The public dispute between Night Owl Cinematics (NOC) co-founders Sylvia Chan and Ryan Tan has showed us that we really need to hear both sides of the story before making up our minds.
Following Xiaxue’s exclusive interview with Sylvia, many concluded that perhaps Sylvia is a bad boss and Ryan is a bad husband. But is it as simple as that. And should we assume that everything that came out of Sylvia’s mouth was true?
After staying silent for 2 days, Ryan is finally addressing Sylvia’s allegations head on. Many criticised the Johor-born Singaporean for belittling Ryan’s “multiple suicide attempts”, claiming he did it in order to manipulate her. “She knows this is not true and left out crucial details about my struggles. More importantly, the story was not hers to tell and I cannot believe that she would do that to me,” Ryan wrote.
During the interview, Sylvia suggested that Ryan might be the mastermind behind @sgcickenrice’s exposé, adding that he has the most to gain from her downfall. However, both @sgcickenrice and Ryan have stated that they’re not affiliated with one another, nor the publication of endthesilencee.blogspot.com.
Although Ryan is drawing the line in not wanting to delve deeper into his former marriage with Sylvia and his cheating episodes, he said, “I will, however, address certain allegations of wrongdoing that have been made against me.”
1. Sylvia and Ryan’s roles in NOC
“When NOC Pte Ltd (NOC) was set up, Sylvia could not be appointed sole director as she was not Singaporean. Although I was the sole director on record, we both had our different areas of responsibility in managing NOC and she was also a de facto director. Sylvia would manage accounting, payments, employment, and all administrative issues and she would give the final approval on these matters. I was responsible for the production side of the business and was often outside the office for shoots. When employees came to me to complain about Sylvia’s management, I tried to raise these issues with her. But that did not sit well with Sylvia.
After some time, Sylvia told NOC’s finance manager that I was no longer the COO and that she need not report to me. We could not see eye to eye and in February 2021 I told her that I wanted to leave. We discussed my exit over the next few months and reached an agreement on 8 May 2021.”
2. Sylvia claimed that Ryan went behind her back and set up Reno King without her knowledge.
“I did not set up Reno King without Sylvia’s knowledge and I did not misuse NOC’s funds for Reno King. Sylvia knew about my intentions to set up Reno King at least as early as 29 April 2021 and had in fact sent messages asking me to “quickly” incorporate the company and to “close the case”, i.e., to set a clear boundary between Reno King and NOC. Reno King also has its own payroll and set-up.”
3. The supposed agreement on Reno King
“On 8 May 2021, Sylvia and I agreed that 20% of Reno King’s profits will be paid to her or NOC. This was for the use of NOC’s YouTube channel as a platform and as an admin fee. On NOC’s part, it would provide “administrative support” to Reno King. On the back-end, we agreed that I would set up a new bank account for Reno King and that the revenue that had been made through Reno King projects (but that had been paid to NOC) would be transferred to that account. Reno King would also pay the salaries due to Isabelle and Bryant for April as they had worked on Reno King projects during that month. From May onwards, Reno King would be wholly responsible for its own payroll. As part of this agreement, I stopped drawing any salary from NOC from 8 May 2021 onwards. But to my surprise, months later Sylvia denied having such an agreement with me.”
After reading Ryan’s detailed explanation, was Sylvia trying to shift the blame in order to gain sympathy points? At the end of the day, people are seeking accountability on NOC’s work ethics so that current and future employees can work in a better environment. What Ryan and Sylvia did in their personal lives (whether right or wrong) is ultimately their problem.
