IMDA unveils fund to enhance virtual productions and help them go global

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The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is launching a SG$30 million International Co-Production Fund, aimed at supporting local high-quality drama series productions, along with a SG$25 million top-up to the Virtual Production Innovation Fund to further develop the industry’s virtual production (VP) capabilities.

The International Co-Production Fund was started to motivate and push media companies in Singapore to collaborate with more international partners and produce content with more local flavour to channel the Singapore story to a wider global audience, according to a statement.

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Opened to local media companies with a track record of long-form content production, the fund can be used to deepen local talent proficiency and amplify its content through streaming services.

The International Co-Production Fund adds to IMDA’s list of existing co-production initiatives, such as the Talent Progression Programme and the Singapore On-Screen Fund. Such initiatives have proven to be successful with the production of content such as Ajoomma, the first Singapore-South Korea co-production film.

Along with this, the addition of SG$25 million into the Virtual Production Innovation Fund will be carried through to develop and grow more local virtual production talent in the country. It aims to help meet the increasing demand for virtual productions in the industry.

The fund was first introduced in December 2022 with a SG$5 million tranche to encourage local media companies to experiment with VP. It has met with success to upskill media professionals as well as kickstart creative projects, such as Refinery Media’s production of Sleeping Beauty and Mediacorp’s upcoming Chinese drama series, Once upon a New Year's Eve.

The additional fund will look towards utilising overseas trainers to provide higher quality training, and this training will be extended to lecturers in Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL). It will also kickstart the introduction of VP modules into Singapore’s current existing media curriculum.

Starting as soon as April 2024, polytechnics such as Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic will offer said VP modules to students. Nanyang Polytechnic will also be stepping up to build local capabilities in VP.

In recent news, IMDA also launched a first of its kind Generative AI (Gen AI) Evaluation Sandbox in collaboration with the AI Verify Foundation. The Sandbox aims to reveal gaps in the current landscape of Gen AI evaluations, particularly in domain-specific and cultural-specific areas which are currently under-developed, it said in a statement.

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