Multimedia Development Corporation

September 23, 2009 World Screen
Adam Ham
Manager, Entertainment & Media Specialist, Business & Market Development
 
 

What are some of your top properties for MIPCOM?

ABC Monsters, produced by Animasia Studio (Top 30 MIPCOM Jr Title in 2006-07); Alamaya: Garden of Beautiful Creatures, produced by Shock3D! (Winner for Best Planning – 2009 Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival Project Planning); Geng: The Adventure Begins, produced by Les’ Copaque Production (Malaysia’s first 3D animation feature-length completed movie; Winner for Audience Choice Award at the Indonesian International Film Festival for Kids 2009); Saladin: TV Series, produced by Multimedia Development Corporation and Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (Multiple Award Winner from Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival Project Planning, Tokyo Anime Fair, etc); War of the World: Goliath, produced by Tripod Entertainment (new title – recently launched in ComicCon).

 
Why will these programs appeal to buyers?
The first few titles are state-of-the-art and award-winning pre-school programs, animated concepts related to environment protection, and comedy concentrated series, which are the noticeable trends and demands currently. However for the rest of the title, we believe that although there are certain trends in the market, particularly in North America where live-action series are currently preferred over animated series in major channels such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney, the buyers are still looking for breakout animation titles that could overturn to market trends.
 
 

What are some of the trends you’re currently seeing in this market?
Preschool programs, animated concepts related to environment protection and comedy concentrated series are the noticeable trends.
 
What are your goals and expectations MIPCOM?
Currently, the Malaysia Government has identified the digital content industry to be a high area of growth for its economy. MSC Malaysia is here to promote:
 
-Setting up office/studio & growing MSC Malaysia & Investment opportunities
-Co-Production & Co-commission
-Sales & Distribution of Creative IPs
-Outsource to MSC Malaysia Companies
-Forming Strategic Partnerships
 
We are expecting plenty of co-production deals and Malaysian programming to be sold in MIPCOM.
 
International Companies should consider partnering with Malaysian Studios because of the following 3 valued propositions:
Creative Talent Pool: Malaysia, located in the heart of Southeast Asia, has the reputation of having the ability to cultivate the required creative skilled workforce and providence of top class infrastructure. Malaysia has rich creative talent pool in support by a myriad number of creative institutes, such as LimKokWing Institute of Creative Technology, Multimedia University, The One Academy, etc, and such workforce has been tapped by most high value project across the region. One of its very unique attractions is the multiracial community in Malaysia. This multiethnic environment, comprising of the Malays, Chinese, Indian and others grooms the workforce capable of handling multicultural team and project at global level and has made it uniquely position as the most versatile global animation production hub with its multilingual workforce. Apart from English and the common ethnic languages, a growing prominence in the increasing proficiency in the Japanese and Korean language has given Malaysia
 
Government Support, Infrastructure and Assurance: The viability of MSC Malaysia’s Entertainment & Media Industry depends on several main factors.
 
The Malaysian government & agencies play its role to facilitate market access & industry development more efficiently and effectively. Various incentive campaigns are constantly formulated & improved to provide assistance in an orderly manner. There is an estimation of about 70 over funds available in Malaysia in terms of creative technology acquisition, financial support (funds & grants), incentives, etc targeted for the development of companies in the area of Entertainment & Media.
 
Malaysia is also actively pursuing the improvement of its state-of-the-art infrastructure in support of the Entertainment & Media Industry. It is enhancing the measurement infrastructure with wider scopes of capability, equipment and technologies while the standards development infrastructures are continuously improved by increasing the participation of identified organizations in the country. In addition, Malaysia’s participation in world-class activities is receiving greater emphasis and promotion with more active involvement & investments from the public and private sectors. Eg. MSC Malaysia Creative Innovation & Incubator Center, MSC Malaysia Innovation Center, MSC Malaysia Animation & Creative Content Center, MAC3 Business Zone, KRU Studios, FINAS Mixstage Digital Studio, etc.
 
Various quality assurance marketing campaigns have been organized to support and facilitate trade within the global Entertainment & Media Industry. MDeC, as the one-stop-center for digital content development in Malaysia, has been going strong towards international participation and cooperation. Constant awareness & effective marketing through quality well-planned promotion programs have been organized to trade-shows such as MIPCOM, MIPTV, ATF, HK Filmart, etc. Partnerships with various global agencies & partners have also been made to cooperate strategically to encourage co-production & distribution projects between various countries, such as KOCCA, METI (Japan), FILAS (Italy), FAPAE (Spain), TDC (HK), etc and assurance of updates of the latest leading-edge standards & trends of the industry.
 
Is there any other information you would like to share regarding your plansfor MIPCOM?
Yes, I would like to share some of the recent updates, plans and incentives the Malaysian Government and the MSC Malaysia has.
 
