MDA unearths more scriptwriting talents in national competition

Dated: 10 April 2003

The Media Development Authority (MDA) gave away nine Golden Pen Awards totalling $16,800 at the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition 2002 Awards Ceremony held today at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The list of prizes and award winners is attached at Annex A, with synopses of the top winning scripts in Annex B. At the close of the competition in November 2002, a total of 82 submissions were received. The participants were mainly professionals from the media industry, students, National Service men and professionals from all walks, ranging from a paediatrician to an economist.

The objective of the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition is to develop good scripts for television. Upon awarding the winning scripts, MDA and MediaCorp TV will work with the top three and selected merit-award winners to develop their scripts into a TV series. This will give the writers an opportunity to see their works produced for public viewing. To turn the scripts into TV programmes, MDA will be commissioning various production houses to produce the works. The first Blueprint series, which was aired in January this year, was a result of commissioning the winning scripts from the 2001 competition.

The Guest-of-Honour at today's Awards Ceremony was Mr Yatiman Yusof, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Participants of the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition and members from the judging panel - comprising representatives from the broadcasting industry and academia - were also present at the occasion. The list of judges is attached at Annex C.

Mr Yatiman Yusof said, "MDA's Media 21 envisions Singapore to be a Global Media City in the next 10 years. One of the key strategies to realise this vision is to develope and export high quality Made-by-Singapore content. The MDA National Scriptwriting Competition is part of the Media 21 vision. This competition will strongly encourage the growth of our creative talent pool, and over time, position Singapore as a source of quality media content. Through the Scriptwriting Competition and other initiatives, Singapore would be able to produce quality TV and film productions that can travel internationally."

Mr Yatiman Yusof also announced the launch of the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition 2003 with two categories - TV Drama and Feature Film.

MDA is looking forward to the addition of the Feature Film category and the opportunities to develop winning scripts into films. As with TV, a good script is the foundation to a good film. MDA will be working with Digital Media Hub - a media enterprise set up by several local film-makers - as a development partner, under its Film Incubator Programme. The Film Incubator Programme will select at least one script from the competition and work with the scriptwriter to develop it into a feature film. MDA hopes to see more success stories such as Jack Neo's I Not Stupid and CheeK's Chicken Rice War, which have proved that local films can have both local and international appeal.

The MDA National Scriptwriting Competition will be an annual event. The competition gives writers opportunities to express their creativity and hone their skills. There are also plans to involve more industry players and professional associations to provide additional opportunities to scriptwriters to showcase good scripts in TV programmes and films.

Note to Editor:

Media Development Authority (MDA) was formed on 1 January 2003 from the merger of Singapore Broadcasting Authority, Films and Publications Department and Singapore Film Commission. As the promoter and regulator of the media industry, MDA will work towards developing a vibrant media industry in Singapore and nurturing a Creative Media and Connected Society.

Digital Media Hub offers hands-on, project-based training towards creating a more creative community. It is a centre for the development and advancement of digital media;a gathering point for digital media enthusiast and professionals;a facility for media training and learning within the traditional and digital mediums;and a place where talent and technology converge. For more information, visit www.digitalmediahub.org

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Annex A

2002 Winners

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Annex B

Top Three Winners Synopses

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Annex C

Panel of Judges

Chairman

Mr Seto Lok Yin
Director, Industry Development
Media Development Authority

Members

Mr Vijay Chandran
Lecturer, Centre for Film and Media Studies
Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Mr Cheah Chee Kong (CheeK)
Vice President, Network Editorial Strategy, Creative &Content
MTV Southeast Asia

Mr Chong Gim Hwee
Senior Manager
Programme Development, Network Programming &Promotions 5
MediaCorp TV Singapore Pte Ltd

Ms Koh Lee Lian
Senior Assistant Vice President, Central Programming &On-Air
MediaCorp TV12 Singapore Pte Ltd

Mr Lee Thean-Jeen
Director of Production
Film Formations

Asst Prof Sharen Liu
Head, Division of Electronic &Broadcast Media
School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological University

Mr Geoffrey Malone
Festival Founder, Chairman, Organising Committee
Singapore International Film Festival

Mr Mohd Yusoff Ahmad
Managing Director
Communications 2000

Mr Galen Yeo
Co-founder/Creative Director
The Moving Visuals

Ms Jean Yeo
Vice President, Productions
Ochre Pictures

Mr Daniel Yun
Chief Executive Officer
Raintree Pictures

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SPEECH BY MR YATIMAN YUSOF, SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AT MDA NATIONAL SCRIPTWRITING COMPETITION 2002 AWARDS CEREMONY AT THE ASIAN CIVILISATIONS MUSUEM ON 10 APRIL 2003

Good afternoon
His Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am very happy to join all of you here today for the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition 2002 Awards Ceremony.

