Fox Networks Group’s long-time original production lead, Cora Yim, has officially hung out her new shingle, going live this weekend with the first project in development and a handful of others in discussion. 

Yim’s Sixty Percent Productions with partner Kit Low was formally set up five weeks ago, based in Hong Kong with a North Asia focus but with eyes on good stories from anywhere in the region.   

Project number one, premium Chinese anthology series "Taiwan Crime Stories", is co-financed and co-produced with Imagine Entertainment and Benjamin Lin’s Taiwan-based CalFilms Asia, and with a production grant from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. 

The 12-episode show, which has its roots in a series born while Yim was still at Fox, will be based on true crimes from Taiwan. 

The series is scheduled to go into production in mid-2021.   

Writers and directors attached include Liu Tsun-Han ("What Love Has Taught Us"); Hung Tzu-Hsuan ("The Scoundrel"), Liang Shu-Ting ("The Victim’s Game"); and Jimmy Hsu Jiu-Liang ("The Victim’s Game"). 

U.S. producer/writer Trey Callaway ("CSI:NY") is also attached to the project. 

Licensing deals have not been confirmed. Disney has first look rights because of the show’s Fox heritage. 

"Taiwan Crime Stories" is one of a handful of series in development on Sixty Percent Productions’ slate. Details of the others have not been disclosed. 

Yim’s emergence as one of region’s producers to watch is, perhaps, a predictable development, given her production network. 

And the timing couldn’t be better. Yim exited Disney/Fox Networks Group Asia in July 2020 after 11 years. With Sixty Percent Productions, she enters an originals frenzy across the region driven by global and local streaming platforms. 

Yim spent most of her 11 years at FNG overseeing FNG’s Chinese channels and non-linear services, and content business across the region. She led FNG’s push into originals, including financial thriller "The Trading Floor" (2018), Hong Kong crime drama "Stained" (2019) and a slate of films with Singapore-based listed production house mm2.

After she exited Disney at the height of Covid-19 lockdowns, she spent two months in Taiwan exploring options and figuring out her next move. 

Sixty Percent Productions (“because 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia,” she says) is the result.   

“I have always believed there is a platform for high-quality Asian productions that can travel the world,” she told ContentAsia. “That has always been my vision, even in the old days at Star,” she adds.

Taiwan is a logical jumping off point, not only because the market is something of a comfort zone for Yim. 

The country’s creative industry has never been as vibrant, government commitment and support has never been stronger, a culture of diversity and inclusion has taken root, creative freedom is prized... and then there’s Covid-19. 

Unlike most of the world, Taiwan’s pandemic containment measures have not included lockdowns or production pauses. The opportunities have drawn talent and projects from around the world to the island. This combines with outsize demand from streaming platforms.    

“This is really good timing to incubate and create great stories,” Yim says.  

For Sixty Percent Productions, the alliance with Imagine – including the injection of slick Hollywood storytelling talent – ups the game. 

“We are bringing in great skills sets from Hollywood to support great Asian storytellers,” Yim says. 

The hoped-for result goes beyond blended East-West sensibilities. 

Yim says the need now is a bridge between platforms and their mindset and storytellers. “It’s not even between East and West anymore,” she says.