Singapore drama "128 Circle", by Weiyu Films for Mediacorp, is a slice of life story that sidesteps high-concepts in favour of real people with relatable lives in authentic situations. Lee Thean-jeen, director of all three seasons, talks about the series.

In the first season of Singapore drama "128 Circle", a group of veteran street-food vendors fight to save their cherished food centre from closing. In the second season, they navigate the challenges of COVID, keeping their business and sanity intact. In the latest season, these hawkers face their toughest challenge yet: Gen Z. ContentAsia talks to director Lee Thean-jeen about maintaining the momentum in this multi-lingual drama.

What was the starting point for "128 Circle"? “We wanted to create something that portrayed life in Singapore in an authentic way. Something that was inclusive and represented the diversity of the social fabric, the antithesis to a high-concept show with dragons and dead bodies. The hawker centre, where 128 Circle is set, is a melting pot where you’ll see Singaporeans – and visitors – from all walks of life and backgrounds. So, it felt like a natural location to set the show and originate the characters and stories.” 

Walk us through your creative process... “Our basic tenet has been to keep it real. And that permeates the process, from conceptualising, to the writing and to the way the show is shot and even post-produced. We produced our second season in the midst of the pandemic, and one of the toughest creative decisions involved whether to put our characters through a year of Covid-19 when many shows produced during that period tried to play it down. We decided to keep it real. With 128 Circle, the approach and style were based on quiet observation – letting the characters and the story shine, without anything else getting in the way. If you thought the situations unfolding were for real, then we did our job.”

Can you share how you approached the development of your characters, and what you hoped to convey through them? “We drew inspiration from real life. The characters embody traits and personalities of people we knew, loved, loathed and observed. We also gave the actors the freedom to play it real. And now, I am not even sure where the character ends and the actor begins. Which is really great.”

Ratings for "128 Circle" season three have continually grown. What do you think this says about the popularity of this kind of drama in Singapore? “I think viewers see a little of themselves and their lives in the characters, and the situations they face. There’s a lot of great programming out there, and it’s nice to see that a slice-of-life drama about ordinary people trying to get through the day can resonate.” 

What were some of the biggest obstacles you encountered during the production, and how did you overcome them? “One of the more interesting challenges with a show set in a hawker centre was actually filming in a hawker centre. It’s hot, noisy and not the most conducive location for actors and a film crew to spend 12 hours a day for weeks on end alongside actual hawkers who are trying to eke out a living. In season two, the production migrated to a studio set which was custom-built to replicate the design of the hawker centre. And in season three, we incorporated virtual production techniques.”

What has been the most surprising or gratifying reaction from the audience since season three aired at the beginning of this year? “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the engagement that clips from the show have achieved on social media – with some of them clocking millions of views. Responses didn’t only come from Singapore, but from around the region as well. What’s interesting is how viewers relate the experiences of our characters with their own, and discuss and debate them online, blurring the line between fiction and reality. In fact, some of this has inspired us to create storylines in the show.”

Are there any elements or lessons from this project that you plan to carry forward into your future work? What’s next on the horizon for you? “128 Circle season 3 afforded us the opportunity to do some pioneering work in Virtual Production, which we intend to build upon for future projects. We are in development on a show that is at the other end of the spectrum as it can be from a contemporary slice-of-life drama about ordinary people. It’s really exciting, but that’s about all I can say about it at the moment.”

▶ Published in ContentAsia December 2024 Magazine