MDA and Hyde Park Collaborate on Film Financing Reality TV Series

A novel reality series that gets behind the scenes of film financing and production will hit the small screen in Singapore at the end of the year.

The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) will team up with Hyde Park Entertainment on the two-parter, entitled Project Pitching and Development with Ashok, or Project PDA for short.

Announced at Cannes on Saturday, the series will have teams vying for a prestigious internship with the Hyde Park Group in Hollywood. They will pitch their film concepts to a panel of judges, comprising leading Singapore filmmakers and Mr Ashok Amritraj, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hyde Park Entertainment, and compete with one another on challenging tasks.

The winners will get the chance to have their films co-financed by MDA and distributed globally by Hyde Park, not to mention the opportunity to hone their skills and learn from the best in the business.

Commenting on Project PDA, which will be filmed in Singapore in August this year, Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive Officer, MDA, said: “With Ashok leading the panel, up-and-coming Singapore talent will be able to go beyond their comfort zones to face challenges that test both their creative skills as well as marketing and business know-how as they compete for the chance to work with Hyde Park.”

Mr Amritraj said: “Hyde Park is constantly on the lookout for exciting projects, fresh talent and new cinematic stories. Through this project, we hope to discover the local talent in Singapore and what they can bring to the international filmmaking scene.”

Project PDA also commemorates Mr Amritraj’s achievements in the international film industry as he celebrates the production of his 100th film.

The collaboration will refresh Singapore’s links with Hyde Park Entertainment, which began in May 2008 when the entertainment company first established its Asian headquarters in the city-state. In October last year, MDA formed a strategic alliance with Hyde Park Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi to fund a slate of feature films worth an estimated production value of US$75 million.

Please click here for the full press release.

To read the newsflash archives, please click here.