IMDA Unveils Fund for Virtual Production Adoption

Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is launching a S$5 million ($3.7 million) fund to assist local companies in developing virtual production capabilities.

The Virtual Production Innovation Fund was unveiled at the opening ceremony at Asia TV Forum in Singapore this morning. It consists of efforts to develop talent with virtual production skills, with IMDA aligning with the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the U.K. on training initiatives. Fifteen Singapore media lecturers, trainers and industry professionals will receive hands-on training at NFTS’s virtual production facilities as well as attend lectures conducted virtually from December 2022 to April 2023. There will also be a series of workshops over the next year.

The fund will also assist in the financing of local companies using virtual production in short-form content. IMDA will fund up to 50 percent of the project’s cost for selected proposals.

The Singaporean media regulator is also working with Epic Games to encourage companies to experiment with and use Unreal Engine for virtual production. Teams with shortlisted projects will receive direct mentorship and training from Epic, while also receiving prize money from IMDA.

Justin Ang, assistant chief executive for media, innovation, communications and marketing at IMDA, said, “The development of virtual production technology in recent years now allows us to create visual effects in real-time without physical set production, and with that, overcome the limitations of space, scale and complexity. The impossible can be made ‘possible,’ limited only by the imagination of our filmmakers. We are excited to see more innovative and compelling stories resulting from the use of virtual production to strengthen Singapore’s position as a hub for content and IP creation.”