickets sales, auction sales and sponsor donations.

DVD release

The Dream Makers 2 DVD has been released in Poh Kim Video stores.

Trivia

2016 Accolades

The Dream Makers II has the most number of nominations for Star Awards 2016, with 26 nominations - 8 technical, 11 performance and 7 voting-based - in 15 award categories, up from 21 in 2014. Jeanette Aw announced her withdrawal from voting-based categories in 2015, following her Favourite Female Character win for The Journey: Tumultuous Times, but still continued to win the two voting-based categories. The other drama series nominated for both the Best Drama Serial and Best Theme Song were 118, Crescendo, The Journey: Our Homeland and Tiger Mum.The series won 12 award catogeries, even sweeping every award which includes Best Drama Serial and Best Theme Song.

The Dream Makers II did well in Star Awards 2016 and became the second drama series to win all acting awards in Star Awards, after popular long-running drama Holland V. However, The Dream Makers II failed to clinch the "Top Rated Drama Series" and "Favourite Male Character", which it was not nominated.