Chinese-language programming and production showcases took centre stage during the ATF market in Singapore last week, echoing the creative energy and resources currently being poured into the segment.

Mainland Chinese streamers, iQiyi and WeTV, and producers including Linmon, along with the Taiwan teams behind "The World Between Us II" and "Breeze by the Sea", all held their own events, populating conference corridors with stars including Vic Chou, Hsueh Shih-Ling, Hsieh Hsin-Ying, Puff Kuo and Hong Hui Fang.

Company heads spoke about bigger/better dramas targetting broader audiences, and about Taiwan’s resurrection that started about five years ago after a prolonged post-idol drama slump.

“Taiwanese dramas have matured significantly over the past five years,” DaMou Entertainment’s Jayde Lin, who produced both seasons of The World Between Us, said during the series showcase in Singapore. 

Collaborations, creative funding and different ways of working with partners were the driving commercial themes of the three-day market, delegates said repeatedly.  

Although the prizes were small and the promises vague, a handful of pitches created predictable levels of excitement, including a win for ABS-CBN’s supernatural feature, "Hysteria", pitched by Philippines’ writer Jaymar Santos Castro during the dedicated horror pitch. 

ABS-CBN, which appeared at ATF under its newly announced ABS-CBN Studios’ banner, brought the project, about a self-righteous priest who investigates a series of demonic possessions plaguing a small town, to ATF seeking co-production partners. 

The three winners of the inaugural ATF x Mediacorp Drama Concepts & Co-production Pitch were from Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan/U.S. Picked from about 150 entries, each took home a cash prize of S$10,000, and may get to work with Mediacorp on their show.  

The most sprawling pitch came from the 2024 LEAP Co-Development Programme: Variety Show, co-organised with Hong Kong-based AR Asia Productions, and Something Special, a Seoul-based format agency. 

The eight pitches, ranging from a culinary contest focused on historical recipes to a BL couple’s talent competition, capped a nine-month development process supported by Taiwan’s TAICCA.  

Singapore Media Festival/ATF host country Singapore, heavily supported by the government’s Infocomm Media Development Agency (IMDA), made the most announcements, leading with a commitment to refreshing the country’s media skills framework.  

Among multiple daily releases, Singapore’s largest media platform, Mediacorp, unveiled its latest virtual production project, fantasy romance, "Perfectly Imperfect", scheduled to debut on mewatch and Channel 8 in August 2025; and showcased mega-production, "Emerald Hill", which simulcasts on mewatch premium and Netflix on 10 March 2025. 

Other Asian markets took a lower-key approach to last week. 

The exception was Indonesia, which turned its brightest lights, bells and whistles to the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival, popularly known as JAFF. The event, which included a market for the first time, sucked 90% of Indonesia’s energy and attention away from ATF.

JAFF’s success highlighted the pull of feature films among producers across the region. Facing oversupply and shrinking demand for premium TV series,  producers are pragmatic. “It’s just so difficult to get TV series made now,” more than one filmmaker said.