The Dream Job

The Dream Job 绝世好工
Genre	Family Entrepreneurship Concept
Written by	Cheong Yan Peng 张彦平
Screenplay by	Lee Ji-wah 李绮华 Suen Hou Hou 孙浩浩
Story by	Cheong Yan Peng 张彦平 Lim Gim Lan 林锦兰
Directed by	Loh Woon Woon 罗温温 Joe Ma 马家俊 高秀慧
Starring	Hugo Ng Shaun Chen Jeanette Aw Rebecca Lim Zhang Zhenhuan Ian Fang
Opening theme	年轮 (Jim Lim and Chew Sin Huey)
Ending theme	1) 从彼此的世界路过 (Pierre Zhang) 2) 学会 (Tay Kewei) 3)假裝不了 (Derrick Hoh)
Country of origin	Singapore
Original language(s)	Chinese
No. of episodes	30 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Leong Lye Lin 梁来玲
Location(s)	Singapore Perth, Australia
Running time	approx. 45 minutes (exc. advertisements)
Release
Original network	Mediacorp Channel 8
Original release	28 June – 8 August 2016
Chronology
Preceded by	If Only I Could
Followed by	The Gentlemen

The Dream Job (Chinese: 绝世好工) is a Singaporean blockbuster drama produced and telecasted on Mediacorp Channel 8. The series stars Shaun Chen, Jeanette Aw, Rebecca Lim, Zhang Zhenhuan, Ian Fang and Hong Kong veteran actor, Hugo Ng, as the main cast.

Plot

Many people harbour the hope of a ‘dream job’, one that pays well, offer great benefits, and with a boss who treats them like his own. A television commercial pops up, advertising three “exceptional job positions” – to act as the children of and help in the business of a mysterious wealthy businessman, Zhang Qingdong (Hugo Ng). Not only does this job draws a high salary, it also offers expensive cars and life in a mansion with servants at their beck and call. This of course attracted many applications but the lawyer Li Junfeng (Shaun Chen) is hired to coordinate the employment decided on a financial advisor Cheng Huishan (Jeanette Aw) to be the second daughter, a nurse Jiang Xinya (Rebecca Lim) to be the third daughter, and a model-actor Lin Zijie (Ian Fang) as the youngest son.

The mysterious man turns out to be the boss of an established horticultural enterprise. The three children are introduced to an “older brother” Zhang Lixing (Zhang Zhenhuan) and the four strangers work to live amicably together to please their boss. However, the lawyer in charge of them appears to be sowing discord among the siblings, leading them to wonder what his true intentions were.

The mystery boss had affairs with several women who bore him offspring. Now an old and lonely man, he longs to find and reunite with his flesh and blood through this job offering. But will this end up as a futile effort, or will he be able to reunite with his children?

Cast

Main cast

Other cast

Cameo appearance

Development

First announced in December 2015, the drama series features a strong story plot by maestros behind Hong Kong’s mega-hit and award-winning drama Heart of Greed, Lee Ji-wah and Suen Hou Hou. Targeted to reach an extensive audience from family, working women to Professionals, Managers, Executives and Businessmen (PMEBs), the publicity for the drama will be on multi-platforms from teaser recruitment ads, on-ground Recruitment Roadshow, Toggle microsite coupled with social media activation, launch trailers on radio channels, Press Conference and Meet and Greet.^[1] Major sponsors include Subway, Daikin, Mama Magica and Simmons.

Imaging sessions were done in the month of December 2015. New daddy Shaun Chen plays a lawyer who sets out to take revenge against a father he grew up hating. This is his first role after his Star Awards 2015 Best Actor win, not before he completed filming The Journey: Our Homeland, and his second onscreen couple collaboration with Best Actress Rebecca Lim, after The Dream Makers. On the other hand, Jeanette Aw plays an ambitious, driven career woman, which was different from the other roles she’s portrayed over the years. In a Toggle interview, she said, "I used to play characters with gentle exteriors but tough personalities, but for Huishan it’s the opposite. She doesn’t display her weaknesses or tell anyone of the difficulties she faces." Hong Kong veteran actor, Hugo Ng, who played in Singaporean dramas Takeover and Men of Valour in 1980s, returns to Singapore screens for the drama, playing a wealthy businessman who hires the characters of Aw, Rebecca Lim and Ian Fang as his son and daughters. He and his family returned to Singapore, as his son will be enlisted for National Service the following year.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

The drama held its soft launch on 26 January 2016, one month after filming commenced. Hugo Ng, Shaun Chen, Jeanette Aw, Rebecca Lim, Zhang Zhenhuan, Ian Fang, Aileen Tan, Pan Lingling, Romeo Tan, Sheila Sim, Somaline Ang, Brandon Wong, Bonnie Loo and Chen Tianwen were present at the event. The cast also shared their first jobs at the launch.^[10][11][12] The production crew and cast (Shaun Chen, Aw, Lim and Zhang), together with the Toggle reporting crew, head to Perth on 18 March for a week of filming. Toggle made live reports throughout their stint. The cast also provided their experiences while filming for the show on Fridays, beginning from 20 May.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]} Back in Singapore, filming for Cheng Huishan and Zhang Lixing (played by Aw and Zhang)'s wedding was on 28 March. Shaun Chen disclosed that his family "may attend Star Awards 2016", and he is jam-packed with filming commitments - he might fly to Taiwan to film a movie in April, before returning to star in Hero the following month, also starring Chen Hanwei and Jesseca Liu.^[23][24] Filming wrapped up in April 2016.

A press conference was held at Swissôtel The Stamford on 21 June 2016. Hugo Ng, Shaun Chen, Rebecca Lim, Ian Fang, Aileen Tan, Pan Lingling, Romeo Tan, Sheila Sim, Somaline Ang, Bonnie Loo and Chen Tianwen attended the conference. Notably absent were Jeanette Aw, who was away on a holiday, and Zhang Zhenhuan, who was filming Legal Eagles in Malaysia.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30]} A meet-and-greet session was held on 25 June at Changi City Point. Ng and Pan were not present at the event, but Wong, who was also absent from the conference, joined the other nine. The first 150 audience to form the queue for the event got to receive an autographed poster and a goodie bag each.

Music

Trivia

• This is Jeanette Aw and Zhang Zhenhuan, who won Favourite Onscreen Couple (Drama) in Star Awards 2015, third onscreen couple collaboration, after Jump and World at Your Feet.
• Shaun Chen, Zhang Zhenhuan, Jeanette Aw, Rebecca Lim, Ian Fang, Romeo Tan and Jeffrey Xu previously starred in The Journey: Our Homeland (2015). Then, Shaun Chen played Jeanette Aw's husband and was a rival-in-love to Zhang Zhenhuan and previously, Romeo Tan. Due to Tan's dual role in the series, he also played a nephew to Chen and elder brother to Ian Fang and Jeffrey Xu, and paired up with Rebecca Lim, who was Fang's elder sister.
• Romeo Tan's fourth villain role after The Journey: Our Homeland, The Journey: Tumultuous Times and Joys of Life.
• This is the first Mandarin drama series to have the new Mediacorp campus as one of its filming locations.
• Scenes of Junfeng and Xinya, scenes of Huishan and Lixing, and stills of the next three episodes are shown during the ending credits of every three episodes.
• The series has a similar finale presentation style with The Dream Makers and Hand In Hand.

See also

• List of MediaCorp Channel 8 Chinese Drama Series (2010s)
• List of The Dream Job episodes

References