Promotion of Singapore-produced Films and Television Projects

Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts what is being done to develop and build an international market and audience for Singapore-produced film and television projects or co-productions and what kinds of resources and financial support are being set aside for this each year.

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The Media Development Authority (MDA) recognises that the domestic market for Singapore-produced film and television content is small, and has, therefore, sought to open up access to international markets and audiences for these projects. MDA has taken a two-pronged approach to do so – one at the industry-level and another at the government-to-government level. Let me elaborate.

First, at the industry-level, MDA actively promotes Singapore-made content at international markets, encourages collaborations with foreign production companies, and cultivates relationships with international broadcasters and distributers. For the film industry, MDA has been supporting local filmmakers to travel and showcase their works at international market events and film festivals, including Cannes Film Festival and Pusan Film Festival. MDA also facilitates the submission of Singapore films for overseas showcases or awards, and supports the films' marketing and publicity efforts to increase their exposure and recognition internationally.

For television productions, participation in TV-related international market events, such as MIPTV and MIPCOM, is also key in providing opportunities for local content to obtain international distribution. For instance, MDA works with local and international distributors, such as MediaCorp, Passion UK, Looking Glass International, TVF and Electric Sky, to distribute Singapore-produced content in territories spanning Australia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Middle East and USA. In addition, MDA, together with MediaCorp, continues to cultivate broadcasters, such as those in China and Indonesia, to carry our Chinese-language content on their channels on an on-going basis.

MDA's support for our companies to participate at the international market events has given them exposure to international producers and opened doors for them to secure new partners. I am happy to note that our companies have achieved successes through such collaborations with foreign production companies. Allow me to share two examples. First, local animation company Sparky Animation, collaborated with Japan's Bandai Visual, Baku Enterprise, Dentsu, and Duckbill Entertainment, on a CGI animated television programme based on the Japanese book series One Stormy Night. The programme premiered on TV Tokyo, TV Osaka and TV Aichi in April this year. A second example is from Singapore's leading Stereoscopic 3D computer graphics animation production company, Tiny Island Productions. The company worked with Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific to produce Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens, a television movie, which premiered in March this year on Cartoon Network globally. Ben 10 has proven to be a hit, spawning a highly successful global merchandise line.

In all, MDA has assisted more than 150 film and television companies and individuals in making their presence felt in 40 regional and international events over the past year. Beyond these, MDA has also established regional events in Singapore, such as ScreenSingapore and Asia Television Forum. These provide further platforms for our content producers to showcase their works. In terms of funding, MDA has set aside $5 million each year to support the marketing of local content.

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MDA's second approach is to facilitate bilateral co-productions through government-to-government co-production treaties and agreements. To date, we have established official co-production agreements with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, China and Korea, and facilitated more than 20 projects, ranging from documentaries, animation series to feature films, through this network of agreements. By doing so, MDA hopes to secure a beachhead for our companies to identify co-production opportunities and partnerships with other like-minded companies.

MDA also regularly reviews its domestic schemes to ensure that these are aligned with the internationalisation efforts. For instance, effective from end-July 2012, MDA has put in place a revised copyright ownership framework for MDA-supported, locally produced Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) programmes. This framework recognises and accords ownership of the copyright of PSB productions to content creators, who are generally the production companies that have created and produced the original content. While the production of PSB content is primarily to serve the public viewing interest of Singapore viewers, the revised copyright ownership framework is an important step that will put our production companies in a better position to exploit their assets for sale of programmes overseas, licensing and merchandising.

MICA and MDA will continue to evaluate our approaches and strategies to support the local film and television sectors.

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