U PHONE Myint Aung (48), is a veteran director/producer who worked for MRTV channel for 20 years before retiring to make comedy programs in partnership with MWD television channel. His first comedy program “Lu Shwin Daw Shwe Phalar” for MWD channel attracted a very loyal following and now the director is back with another similar program “Har Tah Yote Sone”, which is currently being filmed.

Timeout: Is the program “Har Tha Yoke Sone” a spin off from your success with “Lu Shwin Daw Shwe Pha Lar”?

U Phone Myint Aung: Since I was working at MRTV I have made many short films for television to educate people about road safety policy, growing plants, etc. Whenever I made short movies I would always add a humorous element to the plot because I think it is a more effective means of getting viewers to remember something from the stories.

When I retired from my job I began thinking about making some programs for television. So I discussed with Ko Aye Yar and started to make the program “Lu Shwin Daw Shwe Pha Lar,” which is a comedy competition.

From the competition I found some young people who are really talented both at talking but also in making short stories and acting. I believe that as a result of the competition program new supporting actors and actresses will emerge.

What are your expectations of the program?

From “Lu Shwin Daw Shwe Pha Lar” program there were some groups like “5 Stars Group” that became popular comic actors. Likewise, I believe this new program will produce some supporting actors.

How interested have people been in the program?

At first they did not notice it but now a lot of people enjoy the program as far as I’m aware.

How have you updated the program?

Sometimes it’s not possible to meet with everyone who will compete in the program so on occasion I’m not satisfied with people’s acting. We have two story lines for every show so I expect one to be good in each show. We don’t have time to do much rehearsing so it is difficult for the actors.

Why do you mix new competitors and old actors?

The program cannot be good if I use only the new competitors who are complete strangers to acting. Also there are only a few older supporting actors so I don’t want to use them over and over again otherwise the audience will get bored with seeing the same people.

Can you explain the judging rules?

Actually, this program is more about performance, it is not really about competition. Of course, we present it like a competition but it is not really about the losing and winning. We don’t award very different prizes for the winners and losers; if we give K100,000 to the winners then we give K70,000 to the losers.