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In 2006, the MSC Malaysia Creative Multimedia Initiative (M-CMCI) was launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia to bring together all the industry blocks in a unified effort to promote growth in the Creative Multimedia industry. The initiative is a commitment by MSC Malaysia to help address the many issues affecting the growth of the creative multimedia content industry. Its main objective is to develop the creative multimedia industry that is able to generate RM 1.1 billion worth of revenue of which RM 660 million will come from exports and the industry is anticipated to create 13,100 jobs within the next 5 years. MSC Malaysia is here to create a content cluster that contributes: To generate economic growth; Bridge digital divide; Spearhead the use of technology in the country; Establish local expertise capable of producing “Malaysian” content that encompass national values and Focusing on IP creation. This Initiative was established in order to help creative multimedia content companies by providing a sustainable environment via the implementation of the creative multimedia content framework. The framework not only benefitted the traditional content companies but also created a new set of spin off industries. Companies found affordable funding and access to infrastructure via the digital media zone. The industry had a strong talent pool through the Human resource development programs and developed a larger consumer base via its market access programs. As a result, this initiative helped push Malaysian creative multimedia content companies into the global arena. That was when gradually more Malaysian companies were given an affordable opportunity to promote their contents in MSC Malaysia overseas trade mission to Hong Kong Filmart, MIPTV, MIPCOM and ATF. These companies are involved in Film and TV production, Animation, Special Effects and CGI, Virtual Reality & Simulation, Games Development, Mobile Content, education, training and business content.

 

 
Ever since the launch of this initiative, Malaysia never looked back and had plenty of successes and achievements. One of the biggest success from this initiative worth noting would be Malaysian-made 3D animation Saladin: The Movie (trailer submission) being recognized as one of the best-made animation of this decade. In 2006, Saladin: The Movie went ahead to claim Winner of Best Technology Category for Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival 2006. The achievement didn’t stop there, but also continued to win the Tokyo Big Sight Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2007, Best Script Award of the 4th International Animation & Digital Arts Festival (CICFAF 2007), Best Animation Finalist of the California International Animation Festival 2009, and the Encouragement Award of DIGICON6 Awards 2008. Due to its success, Malaysia’s first ever global co-production animation project was established in November 2007. In a move to stimulate the growth of locally developed Intellectual Property, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) together with Qatar’s Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (JCC) are now producing Saladin: TV Series, a 3-D animated TV series (26 episodes x 26 minutes) aimed at breaking into the global market. Due to be completed in 3rd Quarter 2010 (1st Season of 13 episodes), the series adapted the life story of Salah al-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub (Saladin), fictionalized young Saladin, so to meet the 10-12 years old main target young audience. The project are currently employing a mixed blend of local and international talents in the 3D animation industry to construct a tale based on the early stage life of the Islamic leader.
he Malaysian animated IP called “Alamaya: Garden of Beautiful Creatures” created by an MSC Malaysia Status Company, Shock3D! Sdn Bhd was also awarded as the Best Planning – 8th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival Promotion Plan Competition (SPP). Shock3D! was the only foreign company to emerge as the winner other than the Korean hosts and to bring home the prestigious award. The company managed to stand out among other entries received from other international studios such as Japan, France, Italy, United States, Taiwan, India, China, HK, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, etc. Shock3D! is also proud to be able to employ 26 highly skilled local animators and is expected to expand its pool to approximately 50 by 2010. Due to be released by the first quarter of 2011 in local theatres, the story tells a tale of a local child living in the suburbs of SS2, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia who is mysteriously led into a fantasy world teaming with bizarre and odd creatures. The little antagonist finds that he is rather reluctant to stay at first, until a series of events unfold revealing his greater purpose being in this other worldly place.
 
On contrary, MSC Malaysia companies were able to take advantage of the government-driven eContent fund (under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) to finance their co-production deals such as Shock3D!, Animasia Studio, Vision Animation, Backbone Entertainment, Les’ Copaque Production, etc. Many of the grant recipients who completed its production successfully distributed its animation program to renowned foreign broadcasters and commercialized its contents into mobisodes, games, comics, and merchandizing. MSC Audience Choice Award at the Indonesian International Film Festival for Kids 2009
The Malaysian government & agencies play its role to facilitate market access & industry development more efficiently and effectively. Various incentive campaigns are constantly formulated & improved to provide assistance in an orderly manner. There is an estimation of about 70 over funds available in Malaysia in terms of creative technology acquisition, financial support (funds & grants), incentives, etc targeted for the development of companies in the area of Entertainment & Media. Some of the grants worth noting would be:
No Income Tax for up to 10 years or an 100% Investment Tax Allowance (from MDeC)
Undergraduate Skills Program (from MDeC)
Graduate Trainee Program (from MDeC)
The Film Art And Multimedia Development Fund (from FINAS)
Feature Film Loan Scheme (from FINAS)
Monetary Incentives From Entertainment Duty (from FINAS)
InnoFund (from Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation)
TechnoFund (Pre-Commercialization & IP Acquisition) (from Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation)
Demonstrator Application Grant Scheme (from Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation)
Film Maker & Drama Financing Scheme (from SME Bank)
Service Export Grant (from MATRADE)
Brand Promotion Grant (from MATRADE)
Network Content Grant (from Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission)
to assist local MSC-Malaysia status companies to work with world-class companies to co-develop and co-own IPs for the global market. The Co-Production Fund seeks to accelerate the competency and capability of MSC Malaysia Status Companies in the area of talent and technology by working on quality projects with capable foreign partners. The Co-Production Fund seeks to accelerate the competency and capability of MSC status companies in the area of talent and technology by working on quality projects with capable foreign partners. RM75 million has been set aside for this purpose, which will focus primarily on funding projects in the area of animation, games, and visual effects. MDeC hopes to increase the number of Made-in-Malaysia projects available for sales & acquisitions globally, generation of creative IPs, creative value, leading-edge technical value, and composition of creative skills. Currently MSC Malaysia is in search of valued foreign partners to engage in more co-production projects with MSC Malasyia Companies and MDeC would be able to consider a grant amount of USD 1 – 1.5 million to the Malaysian Company applicant. The fund will target about 15 projects over the next two years with the potential of employing over 600 creative workers in various capacities throughout the project duration.
 
