M’sian firms sign US$30mil worth of deals at Cannes entertainment mart

By Digital News Asia October 9, 2012

Malaysian Govt also confirms 1st KL Communications & Creative Industry Mart (KLCCIM) to be held next March
‘Deals announced at MIPCOM are testament to Malaysia's strength and capability in developing award-winning, world-class properties’

M’sian firms sign US$30mil worth of deals at Cannes entertainment mart
A MALAYSIAN delegation comprising 40 companies has sealed US$30mil worth of deals at the MIPCOM international market for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content, being held Oct 8-11 at Cannes, the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) said in a statement.

The Malaysian delegation is being led by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Information, Communications & Culture of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf, who announced the deals at a Creative Malaysia Networking reception held at Hotel Gray D'Albion on the first day of MIPCOM.

The networking reception – jointly organized by Finas, the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), in association with the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) – was attended by over 200 international industry professionals, Finas said.

At the reception, Hasbro Studios president Stephen Davis said that in order to stay competitive, it was important to work with experienced producers from Asia, and co-producing with Malaysia was an ideal choice.

He also praised the Malaysian Government for creating a creative ecosystem conducive to international producers like himself, Finas said in its statement.

Davis signed a multimillion-dollar production agreement with Low Huoi Seong, managing director of Vision Animation; and Gill Carr, managing director of Moody Street Kids; for the animated TV series Transformers - Rescue Bots (Season 2), a production to be undertaken jointly by Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids, with work distributed between Australia, Canada, Malaysia and the United States.

“I am very proud to say that over the past few years, the Malaysian Government's significant investments in, and support of, the entertainment and media industry have finally paid off,” Kamaruddin said.

He said that Malaysia was being globally recognized as a reliable and competitive source of content production. “The international deals announced today are certainly a testament to Malaysia's strength and capability in developing award-winning, world-class properties for international markets, at a very competitive cost.”

Kamaruddin also confirmed that Malaysia’s first major international market, the Kuala Lumpur Communications & Creative Industry Mart (KLCCIM), will take place from March 26-29, 2013.

KLCCIM, being organized by his ministry, will cover approximately 5,000 sq m of floor space and expects to attract more than 200 seller companies from Asia and 300 buyers from around the world. The event will consist of a content market, exhibition, conference, international summit, business-to-business (B2B) platform and various networking events.

There will be a host of concurrent events as well, such as an international film festival, music and arts festivals, a technology expo, a project financing forum, and the DigitalMedia Craft Awards.

Malaysia will also host the Asian Animation Summit from Dec 10-11, 2012, he noted.

Finas director general Mohd Naguib Razak said that the Malaysian Government offers a wealth of financial support and incentives to Malaysian producers and even foreign partners.

For instance, the recently announced “Film in Malaysia” (sic) production incentive, where local and even foreign film productions, including feature films, animation, documentaries, television productions and commercials, will be eligible for a 30% cash rebate on audited in-country spend, as long as they qualify with a minimum spend criteria of US$806,000 (RM2.5 million) applicable to Malaysian film productions and US$1.66 million (RM5 million) in-country spend applicable to foreign productions.

The "Film in Malaysia" production incentive rebate will be launched in mid-November and disbursement will commence on Jan 1, 2013, he said.

Other grants and financial incentives being implemented and disbursed include the US$38 million Creative Industry Grant by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture; the US$33 million Creative Industry Development Fund by the MCMC; and the US$65 million MyCreative Funds by MyCreative Ventures.

MIPCOM deals

The deals announced at MIPCOM include international co-production deals such as:

Giggle Garage (Malaysia) + Crazy Bird Studio (Korea) + Synergy Media (Korea) to co-produce the adventure-comedy animation series Boing the Play Ranger;
Roar Studios (Malaysia) + Nextani Animation Studio (Korea) to co-produce an animation series Chamberlain;
Animasia Studio (Malaysia) and Strika Entertainment (South Africa) to co-produce a new season for Supa Strikas, to be produced in Malaysia by Animasia Studio using Malaysian talents;
Akis, the first Malaysian animation production to be commissioned by Nickelodeon Asia (Singapore) from Inspidea (Malaysia), which will be responsible for the creation, production and distribution;
Clover Sky (Malaysia) and Monstrou Studio (Singapore) to co-produce 3D animated series Tritans 2 and travelogue TV series Halal Galore - Korea/Japan;
SG Entertainment (Malaysia) and Shellhutentertainment (Thailand) to co-produce two animation series, Shelldon and Flying with Byrd;
Creative Media Point (Malaysia) and Anima (Finland) to form a joint-venture company in Malaysia to co-produce an undisclosed animated TV series;
Funcel (Malaysia) and Ocon (Korea) to jointly cooperate on family entertainment content for the world market; and
Infinite Motion (Malaysia) and Mayapuri (India) to jointly cooperate on production for an undisclosed animated 3D TV series.

Sales and distribution deals include:

MNC Group (Indonesia) to sign a deal with Animasia Studio (Malaysia) to distribute Animasia’s Bola Kampung Series and Bola Kampung the Movie in Indonesia;
Worldwide Rights Corporation (Malaysia) sold 39 episodes of Pesona Kasih and Bola Cinta, two Malaysian drama series originally produced for RTM, to CCTV (China) through Double V (France) – the first sale of a Malaysian drama series to mainland China; and
Mirayi (Malaysia) to sign a distribution deal with Multicom Entertainment Group (USA) for the distribution of animation series Mask Master -- Mirayi has Asian distribution rights, while Multicom Entertainment Group will be distributing to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, Finas also claimed that Malaysia brought almost 200 new programs to MIPCOM to be offered for distribution, double the number of completed programs offered last year.

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