Thursday, December 16th, 2010 09:52:00
This is the third year for Astro Nextgen Contentpreneurs Awards (NCA), and the organisers are beginning to see what they have done right and what was wrong. The good is that they can now strive to make it better, with innovative new deals set in place for the winners of the awards.
The NCA, which is used by some parties - namely the Multimedia Development Corporation and Astro - as a spawning pool of sorts to identify future talents, has always focused on providing a platform for more quality young people to dive into the wonderful world of content creation.
Awards recipients for the NCA with MdeC and Astro reps
"For the past two years, we have waited for them to say, 'I want to be a contentpreneur', but perhaps that was too optimistic. They treat this more as a competition than a platform," said Astro Entertainment Sdn Bhd executive director Zainir Aminullah in an interview before the awards night.
"Usually, entries are a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. A lot of winners didn't even want to pursue a career in content development. They go back and work with their families or get another job in another industry."
Zainir laments the high attrition rate of students and contestants in the business as well as the NCA.
Students who take courses such as broadcasting, media arts, film, mass communication, video and audio production, web designing and graphic design - all eligible to take part in NCA - would often find other calling.
"There have been exceptions - winners who band together and start their own companies or their own projects," said Zainir. "But we are looking to see more."
Zainir and gang are looking at altering the paradigms of the NCA in order to make it a more effective platform. In the past, the NCA only manages to give away RM10,000 for each winner as perhaps the only significant physical contribution or injection into the fresh pool of talent, aside from the exposure.
This time around, NCA is coming up with new mentor programmes and opportunities for winners.
"Some of the winners will have their work commissioned, while some will be mentored by our teams and divisions," he said.
In the past, the winner of a short film category was given a TV deal, and NCA hopes to make it a wider offering, with several winners be entered into mentorship programmes (for a full detail of the commitments, please see winners list).
"Some of these people need to see safety nets, and while some have been absorbed into production houses or even here at Astro internally, that is not our aspiration.
"We realise that some need guidance, so that is what we are offering. For the first one to two years in the industry, if they haven't been discouraged by the horror stories and amount of work, we will try and give them the right footing."
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However, Zainir does not believe that any content creators should rely on local broadcasters.
"We don't want them to be dependent and there is a limit as to how much help and support can be given. The aim is to get them noticed internationally, with world-class skills and products."
Basically, the cost for good quality content is always high and broadcasters can only spend so much for local content developers to be solely reliant on the local market.
Using a more global market network is indeed a more viable solution. Selling content internationally means selling it to international broadcasters or TV stations, cinemas, DVDs in other countries.
He does not believe this is impossible, as it has happened before in the animation industry, when you take India, Korea and China into consideration.
"India, for example, used to be the go-to place for animation due to talent and low-costs. They grew to become a hub due to their outsourcing work. They have improved so much that they are no longer cheap and is considered seriously in the animation world."
Some Indian companies are reported to have even been bought by US giants, or have their stakes purchased - a testament to India's growth as a talent pool. Furthermore, it is only getting more vibrant. According to Variety, Technicolor Digital Productions this year took sole ownership of India-based Paprikaas Studio early this year, which used to be co-owned by Dreamworks.
That kind of vibrancy and vitality can only happen in a big-enough industry, and the industry can only grow if there is a steady influx of new ideas and new talents.
"Yes, we do it for our own needs, as we want better products, better content," said Zainir. "However, we also do it for the long-term goals, by creating a richer talent pool." He hopes that NCA will feed into that pool.
Well, the hopes and dreams of Zainir, Astro, NCA and subsequently the entire Malaysian creative industry lies in many hands. Some of them, hopefully, will come from these winners.
May the light shine forever.
WINNERS LIST
* All listed names are team leaders'. All entries are by team.
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