Mediacorp Scripted Commissioning Brief
We are thrilled to work with talents from all creative disciplines to deliver compelling and intriguing stories that entertain, inspire, and challenge our audience. We seek narratives that deliver deep emotional impact, that celebrate life’s highs and lift us up through our lows. We are the home of local dramas, and across a broad range of platforms, our award-winning and internationally travelled scripted content continues to entertain millions in Singapore and beyond.
Our Creative Brief
Hyper-local – Authentically Singapore
We chase after authentic storytelling and are keen to find different ways to keep our content honest, seeking ideas that are relatable and reflect our unique cultural identity.
This could play out as literally as dramas depicting our history as in the case of This Land Is Mine and Bunga Tanjong, or celebrating our local arts and heritage through biopics such as Titoudao. It could also mean portraying a way of life that is hyper-authentically-local, such as 128 Circle which dives into the world of Singapore hawkers from various walks of life, ages and ethnicities, a uniquely-Singaporean reality depicted most aptly when characters speak in their mother-tongues, a familiar sight (and sound) in Singapore. In a similar vein, Tetangga highlights the importance of racial harmony among our multi-cultural society that is Singapore.
Challenging Perspectives, Inspiring Change
Programmes which bring to centre social issues of modern Singapore life such as Your World in Mind and Anak Metropolitan 4.0 are equally important. The former spotlights a family’s struggles, and joys, of raising a special needs child, while the latter covers societal issues and challenges faced by Singapore youths in a lesser-known world of gangsterism. Similarly, Ming Lee c/o Manickam provides a glimpse into the lives of families who foster children, regardless of race. We believe that every strong story has a strong message which compels one to both think and feel at the same time. Better still, to act, and drive change.
Breaking New Ground
We invite you to bring your boldest and most ambitious scripted concepts to Mediacorp. We want ideas that push the creative scale and production quality, like in the case of Third Rail where one of the largest sets was constructed to house several decommissioned MRT train carriages, or in the case of Raksasa, which used animatronics to create out-of-this-world characters. We believe that elevated production values allow for more powerful storytelling and enhance the experience for our audience.
We are open to rated content, as in the case of Naam, Last Madame and The Girl He Never Noticed, where telling a good story is what’s of paramount importance. The testament to these strong narratives lie in the colossal viewership clocked that extended beyond Singapore’s shores, as well as the multiple industry awards won. Such is our ambition – to have our stories travel and reach a global audience.
Partnerships & Collaboration
We see much merit in bringing together our vast talent pool of creatives to strengthen our content pieces. From theatre playwrights to film directors to authors of novels and producers of shorts, we love to harness the collective power of storytelling skillsets and imagination, expanding IPs beyond original formats of stage plays and books to video and audio offerings (eg, After Dark and Slow Dancing). Adulting was crafted with the help of students from Singapore Polytechnic, with story ideas stemming from our next generation of talent, enhancing the relevance of the young adult choose-your-own-ending comedy.
We believe that a good story shouldn’t be confined within a single piece of content but be expanded into various formats/languages and seeded across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience. Given such, we seek to build story universes for key franchises just like how we’ve done for Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories (@Job Haunting & @SG Sightings Adukku Vettu Annasamy S2, and Misteri Jam 12 which IPs originated from popular radio shows and now extended to series on digital screens and podcast.
Beyond Singapore, we are passionate about working with creatives across Asia and would love to pursue any co-commissioning or co-production opportunities that would allow for greater scale and elevating of story.
