Put simply, 2007 has been a bumper year for Singapore-made content.

"For example, at MIPTV 2007, Singapore companies signed co-production deals amounting to about US$128 million, and presented a slate of over 50 High-Definition (HD) TV programmes," says Seto Lok Yin, Assistant Chief Executive Officer (Industry), The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA)

Other highlights for Singapore at MIPTV were the all- Asian collaboration between Singapore's Upside Down Entertainment with Korea's Dreamville Entertainment and India's Clapstem Productions on Asian Crisis Centre, a US$5 million adventure drama series – and a partnership between Singapore's BIG Communications, Australia's Flying Bark Productions and Canada's Thunderbird Films (Canada) for Zigby, about a zebra who trots into trouble. Costing US$6.5 million, the 3-D animated series will be distributed internationally by EM.Entertainment GmbH and broadcast on ABCNetwork in Australia and Treehouse TV in Canada in 2008.

Seto also lists more recent co-productions including the Singapore-France TV series Déjà Vu, a project by Singapore's Mega Media HD and Six-Six-Eight, and Project Images Films of France. The US$4.1 million youth fiction series will feature four episodes shot on location in Singapore.

Also filming in Lion City is Mark Burnett Productions' format The Contender Asia, marking the first time a reality TV series will be filmed in Singapore and produced by a local media company.

"It is our objective to bring international content to Singapore and Asia. We aim to maintain the international production values synonymous with Mark Burnett Productions while ensuring the show is relevant to the Asian audience," said Riaz Mehta, Executive Producer of The Contender Asia and Chief Executive Officer of Imagine OmniMedia. "The Contender series has a huge following all over the world and we are confident The Contender Asia will be a big success and put Singapore as a key location for future productions."

"This is the first ever international reality TV show to be shot entirely on location and produced in Singapore. Furthermore, the participation of Singapore's DBS Bank in financing this project signifies the value proposition that financial institutions are backing made-by- Singapore media content. What's encouraging is that the series is already slated for broadcast on the AXN network across Asia. This will boost Singapore's effort to become a vibrant media city, and attract more exciting TV and film projects as well as talents and media companies to Singapore," said Dr Christopher Chia, CEO of MDA.

In June 2007, MDA signed an Arrangement with the Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC) to facilitate the co-production of broadcasting programmes.

Kicking off the agreement will be a project between Singapore's Oak3 Films and Korea's Channel Q - a one-hour HD documentary which is slated for international distribution by Electric Sky. Seto says the MDA-KBC arrangement also complements existing media cooperation agreements that MDA has with other Korean government agencies.

Most recently, September 2007 saw Singapore enter into a screen co-production agreement with Australia to spur greater industry collaboration between both countries.

An existing collaboration, forged in October 2005, is between MDA, US-based VOOM HD Networks

and Singapore's Mega Media.

"As a result of the $20 million collaboration we formed in October 2005, VOOM HD has the extensive support of the Media Development Authority of Singapore and Mega Media," says Greg Moyer, General Manager, VOOM HD Networks.

Moyer explains that VOOM HD has also had extensive collaboration with Mega Media and SingTel on a full HD channel, SLING HD. "We have also developed multiple successful co-productions in the region, including fashion reality series Style Me with Rachel Hunter, stylish travel documentaries Ultra Eye Tokyo and Ultra Eye Singapore and sports documentaries Beyond the Edge - The F1 Powerboat; Rainforest Challenge: Muds, Guts and Glory; Planet Parkour Singapore and Hope on the Andaman Coast- a Cliff Diving Expedition.

"Additionally, we have several series in production now for release in the coming months. There's Spa Sisters, in which two sisters with very different perspectives provide the ultimate look at Asia's most luxurious spas; Appetizing Adventures with Luke Mangan, which takes an exquisite culinary road-trip in HD; BMX P.I.G. and Metro BMX Jam: Singapore; featuring the jaw-dropping tricks of worldclass international athletes in competitive cycling events; and New Revolution, an eight-part computer gaming documentary being shot across Asia."

"These shows can not only be seen in Asia on SingTel's Mio TV and PCCW's now Broadband, but in the United States on VOOM HD Networks, in Scandinavia on multiple cable and satellite platforms, throughout the Baltic Regions and in the Middle East on Orbit's DTH platform. Within the near future, the programming distribution will expand into other regions as well," says Moyer.

Seto says the MDA is pleased that Made-by-Singapore content, whether these be films, TV programmes, animation or video games, are now being distributed in diverse markets in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

And he says the results are encouraging. "For example, Peach Blossom Media's co-produced animated series, Growing up Creepie, premiered on Discovery Kids Channel in 2006 and was nominated for an Emmy Award. Character Farm's Katakune, Scrawl Studios' The New Adventures of Nanoboy and Milly, Molly will soon hit TV screens across North America, Europe, Australia and Hong Kong."

"We are still learning how Singapore can do better in exporting Made-by-Singapore content. Over the last few years, we have learnt that it is important for Singapore companies to participate in international trade shows like MIPTV, MIPCOM, Asia TV Forum, etc, in order to meet as many broadcasters, distributors, collaborators and investors as possible. Another lesson is the importance of Singapore companies working closely together and 'hunting-in-pack' in the international marketplace."

The slate of Singaporeinternational collaboration projects that will be making their market debut at MIPCOM includes: Kylie Kwong: My China (working title) by Singapore's Sitting in Pictures, UK's FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) and MDA. The 9 x 30mins series documents Kylie Kwong's culinary and cultural journey in search of the heart, soul and taste buds of the Chinese people. FME is representing for TV, DVD and ancillary rights to the series. First Flower: by Bang Singapore, NOVA/WGBH, Hamilton Land and Cattle Inc (US) and MDA, on the controversial discovery of the Chinese fossil Archaefructus, which is believed to be the earliest evidence of a flower yet found on Earth. Broadcast on PBS in the US and ARTE in France, it is distributed in Asia Pacific by Looking Glass International and by WGBH International for the rest of the world. And The Path of Typhoon: by Oak 3 Films and Fact+Film (Germany) and MDA, offers an immersive experience on how typhoons are formed and how scientists endeavour to forecast their occurrence. It will be broadcast on ARTE in France and Germany.

Another interesting collaboration sees MediaCorp's Caldecott Productions International from Singapore, Japan's NHK and Korea's KBS join forces for 'The Asian Pitch'. The pitching event for Asian documentary makers has already short-listed six finalists from 113 submissions. Two of the selected proposals will receive development funding while the other four will be produced in time for MIPTV in April 2008. Details of the final selection will be announced at MIPCOM 2007, October 8 – 12, in Cannes.

Comprising Ong Hee Yah, Managing Director of Caldecott Productions International, Park Chung-Young, producer from KBS and Junichi Katayama, senior producer from NHK, the judging panel selected: The Mummy Theft from Toraja by Agung Mulya Setiawan (Indonesia); Sathya & Me by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro (Cambodia); Subak by Justin Ong Tat Tiong (Malaysia); The Icemen - Angadias of India by Arun Kumar T R (India); Supermen of Malegaon by Faiza Ahmed Khan (India); Inside The Joint Family by Usha Rajeswari (India).

According to Ong, these proposals met three sets of stringent requirements laid out by the three organizing parties. The judges noted the strengths of all the proposals and revealed that a number may be considered for development by individual broadcasters outside of The Asian Pitch. The pitching event is set to return in 2008.

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