ATF 2017: groundbreaking businesses

There is an unprecedent interest in global collaborations worldwide, but this is especially noticeable in Asia Pacific. Following the market trends, the region is much more opened to international partnerships in three main areas: content development (drama and entertainment), new financing models and online ventures.

There are new emerging markets in Asia to consider, too. Robert Gilby, Chairman of the Singapore Media Festival Advisory Board, explains to Prensario: ‘Indonesia is the biggest less known country in the world. The Philippines is another case to pay attention. Both countries have very talented people, but there is a need to put all the processes of the value-chain in line to reach key objectives that can develop further their audiovisual industries. The opportunities are huge’.

Most of the announcements at ATF were related to co-productions, co-developments or co-finance projects. The Southeast Asian Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA) held the “Media Investor Summit” where it gathered worldwide producers and investors to cement alliances for multiple upcoming programs and films.

Rafira is a new action romance comedy feature film produced by top Malaysian actress Raja Ilya, along with Aurora Media Holdings (Singapore) and 108 Media (Canada), who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further collaborate together in the production of a slate of media projects worth USD 15 million. Another MoU announced was between BeachTV, AOS Collective and ClubbingTV for the music reality format Rave Wave. The first also sealed a partnership with Allego Music and Arts Productions for the launch of BeachTV Philippines.

Lastly, Dimsum, Malaysian SVOD inked deals with broadcasters from Asia: GMM Grammy (Thailand), Celestial Tiger (Hong Kong), Ani-One (Hong Kong) and Asia Travel (Taiwan); with the second one it also signed a deal to launch Miao Mi, a Mandarin edutainment channel catering 3-6 years old kids.

Celebrating 25 years in Asia, HBO Asia announced six new pan Asian projects to be developed in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, all them to be available exclusively on HBO Asia’s network of channels, HBO GO and HBO On Demand.

The six series are the six-episode horror anthology series Folklore, the eight-part period drama Grisse, Master of the White Cran Fist: Wong Yan-Lam and Master of The Nine Dragon Fist: Wong Ching-Ho, the third and four installment of Chinese martial arts movie series, season 2 of The Teenage Psychic, and Miss Sherlock (8 episodes), the very first co-production agreement in Japan with HJ Holdings’ Hulu, which will premiere simultaneously across 20 countries in April 2018 exclusively on Hulu Japan and on HBO Asia (TV and Online). In 2017, HBO has produced Sent and Halfworlds in Singapore as part of a 2-year partnership with IMDA, which has been renewed for the same period of time.

There is space for entertainment, too. Keri Lewis, from K7 Media presented the top 10 developed in Asia Pacific for the global market, highlighting Mission AI from CCTV (China) about humans vs. artificial intelligence going on season 2; The Line Up, game show co-developed by CJ E&M (Korea) and ITV (UK); Path of Glory, talent show from Star China and Syco (USA); Vs. Kids from TV Asahi (Japan) shows competition between ex professionals in different disciplines with kids; and Witness the Fitness, a game show by Nippon TV (Japan).

Fabricio Ferrara, from Singapore