Australian, Singapore Alliance Eyes Multiplatform Properties

CANNES, October
13: Australia’s ScreenWest and Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA)
have announced an initiative that will encourage producers in their respective
territories to colloborate on the development and exploitation of multiplatform
properties.

Producers are being invited to submit proposals in the areas
of children’s programming, documentaries and animation. Three selected
projects, which will be announced at the Asia TV Forum this December, will
receive up to $90,000 in co-development financing.

The MDA-ScreenWest Cross-Media Development Initiative
follows the Australia-Singapore film co-production agreement signed in
September 2007.

“Currently, Singapore’s media companies already enjoy a
strong working relationship with their counterparts in Australia and I am sure
that this joint initiative with ScreenWest will spur more of such
mutually-beneficial collaborations that will make their mark in the
international market, said Christopher Chia, the CEO of the MDA. “Content that can be commercialized on
multiple platforms will enjoy a wider reach and longer lifespan and the
MDA-ScreenWest Cross Media Development Initiative is a step in supporting our
media companies to rise to the challenge of the new media landscape where
consumers increasingly demand to enjoy content on their own terms.

Ian Booth, ScreenWest’s chief executive, added: “ScreenWest
is excited by this opportunity to build stronger ties between the two
countries. We believe the development of three projects in the genres of
children’s drama, animation and documentary will encourage further
co-productions in the future.”

—By Mansha Daswani