Inbreeding of talents will sound the death knell for the film industry in Singapore.  We need more screenwriters, directors, actors and producers to open up creative possibilities and put more Singapore films on the global stage.

The cinema box office thrives on film variety.  Presently only one film-making machine is able to cater to the worldwide audience – Hollywood.  Although Singapore cannot compare itself to Hollywood, it has to think like Hollywood in at least one marketing aspect:  It cannot afford to make Singapore films for Singaporeans only.  It has to cater to the international market!

But herein lies our missing link.

We don’t have enough producers with tall enough periscopes to see the worldwide market potential and to harness our local creative resources to produce films that have worldwide appeal 

More dedicated producers

 Most of our producers are heavily involved in their other business interests which are often linked to the film industry – and “safer” than producing.  They surface to produce a film only when an opportunity comes by or the fancy takes them.  Even then, they tend to play it safe by tapping on proven talents and work with people they are familiar with. 

And a small group of producers from the same school of training tend to think more or less the same and look for scripts which are more or less the same.  We need more independent producers from a completely different mould. 

Jack Neo is easily the most prolific and successful film producer in Singapore today.  Although he has other business interests, he is quite focused on his role as producer.  But we don’t have enough Jack Neo’s around.

What we need to do is to attract more heavyweight producers with global links to other talents and industry players to base themselves in Singapore.

Need to take a exponential leap

Our TV dramas, especially the ones on Channel 5 are getting stale because the actors are recycled and we are seeing the same faces over and over again.

We need to boost our talent base – both by training local talents and by inviting foreign talents to our shores

We cannot develop our film industry in small incremental steps: this year we produce ten dramas, next year we produce eleven.  Viewers will grow weary and the small industry cauldron is going to implode.

For the local film industry to achieve any breakthrough, next year we need to produce fifteen or twenty dramas – and fifteen, twenty with a variety of themes at that – and with fresh faces on the screen.  Only then will we see fresh chemistry in the acting.

With more directors we will see less formulaic acting.  A foreign talent will able to give a Singapore story a fresh spin to connect it to the global audience.

The Singapore Film Industry should take a leaf from our thriving Higher Education industry.  With more renowned universities setting up in Singapore, we have the critical mass of institutions to offer a wider variety of courses.  Let market forces tale care of the quality.  The good universities providing the best value of money will thrive.  The inefficient ones will have to drop out.

Singapore has outstanding talents, if not the critical mass.  As with any economic factor like land or water or beef, we need to boost our stock by importing them.

And we have an interesting history and a unique culture of our own.  We have our stories to tell.  What we need are more heavyweight producers who are able to make a connection with what the world wants to see and what talents we have, and churn out Singapore films which will be commercial hits on the global screen.