Asian Academy Creative Awards: Best Drama Panel

Producers of some of Asia’s best drama series this year discussed funding challenges, driving new narrative techniques and co-production opportunities at a session hosted by the Asian Academy of Creative Arts in Singapore.

The panel, which I had the privilege of moderating, was held as part of the National Winners Conference ahead of the Asian Academy Creative Awards, honoring the region’s best productions. It featured Ekachai Uekrongtham, creator and executive producer of Doctor Climax, the Netflix Thai original that landed the win for the region’s best drama; Mike Wiluan, director of Singapore’s Phantom Squad; Damiano Malchiodi of CANAL+ International, representing the Myanmar original Sparkle Hearts; Vemmy Sagita, writer, producer and director of the Indonesian series Must Get Married; and Asim Abbasi, writer and director of the Pakistani-Indian series Barzakh (Limboland) for ZEE5 and Zindagi.

Barzakh was conceived during the pandemic, Abbasi said. “Everyone was dealing with the idea of loss and grief and what that meant during that time. This, for us, was a meditative piece on that. I wanted to break away from the boundaries of what a narrative form feels like in this day and age. I was not keen on doing something fast-paced. It was slow and quiet and not something that gets commissioned easily. I was lucky. I had done Churails with ZEE5 and Zindagi; [they were] very supportive of what I wanted to do next. In the plotting, we were fans of [Gabriel García] Márquez and wanted to see what a literature piece would feel like [on television].”

Malchiodi is the channels and content director at CANAL+ Myanmar, which has been looking to bring a premium stamp to scripted storytelling in the Southeast Asian nation. Sparkle Hearts was intended to give viewers a taste of the daily lives of celebrities. “We managed to do it in premium style,” Malchiodi explained. “That was the idea with the production company Bonanza Production. The second point was to keep it popular and mainstream as well. We wanted a large audience. It was a great success.”

Uekrongtham is chief content officer and managing director of GMM International, a leading production outfit in Thailand. As a storyteller, he is frequently drawn to paradoxes and actual events, a combination he found in the idea for Doctor Climax. The Netflix original tells the story of a sexual advice columnist in 1970s Thailand. “I used that as a starting point to think about characters,” Uekrongtham said of the show, which was crowned best drama at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. “We tried to structure the series in a way that we used actual events.”

Phantom Squad from Infinite Studios in Singapore is also a period piece, a space that Wiluan has spent much time in. Commissioned by Mediacorp Suria, the Singaporean broadcaster’s Malay channel, it is based on the true story of a special team of police officers in 1950s Singapore. “It being my first Malay show was an eye-opener,” Wiluan said. “Working with the scripts in Malay, getting into the cultural nuances of working through the different levels of Malay life in the ’50s. It was an adventure. And it was the first show simulcast with Netflix.”

Sagita, via translator David Suharto, executive producer of Must Get Married, spoke about the genesis of that show, which was made by PT Sinemart Indonesia for streamer WeTV. “It started from my interest in psychology and trying to [address] complicated topics,” Sagita said. With Must Get Married, she wanted to explore millennial approaches to relationships. “There are many reasons not to get married. And I find it fun to talk about these things that are difficult to talk about in a lighthearted way.”

With two of the nominated programs featured on the panel being period pieces, the conversation addressed the challenges of bringing bygone eras to life. Uekrongtham cited three key areas: finding the right locations, capturing the cultural nuances and authentically presenting characters’ motivations and how they were shaped by the times. “We were very sensitive about being authentic and making it resonate for the audience watching today.”

Wiluan concurred with Uekrongtham’s points and referenced the importance of capturing the appropriate “texture and tones; we had to establish a Singapore that hasn’t often been seen on-screen. In Singapore in the 1950s, after the terrible flooding, there was poverty and crime. I wanted to portray that visually. It was grimy. But also bring in pops of color; the food, the costumes.”

Wiluan and his team also had to do extensive research on listening devices and firearms used at the time, as well as “language and delivery. 1950s Malay society spoke very differently. We had to bring in a dialogue consultant. If we made it too authentic, no one would understand it. So, we had a consultant to help bridge that gap.”

The session wrapped with a conversation about bigger-picture trends in the scripted ecosystem across Asia. Abbasi talked about the still nascent landscape for premium storytelling in Pakistan. “There are infrastructure and censorship issues, but co-productions [are an opportunity]. Even though we don’t have a formal treaty with India, Barzakh happened because it was a co-production. It allowed for the scale of the project. It allowed the visibility of the audience to increase. Making shows that are culturally specific and global—shows that can speak to a larger audience while not losing their authenticity—is something to keep an eye on. There is a level of conservatism I see creeping back in globally. There is a focus on family viewing and returning to the old, more ‘wholesome’ style of television. Some of these things are cyclical. In Pakistan, India and the U.K., where I’ve been doing most of my recent work, there is a push toward content that can be watched as a family.”

Uekrongtham has his eye on building IPs. “We think about adaptability, potential IP exploitation and how to make it work on multiple platforms from the start. The other thing that I’ve been working on is tapping into what I call cross-cultural creative pollinations.”

“The opportunity here is finding ways to elevate within our markets, but also, through this elevation process, look for outside distribution beyond the domestic territory,” Wiluan added. “The world is looking at Southeast Asia. That’s an opportunity in a saturated marketplace.”

Sangita agreed, noting, “Combine local stories with universal appeal.”