The film industry faces great challenges in the creative field. After theaters began to gradually open, OTT content and films began to mushroom, “The hardest thing to find right now is a reliable screenwriter. This is an extraordinary challenge that is being faced by the Indonesian film industry. How can this industry progress, if screenwriters are so hard to find?” said Dian Sasmita, Head of Original Production, Viu, at the Masterclass program from the Viu Pitching Forum last week.
Reflecting on the Korean film industry, for example, the country has succeeded in producing world-class dramas and films because it has many top-notch writers. Writer-nim is a screenwriter in Korean. Hit dramas continue to be born from great writers, such as Je In (Now We Are Breaking Up), Park Ji Eun (My Love from The Star) and Kim Soon Ok (The Penthouse).
Interested in following in their footsteps? Viu opens opportunities for non-professional film lovers who want to enter this industry through the Viu Pitching Forum program. It’s a program that has produced top screenwriters and produced a number of internationally award-winning Viu Originals, such as Star Stealer.
Submit your story ideas to viupitchingforum and 10 shortlisted finalists will join the Bootcamp session. In this session, the finalists will receive a mentoring session with professionals in the film industry, such as directors, screenwriters and producers. And the best concept will be realized into Viu Original.
The following tips will make your way more wide open to work in this country’s film industry through VPF.
1. Local Content, Ready to Be Serial
Viu is looking for local creators who are able to produce local stories that are close to the Indonesian people. Later, the Viu Original produced will star local stars who will support the story. “From the start, the owner of the concept must also be able to determine the genre, for example comedy, romantic or romantic comedy. Then he must also be able to see that the content that will be produced later has viral power,” said Dian. He also added that the concept of the story that was made must also be developed into a long story, because it would be produced into a serial drama.
2. Understand the Target Audience
Digital first audience generally makes digital media the main choice in getting entertainment. They are inseparable from their smartphones, are very trend-following, and spend more than 150 minutes with the Viu app a day. On average they can produce two episodes per day. “The concept of the story that is made must be able to grab the attention of the audience from the daily grind and be suitable for Asian audiences. Stories that are close to millennials and Gen Z are concepts that Viu wants to discover.
3. Prepare the Winning Pitch
Include a logline, a descriptive one sentence that sells the core conflict of the story and is a condensation of the narrative essence. In it there are protagonists, antagonists, goals, settings and challenges faced by the characters. Also include a brief series synopsis that includes an overview of the story in 1-3 paragraphs from the beginning to the end of the story. This synopsis must also describe the mood of the story from the beginning and be able to describe the journey of the story starting with what events and ending with what kind of events. Character Sketch also needs to be prepared, but it is not allowed to retell the synopsis in this section. “If there is a repetition of the synopsis in the character sketch section, you will be considered immature in preparing this concept.”
4. Prepare Thoroughly
When produced as a Viu Original, this process will involve a professional crew and filmmaker from pre-production to post-production. The production planning process is carried out in detail, starting from cost planning, scheduling, script analysis, wardrobe, character, master breakdown, location determination, casting, and determining production design. Viu Original Star Stealer and Pretty Little Liars, for example, involve Andibachtiar Yusuf and Emil Heradi who have successfully won international-class awards. This is a great opportunity that awaits you right before your eyes, as you will be working with the biggest names in the industry. Prepare the concept carefully by studying various featured Korean and Indonesian content on Viu, such as Write Me A Love Song, True Beauty, Descendants of The Sun and many more.
