HBO Asia is almost two years into an originals strategy driven by a different kind of Asian storytelling and a wider, deeper approach to production. With original titles such as horror anthology Folklore and eight-part action series Grisse already on air and various co-productions – including backing for Viu original The Bridge by Malaysia’s Double Vision and Astro Shaw’s The Gardenof Evening Mists – on their way around the world, HBO Asia’s senior vice president for original productions, Jessica Kam, speaks about creating an Asian content pipeline for the premium movie service.

You’ve had a year of non-stop development, including Folklore and Grisse, both of which you chose very quickly after you joined HBO Asia in early 2017. What was it about those two that made you take the leap? “I try to choose genres that can travel [and] genres that we Asians are good at. Horror and action are the two that are easy to win. Horror is very easy to do well for Asians because the entry barrier is not too high, and the cost is not usually that high, but we have a chance of doing it well if not even better than Westerners. And we can put the HBO spin on it as well... not like what a local terrestrial channel would do. Otherwise why would they be on HBO? So for Folklore, we gathered six directors from six different regions, who are all top of their class in their countries. We gave them a theme, and they came up with their own stories.”

Folklore lived up to your expectations even before its HBO Asia premiere in early October... “Folklore has been validated by film festivals, which are traditionally incredibly picky about quality and about production value”. Folklore premiered on HBO Asia in early October. All six episodes screened at film festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Fantasic Fest in the U.S., Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival (Spain), Scream Fest (Singapore), Five Flavours Asian Film Festival (Poland), Asian World Film Fest (U.S.), Geneva International Film Festival 2018 (Switzerland), Trieste Science+Fiction Festival (Italty), Philadelphia Asian Film Festival and the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Folklore was TIFF’s first Asian TV series to be selected officially since the start of its Primetime programme in 2015.

There were other advantages to the Folklore choice and execution... “Another nice thing about the show is that it was a quick and cost-effective way of getting into six markets at the same time, which is part of my strategy. I am trying very hard to expand our production bases and our production footprints to more countries and work with more local talent, local directors, to bring out the best and the most authentic stories from Asia. So this format was one of the best ways for me to do it in a short time.”

You chose to work with feature film directors, like Joko Anwar and Eric Khoo, on Folklore. Why? “Because they are an assurance of quality. The six episodes in Folklore are all films, they’re not in a traditional series format.”

Your second commission is Grisse, which premiered in Asia on 4 November and is available on HBO in the U.S. and Europe. What was it about this series that attracted you? “Grisse is something quite different. It’s epic action set in 19th-century Indonesia under Dutch rule. The story is about a group that leads a rebellion against brutal Dutch oppressors. It’s action packed, gritty and violent – all the good things that HBO likes. It also has a Western feel to it, which makes it unique... it’s an Asian point of view to a story that we have most often seen from the European conqueror’s point of view... In Indonesia, the story has been told in Bahasa Indonesia in film and television, but we took the chance of doing it in English so that it can travel.”

After horror and epic action, you have a documentary based on an original HBO Asia production – coming-of-age drama, The Teenage Psychic – made with PTS in Taiwan. How did the documentary happen? “The Teenage Psychic (2017) was our first Mandarin-language series and it did really well. It’s a small-budget Chinese show, but high quality, about a teenage girl who is psychic. Season one did very well, so season two wasa no-brainer. Season two will air in 2019, so there was a gap of about two years between one and two. We wanted to take our time and do it well, but that meant a time lag between the seasons. So we decided to do a documentary called The World Behind the Teenage Psychic, which explores the temple culture in Taiwan and asks questions like ‘can psychics be trained?’” The hour-long The World Behind the Teenage Psychic features Taiwanese actress and singer, Nana Lee (The Teenage Psychic, Youth Power, One Million Star), who offers a personal account of how traditions of life and death survive in Taiwan today along with followers, devotees and academics. “For us it’s about having something to fill the gap between the two seasons so viewers don’t forget about it. Another thing is to appeal to a wider audience. The documentary is not just for teenage fans, but also for curious minds, believers or non-believers. So it ticks a few boxes for us”.

What are you hoping for with your involvement in feature film, The Garden of Evening Mists, with Astro Shaw? “Series are more our thing, but Astro Shaw is a strong, long-term partner. The story is based on Tan Twan Eng’s best-selling book. It’s a romance set during World War II between a Chinese Malaysian and a Japanese – a forbidden love that spans 30 or 40 years. It has a core Malaysian DNA, but it’s a story that can resonate with everybody. Those are the kinds of things that we look for, authentic stories that can also resonate across all the countries that we cover”. The Garden of Evening Mists stars Malaysian actress Lee Sinje and Taiwanese actress- director-producer, Sylvia Chang, who both play Teoh Yun Ling. Japan’s Hiroshi Abe stars as Nakamura Aritomo, the gardener with whom Yun Ling is romantically involved. The cast also includes David Oakes (The White Queen, Victoria), Julian Sands (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and John Hannah (Four Weddings and A Funeral, The Mummy Trilogy).

Your range of investments and funding partnerships seems very broad, from HBO-led productions such as Grisse to films with Astro Shaw to series like The Bridge, which was led by Viu. So you’re obviously not limiting your involvement in Asian production in any way... “That’s right. We have our own shows and there are some where we work with different partners. We try to work with more partners locally. That’s the only way we can do more. And do more in high quality.”

Published in Issue Seven of ContentAsia's in-print + online 2018 (December 2018)