Thai drama has had a record year across Asia. JKN Global Media Chief Executive, Anne Jakrajutatip, talks about cross-border content tastes, developing an original production ecosystem, the growth of OTT and the impact of streaming platforms on the syndication business, the ongoing strength of free TV, and behaving outside of the box.
Indonesia’s writers, directors, producers and actors are basking in their current moment in the sun, with wild demand driven by domestic, regional and global streaming platforms running alongside a still robust free-TV environment with massive reach and consumption. Against this backdrop, Wicky Olindo talks about the beginnings of an Indonesian superhero universe, sharpening the country’s premium drama series writing skills, and how he believes the current streaming gold rush will play out.
True CJ Creations – a joint venture between Thailand's True Corp and Korea's CJ ENM – is ahead of its original production targets, with a slate of Thai adaptations of Korean dramas and reality/competition programmes, a multi-platform distribution strategy and a mega effort to carve a new space in the premium series landscape out of Thailand. Apicha Honghirunruang talks about creative journeys, blending Thai practices and tastes with Korean stories for regional and global markets, and his ambitions to create a new brand of original stories.
Rapi Films is part of Indonesia’s filmmaking hall of fame, with a 53-year legacy in the business and titles such as “Satan’s Slave”, “Hangout”, “The Queen of Black Magic” “Lady Dragon” and “Blood Warriors”, and more recently TV series such as “Kisah Tanah Jawa: Merapi”, for iflix and now streaming on WeTV. Sunil Samtani talks about a fast-evolving creative and production environment that is at the epicentre of giant ambitions for streaming in Asia.
Taiwan's Studio76 launched just ahead of the pandemic with an ambitious three-year slate, a horror debut targetting audiences that mass market TV broadcasters aren't accommodating, tapping online communities and fanbases for stories, and trying to expand Taiwan's footprint overseas. Dennis Yang talks about experimenting with formats, finding stories, and Taiwan's advantages and challenges as a production centre.
When it comes to LGBTQ programming in Asia, there's no one who has done more to promote the genre than Jay Lin, the founder of streaming platform GagaOOlala and GOL Studios, which has backed shows such as anthology series "Unlocked", with stories about queer people under quarantine in Manila; Golden Horse Award-winning "The Teacher" from director Chen Ming Lang; and Zero Chou's "Wrath of Desire", an upcoming lesbian thriller hitting the theaters this fall, among others. Jay joins us to talk about the wins and fails of LGBTQ+ filmmaking in Asia.
Group M's content investment and rights management company, Motion Content Group, has just announced a second season of "MasterChef" in Singapore, coming on the back of the premiere of another of its APAC projects – Asim Abbasi's 10-part Pakistan drama, "Churrails", which premiered on Indian streaming platform Zee5 this month. Steven Murphy talks about investing in premium content in Asia and where the value lies.
Dentsu continues to be committed to original production through The Story Lab, with the primary focus on the U.S., Russia, U.K, and parts of Europe. Is there any opportunity for Asian producers or broadcasters to be involved? Absolutely, says Fotini Paraskakis.
Voot Select Indian drama, "Marzi", puts rape and the politics of consent front and foremost in a six-part thriller based on U.K. series "Liar" by Harry and Jack Williams. Sabrina Duguet walks us through the adaptation and the realities of distributing and adapting a scripted format built around a highly charged issue.
Women are the fastest growing user segment for games, consuming more games and content than men and representing 60% of the spend on games, info and entertainment. Asia alone has 505 million female gamers. With esports forecast to be worth US$1.8 billion next year, the professional multi-player video game space has huge relevance for content creators. What are the opportunities? What are the challenges? ContentAsia has partnered with Gamer World News Entertainment’s Gayle Dickie on a session that looks at gamers’ media consumption trends, their habits and demands, and explores the way the broader industry is increasingly carving out a space for a massive audience segment.
Sonia Fleck expanded her distribution/production business in Asia into gaming/esports about two years ago, tapping what she saw as an unexploited entertainment sweet spot for broadcasters in the region. She joins us to talk about the journey and the learning.
Asian channel TechStorm has expanded from a hard-core tech service to incorporate a gaming and esports strand that speaks to the rising relevance of the genre in Asia. Debbie Lee, talks about the journey.
POPS Worldwide Founder and CEO, Esther Nguyen, continues to move full tilt into esports. She joins us to talk about her new deal with Ampverse, bringing esports team Bacon Time into the fold, developing original content, tribe marketing and extending the POPS empire into Indonesia for the first time.
Screen Queensland’s chief executive, Kylie Munich, is rolling out a new welcome mat for Asian filmmakers. She joins us to talk about a new funding and support chapter in the relationship between Australia and Asia.
"Aunty Sudha Aunty Radha" is a gorgeous film about two sisters, living out their last years in a village in India, told by their niece, filmmaker Tanuja Chandra. Tanuja and producer Anupama Mandloi talk about indie filmmaking and a project of love, laughter, nostalgia and contemporary wisdom.
Writer, Creator and Director Asim Abbasi, talks about his new premium drama, "Churails", a thriller about four women in Pakistan who join forces to form a detective agency to find cheating husbands and later find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy. The series is bold, the women are fierce and fearless, and the whole series for India's Zee5 entertains as well as raises a fist against toxic masculinity.
Executive Producer Suchart Rochanakee and Director Piyawat Chaithiangthum talk about love, gender, fan clubs, casting straight men in LGBTQ stories, and what went into their "Love Love You" series of feature films.
Online series "Stuck with You" was a solution to a pandemic situation, leveraging traditional-era production strengths and skills, digital smarts, tech and social media for eight hours a day for seven straight days streaming. Nine iphones and one cutting-edge ipad-based switcher app later, Refinery Media's Karen Seah and Eye Creative's Marco Bresciani talk about what they learned about overcoming Covid-related content, production and technical challenges.
Female director Amirah Tadjin talks about creative freedom, opportunity, navigating male spaces, and being okay to walk away from a production that's f-ed up racially.
