Taiwan’s Studio76 is joining hands with Singapore’s MediaCorp launch a new script competition to be launched in 2021. The mission is to boost Chinese-language storytelling in the pan-Asia region.
Unveiled at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, “Rising Stories” will begin accepting applications from Feb. 1, 2021 to April 15, 2021. Five winners will be selected, and results are expected to be announced in July. The script competition also has backing of Tencent’s WeTV and X Media Asia.
The competition aims to strengthen Taiwan as an incubation hub for Chinese language stories for talent from all over the world, and to create projects with global appeal that can attract investment from international financiers, Studio76 said.
Entries will be judged by a panel of adjudicators including actor Janel Tsai (“Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner”), director Chieh Hsueh-Bin (“Stand by Me,” “Do You Love Me As I Love You”), director Lester Shih (“The Bridge Curse”), scriptwriter-producer Maya Huang (“Little Big Women,” “Lost in Apocalypse”) and Wang Li-Wen (“The Magnificent Bobita”).
Speaking Thursday at TCCF, judges said they were excited with the competition, but they also advised prospective participants to be cautious and take their time.
Shih said ideas collected from the pan-Asian region should reflect not only a wide perspective, but also market potential. Applicants should get another pair of eyes to read through their submissions before sending through. Wang said participants should be honest and truthful with their work.
“I’m more interested in topics that explore human relationships rather than typical genres. If possible, I’d love to see more stories related to marriage, battle of sexes in the entries,” said Tsai.