Los Angeles-based media company Hyde Park Entertainment has done some 100 productions grossing more than US$1 billion in revenue over 25 years. Led by its chairman and CEO Ashok Amritraj, he has his sights set on an exciting challenge – building a bridge between entertainment capital of the world, Hollywood, and Asia – in Singapore.

Recently in October 2009, his Los Angeles-based company Hyde Park Entertainment, in a collaborative effort with Imagenation – the $1-billion film production division of Abu Dhabi Media Co., set up its Asian headquarters in Singapore. Joining the pact is Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA).

So, why did Amritraj choose Singapore as the base for his key Asian venture?

Amritraj said: “I visited various countries and we had been offered opportunities by almost every Asian country. I chose Singapore since it is a wonderful gateway between the East and West. It has a terrific diversity of talent, – not just the pool here but what we can achieve and build together.”

From Singapore, Amritraj hopes to develop, produce and distribute a slate of feature films for worldwide distribution. The target is three to four films a year, combining Hyde Park’s Hollywood savvy-ness and what Asian talents can offer.

The timing is perfect. Asia, home to two economic giants – China and India – is enjoying explosive demand for media content as the market for digital networks expanded exponentially in recent years.

Media owners are starved for high-quality programming and Hollywood has seen movies like Avatar and Ironman, breaking box office records across the region. At the same time, the growth of Asia has also seen western audiences clamouring for Asian media content. In Singapore, the media sector contributed $5.49 billion in terms of value-add and $22.4 billion in revenue to the economy in 2008.

Amritraj said Singapore, a cosmopolitan city with its indigenous pool of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian citizens and a popular city among expatriates, is an ideal place to access talents, materials and crew for his cross-cultural projects.

He added, “The Singapore government has made all the right moves in trying to equip its local talent with the necessary skills to thrive in the industry and attract more global talent through companies like us and Lucasfilm that have set up in Singapore. MDA’s efforts to build up a ready pool of media professionals have been boosted by the establishment of leading media schools such as Tisch School for the Arts, the Digipen Institute and Chapman University in recent years.”

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Hyde Park and the MDA are also currently working on a four-part reality TV show coined “Project PDA” short for “Project Pitching and Development with Ashok”. Project PDA is a reality show competition where budding film-makers in Asia compete against one another.

The winner will be awarded a three-month internship with Hyde Park in Hollywood, sponsored by the MDA.

“I am very happy with the support and involvement from the MDA and Singapore’s Economic Development Board. It has worked out to be an absolutely wonderful relationship, working closely with us and introducing us to the right people and companies. All of this makes Singapore an excellent place for making good projects,” said Amritraj.

Three crucial factors have been instrumental in helping to sustain a vibrant and dynamic media ecosystem: funding, partnerships and markets. MDA has supported some 180 film and TV co-productions involving Singapore companies with their partners from more than 15 countries. Many have worked with top international media brands such as Discovery, National Geographic, BBC, Shanghai Media Group and Fremantle Media.

Amritraj finds this media business ecosystem in Singapore “just terrific”.

“If you see how MDA nurtures talent, provides training and links key players – there is a whole synergy working very well. This is the main reason why I have come to Singapore.”

Being able to secure a multicultural pool of talents is important for movies targeting a global audience. Amritraj cites the example of Street Fighter, a Hyde Park film based on a Japanese video game. It was filmed in Thailand with a director from the US, actors from US and Singapore, a crew from Hong Kong, and cinematographer from Britain.

Just the sort of Collective Creativity that Amritraj believes he can find and access in Singapore.

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