Government launches S$10 million fund to support films, TV series that showcase Singapore to global audience

SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on Wednesday (Apr 5) announced the launch of a S$10 million fund to support the creation of television series and films that showcase Singapore to a global audience.

The Singapore On-screen Fund is expected to attract projects that provide opportunities for local media enterprises and talent to work alongside global media and entertainment partners in creating content for international audiences, the agencies said in a joint press release. 

Speaking to CNA’s Singapore Tonight, STB’s CEO Keith Tan said: “It is our effort to get more of Singapore in front of the eyeballs of audiences all over the world, especially for people who aren't thinking about traveling to Singapore or who may have very old, preconceived notions about Singapore.

“We want to change their minds.”

Key to the scheme is working with producers and companies that have a global reach, he added.

Selected media conglomerates, major streamers and production studios with regional or global networks will be invited to apply for the fund.

WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS WILL GET FUNDING?

The projects must be set in Singapore and launched before the first quarter of 2027.

Successful projects will receive funding support of up to 30 per cent of qualifying costs related to featuring Singapore, including production and marketing costs.

On what kind of productions will get the funding, Mr Tan said it is “anything that has great quality content”.

“We are looking at the possibilities for science fiction or crime heists or action-packed drama like we saw with Little Women. So, anything is possible, but the key is content and reach of the production, he said, referring to a Korean drama that was partially filmed in Singapore last year. 

He also gave the example of Crazy Rich Asians, a romantic comedy produced by Singapore-based Infinite Frameworks in partnership with Warner Bros Discovery that was released in 2018.

NEW LOCATIONS FOR SHOOTING PRODUCTIONS NEEDED

The intention is to work with the world’s most renowned production houses and studios, he added.

He said that STB already has an ongoing partnership with Warner Bros, which it will “double down” on for other entertainment programmes.

“Our intent is to get ideas from them and see what they have to put on the table. We understand from our discussions and with IMDA’s discussions with many of these companies, that they have ideas, and they are looking for locations to shoot their productions,” he said.

“They are looking for great new places rather than the tried and tested usual locations. And so, we hope to be able to use Singapore as the location for some of these shoots, and in a way that tells a great story about Singapore as well.”

He said that the funding amount of S$10 million is benchmarked against other similar funds elsewhere in the world.

“It is meant to position Singapore competitively against other cities that may be bidding for that project as well,” he said, adding that the agencies are not looking for many productions over the next few years.

“What we are looking for will be a small number of globally impactful productions and that won't happen very frequently, but we hope that … there will be 'talkability' about it for many years to come,” he said.

SINGAPORE STORIES LEFT UNTOLD

Singaporean film producer Tan Si En, who has produced award-winning films by local directors Anthony Chen and Kirsten Tan, said that the launch of the fund is “exciting”.

“It allows us really interesting opportunities to have international productions come to Singapore to shoot,” she said.

She added that it would be “cool” to be a part of shows like Crazy Rich Asians and sci-fi series Westworld Season 3 that was partly filmed in Singapore.

“What this fund can really do for us is that it will bring some of those cool projects like crime stories and anything about Asia to here and we can shoot, we can highlight sights of Singapore,” she said.

She described Singapore as a “strange and beautiful city”.

“It’d be great if more productions shoot here. I think lots of stories from Singapore have yet to be told, lots of places yet to be seen,” she said. 

“I'm thinking a lot about that, how we can showcase that and also, (there are) stuff like cross cultural collaborations I really want to push.”