Although this competition is now into its third year, it is especially meaningful that this year's competition will be carried out under the auspices of the newly formed Media Development Authority of Singapore.

MDA was formed in January this year, by merging the Singapore Broadcasting Authority, the Singapore Film Commission and the Films and Publications Department. The merger of these three entities signifies the new resolve of the Government in our support of the creative media industry, to be realised through the Media 21 Blueprint that MDA has mapped out.

Media 21 envisions Singapore to be a Global Media City in the next 10 years. The five key strategies to realise this vision include (a) developing &exporting high quality Made-by-Singapore content, (b) developing a state-of-the-art digital media city, (c) augmenting our creative media talent pool, (d) positioning Singapore as a media exchange for financing and trading of copyrights, and (e) creating a conducive environment for media enterprises to thrive. The National Scriptwriting competition is one of many initiatives the MDA has planned as part of the Media 21 Blueprint.

The National Scriptwriting competition (or 'NSC') will strongly encourage the growth of our creative talent pool, and over time, position Singapore as a source of quality media content. Through the NSC and other initiatives, Singapore would be able to make better and better TV and film productions that can travel internationally.

Why is the MDA so keen to promote good scriptwriting? To media professionals like yourselves gathered here today, the answer is very obvious. The key to any good content, be it on a small or a big screen, begins with the script. At the heart of every good script is a compelling story ready to be told. The script is the genesis of the creative and production processes behind the content created. The MDA believes that it is important to nurture this area of creativity in Singapore. To help spur the development of good scriptwriting skills, MDA has consciously been implementing three key initiatives to encourage talents to try their hands at writing for television and film. Let me share these initiatives:

Firstly, over the last three years, MDA has conducted a series of Masterclasses lectures and workshops with scriptwriting experts from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore. The series were well received by the industry, educational institutions and scriptwriting enthusiasts. MDA will continue to organise such events.

MDA will also continue to work in partnership with industry players or associations to invite internationally well-known scriptwriters to Singapore. For example, in January this year, MDA together with the Screenwriters Association, invited Robert McKee, a screenwriting guru to conduct a Masterclass in Singapore and it was a resounding success with standing room only attendance.

Secondly, MDA has been organising the scriptwriting competition to bring out the best of our creative writing talent. Last year's competition had two categories - drama and documentary. This year, I am pleased to announce the launch of the third MDA National Scriptwriting Competition. Submissions for the two categories of Television Drama and Feature Film will be open from today and the details can be found on the MDA website. Like previous years, we would like to see support from our scriptwriting community, and look forward to receiving an overwhelming number of entries from you.

We are very excited about the inclusion of the Feature Film category as it will not only provide an opportunity for the scripts from both aspiring or experienced scriptwriters to be recognised, but also the potential for it to be seen on the big screen. In tandem with this new category, MDA will be working with Digital Media Hub, a media enterprise set up by several local film-makers, as a development partner, under its Film Incubator Programme. The Film Incubator Programme will pick at least one script from the competition and work with the scriptwriter to develop it into a feature film.

As for the television drama category, MDA, like previous years, will support the top three winning scripts to be developed into television programmes for broadcast over national TV. In addition, a few of the other winning scripts may also be translated into TV programmes. This initiative would not be possible without the strong support from our partner, MediaCorp TV, the official TV broadcaster.

The third initiative to encourage good scriptwriting by MDA is to continue to grow and evolve the competition to eventually encompass more categories and to cover a wider spectrum of writing genres. This means our writers will have more avenues to explore their creativity and hone their skills. We also hope to involve more industry players and professional associations, in the running of the competition to make it more relevant to the industry and provide more opportunities through these collaborations to our local writers. We also hope for the competition to become a funnel for story ideas to our TV and film industry.

With this new focus and launch of exciting new programmes, I am confident that we can achieve our vision of building Singapore into a vibrant and successful Global Media City.

Last but not least, I would like to congratulate all the participants of the competition and today's winners. I hope you have found the experience to be fruitful and rewarding. For those of us here today, who have thoughts of becoming a writer, I strongly encourage you to enter this year's competition.

And on this note, let us celebrate the occasion with the winners of the MDA National Scriptwriting Competition 2002. Thank you