There was fierce competition among many companies over the rights to the production of a television series about Ip Man since
Wilson Yip's movies
Ip Man and
Ip Man 2 (starring
Donnie Yen) came into the limelight. Around June 2012, Suzhou Funa Films and Television acquired the rights to produce the television series. Fan Xiaotian, who previously directed many Chinese television series, was selected as the director, while Hong Kong screenwriter Charcoal Tan was chosen to write the script. Wilson Yip and Taiwanese producer
Young Pei-pei served as artistic consultants while the real-life Ip Man's sons,
Ip Chun and
Ip Ching, were invited to be martial arts consultants for the series. Shooting for
Ip Man began in July 2012 After the release of
Ip Man, BBC UKChina conducted a telephone interview with Fan Xiaotian about the television series. Fan mentioned that the earlier
Ip Man films were too short, and that his purpose in creating the television series was to present a more developed and lively story about Ip Man which allows audiences to explore the character in greater depth. He also felt it was a very opportune time to produce a television series about Ip Man because Wilson Yip's
Ip Man movies were very successful and influential, and also because
Wong Kar-wai was making
The Grandmaster when
Ip Man (TV series) was in production. Fan Xiaotian and Young Pei-pei were keen on recruiting actor
Vincent Zhao, who has a background in martial arts, to play the lead character. Taking some netizens' opinions and suggestions into account, the production team also considered casting
Han Geng,
Wu Chun,
Wallace Chung and
Wallace Huo in the series. In September 2012, the cast and crew of
Ip Man appeared at a publicity event in
Suzhou to promote the television series. ==Broadcasts==