IMDA teams up with Netflix, iflix, YouTube to grow local creator community

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Building on the made-with-Singapore creative projects, Singapore media companies Beach House Pictures and Clover Films are partnering global players to co-create content for a global audience.

The partnerships, facilitated under the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)’s enhanced Capability Partnership Programme (CPP), will see Beach House Pictures creating a series of premium documentaries for international over-the-top (OTT) platforms and broadcasters including CuriosityStream.

Meanwhile, Clover Films will be partnering iQIYI on a slate of online films. The partnerships are expected to benefit more than 80 local SMEs and more than 500 media talent through job creation and opportunities for upskilling in the next two years.

Netflix, with support from IMDA, will be organising a Series Writing Workshop in the first quarter of 2022. Up to 20 writers from Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia will participate in the virtual workshop, which aims to help writers sharpen their series writing abilities. The workshop will be conducted by industry experts Christopher Mack, director of Grow Creative at Netflix, and screenwriter and producer Joe Peracchio. Guest speakers such as writers behind Netflix’s popular series expected to be added to the line-up.

Six new Southeast Asia co-production films have been selected for IMDA’s Talent Progression Programme (TPP) Content

Development grant. These comprise two collaborations each with Malaysia and Thailand, and one collaboration each with Philippines and Vietnam. The films are helmed by five Singapore producers from Akanga Film Asia, August Pictures, E&W Films, Threesixzero Productions and Zhao Wei Films, and are anticipated for completion between 2022 and 2023.

Lew Chuen Hong, chief executive, IMDA, said, “A compelling story can bring magic - move you, give you purpose. Through our initiatives we want to make Singapore the place where media businesses and content creators can come together to co-create magical Asian stories for the world.”

Bringing Singapore content global

In recognition of the potential opportunities of the creator economy, IMDA is also looking at how to help local online creators reach global audiences and capture value from overseas markets.

To better understand the creator economy, IMDA will be studying the new media value chain and ecosystem to identify areas of opportunities for Singapore creators. The study is expected to be completed by June 2022.

Additionally, IMDA will partner YouTube and also explore collaboration with Creative Service Providers such as Titan and KOBE, to provide training and mentorship to build the capabilities of our top local online creators in areas such as content marketing, audience engagement and data analytics to generate targeted opportunities for monetisation.

Through this programme, which will be launched in 2022, IMDA will also be intensifying its efforts to nurture a growing local pool of skilled manpower to support the growth of the media industry, including the new media sector, through collaborations with the industry.

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