MSC Malaysia, located in the heart of South East Asia, has the reputation of having the ability to cultivate the required creative skilled workforce and providence of top class infrastructure. Malaysia has rich creative talent pool in support by a myriad number of creative institutes, such as LimKokWing Institute of Creative Technology, Multimedia University, The One Academy, etc, and such workforce has been tapped by most high value project across the region. One of its very unique attractions is the multiracial community in Malaysia. This multiethnic environment, comprising of the Malays, Chinese, Indian and others grooms the workforce capable of handling multicultural team and project at global level and has made it uniquely position as the most versatile global animation production hub with its multilingual workforce. Apart from English and the common ethnic languages, a growing prominence in the increasing proficiency in the Japanese and Korean language has given Malaysia an added advantage over traditional Media hubs.
 
In the area of facility & infrastructure development, MDeC also constructed the Creative Applications and Development Centre (CADC), which champions the Malaysian Government’s initiative to boost the development of digital contents in the country. CADC serves as the platform where bright minds from the private and public sectors can meet, and have their ideas fostered and taken to the limits through collaborative creative research. It is where creativity and technology will fuse to create a cutting-edge environment for optimization of design, visualization and interactive elements of creative applications. It is enhancing the measurement infrastructure with wider scopes of capabilities, incubator, equipments & technologies while the standards development infrastructures are continuously improved by increasing the participation of identified organizations in the country. In addition, MSC Malaysia’s participation in world-class activities is receiving greater emphasis and promotion with more active involvement & investments from the public and private sectors. Eg. MSC Malaysia Creative Innovation & Incubator Center, MSC Malaysia Innovation Center, MSC Malaysia Animation & Creative Content Center, KRU Studios, FINAS Mixstage Digital Studio, and the newest of all facilities, MAC3.The MAC3 Business Zone, which was recently launched, consists of a content accelerator, games lab, and rendering facilities for MSC-Malaysia Status Companies. It will focus on pre-seed and seed-level companies to nurture ideas and innovations. In late 2009, the MAC3 Learning Zone will also be established to house experiential center for digital content development for different levels of maturity. Interactive showcase areas, training rooms and children’s experience centers will be the focus of the learning zone.
 
In July 2009, Adam Ham brings eight years of experience of rebranding & facilitation of the Malaysian Digital Content Industry to his newly appointed position: Manager – Entertainment & Media Specialist of MDeC to be the forefront of the MSC Malaysia for marketing, market access & business development. Various quality assurance marketing campaigns are been planned & organized to support and facilitate trade within the global Entertainment & Media Industry. Adam is currently positioning MDeC, as the one-stop-center for digital content development in Malaysia, and therefore aggressively taking the MSC Malaysia towards international participation and cooperation in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, the Middle East, and Asia. Constant awareness & effective marketing through quality well-planned promotion programs have been organized to trade-shows such as Kid Screen, NATPE, GSMA, MIPCOM, MIPTV, TIFFCOM, ATF, HK Filmart, etc. Partnerships with various global agencies & partners have also been made to cooperate strategically to encourage co-production & distribution projects between various countries, such as KOCCA (Korea), SBA (Korea), METI (Japan), FILAS (Italy), FAPAE (Spain), TDC (HK), etc and assurance of updates of the latest leading-edge standards & trends of the industry.
 

In 2008, MDeC took another achievement to create The Malaysian Digital Content Products Catalog, which is the first of its kind in Malaysia designed to showcase a wide range of state-of-the-art digital world-class content available for sales and acquisition worldwide. The catalog includes product information about specific Made-in-Malaysia completed and work-in-progress Creative Contents in the area of Animation, TV & Film Content, and Music, Games, Multimedia & Mobile Content, which was also supplemented with a DVD Catalog comprising of all content trailers & demos. There were a total of 200 Malaysian-made contents. The catalogues were distributed in various global trade shows, festivals, and overseas MATRADE (Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation) offices. The completed catalog was a crucial marketing tool and historical achievement in the short Malaysian Digital Content Industry. As to some it was known as the turning point where global producers, distributors and broadcasters started seeing Malaysia as the next digital content world-class powerhouse of Asia. A new edition is being produced now, which is expected to be available in October 2009.