Asia Factual Forum to Encourage Co-Productions

SINGAPORE, November 13:
The inaugural Asia Factual Forum, which will be held from November 25 to 27 at
the River View Hotel in Singapore, will focus on facilitating opportunities for
collaborative partnerships in the production of factual programming.

The Asia Factual Forum is
co-produced by Canada’s Ballinran Productions with Singapore’s Association of
Independent Producers (AIPRO) and the Media Development Authority of Singapore
(MDA).

Among the highlights of
the two-day event is a special interview with Academy Award-winning documentary
director Ruby Yang, whose The Blood of Yingzhou District earned an Oscar for Best Documentary Short
Subject.

The first full day of
sessions begins on November 26. They will include a “Channel Surfing” session,
where programming executives from the various international broadcast outlets
explain the programming style and preferences of their channels. Other sessions
include “Becoming an International Content Player,” co-moderated by Bang
Productions Singapore's Keiko Bang and Alliance Atlantis' Norm Bolen, which
offers insight and advice from prominent broadcasters to producers on a variety
of subjects. There will also be a focus on production, with panels on “Mass
Appeal Storytelling Essentials” and “The Fortune is in the Formatting? Fact or
Fiction.

On November 27, “Power
Pitching Pow-Wow” will provide producers with the opportunity to present their
pitch to broadcasters and producer peers alike, and to receive constructive
feedback on how to make the pitch more effective. This is followed by
“Distribution Download,” an examination of the benefits and pitfalls of working
with a third-party distributor, and includes a primer for setting realistic
sales expectations and the top five things to look for in a distribution
agreement.

The event has attracted
participants from the U.K., the U.S. and Canada, as well as production
companies from India, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Among the Forum's key global
participants are Norm Bolen, the executive VP of content at Alliance Atlantis
Broadcasting Inc.; Michelle Bruce, the director of business affairs at
Discovery Networks International, Discovery International; Mika Kanaya, the
producer for international co-productions at NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.);
Sayedali Rawji, the director general for English Program at National Film Board
of Canada; Michele Schofield, the director of content for programming,
acquisitions and production at AETN All Asia Networks; Michael Stedman, the
managing director of Natural History New Zealand; and Courtney Thompson, the
senior manager of development and production at National Geographic Channels
International.

Factual production
companies from Singapore will also be in attendance to promote the benefits of
factual and documentary production in Singapore as well as the financial
opportunities of co-production. These include producer Aik Heng Ang of
Threesixzero Productions, who produced the series Find Me A Singaporean for Mediacorp's Channel U; Keiko Bang, the
president of Bang Singapore, producers of Zheng He: Emperor of the Seas, a co-production with Arte, Off the Fence and NHK;
and Gin Kai Chan, executive producer with Upside Down Concepts, a joint venture
with multiple Emmy-nominee Quixotic Media Group in the U.S., which was set up
to provide film financing for Asian companies and also develop quality content
for a worldwide market.

Craig Thompson, the
president of Ballinran and executive producer of the Asia Factual Forum, said:
"Our goal is to create some cohesiveness in the industry; we believe that
by the end of the two and half days, our delegates will have developed a lot of
meaningful relationships that will lead to business growth.”

—By Irene Lew