MUMBAI: The Asia TV Forum (ATF) is drawing to a close amid much fanfare. The event saw several activities such as an exciting round of on-stage pitches wherein producers from all over Asia presented their ideas. The winners of the inaugural Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) Animation Pitch were also anounced and the unveiling of the second ATF Formats Pitch took place on 30 November 2017.

Reed Exhibitions and global partner Green Gold Animation announced studio2 Animation Lab as the winner of the first-ever ATF Animation Pitch. The animation concept, titled “The Western Journey of Pigsy”, wowed the on-stage jury for its creativity and strong appeal to children. The line-up of judges, which comprises some of the biggest names in kids’ animation and entertainment, also saw strong potential for the concept to be exported and extended to a series.

Targeted at creators and producers of innovative concepts for new and original kids’ animation, ATF Animation Pitch is aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas and talent between leading international television, distribution and Asian-based producers. In total, 61 entries were received from all over Asia.

“I am thrilled and excited to be named the winner of the inaugural ATF Animation Pitch. We had a unique concept and we felt that it allows viewers to experience the journey in the west story in a contemporary way. Moving forward, we will work towards developing the script for the concept,” said studio2 Animation Lab director Chiu Li Wei.

Chiu Li Wei and Grace Chuang from studio2 Animation Lab received a $19,000 prize from GreenGold Animation. This includes a $2,500 cash award, and a consultancy package worth $16,500 that is tailor-made for them to further develop the winning animation, making it ready to pitch to broadcasters.

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After a closely contested fight between five finalists, leading independent distributor all3media International and ATF announced that Gamaliel Paulus (Gammy) from Indonesia, came out on top, winning $3,500 in cash and a $16,500 (both Singapore dollars) consultancy package tailor-made to develop the format, making it pitch-ready for broadcasters.

ATF Formats Pitch is the premier Asian pitching competition designed to discover innovative concepts for new and original non-scripted entertainment formats from the pan-Asian region. This platform showcases the best of Asia, and exposes ideas for export and development within and even outside of the region.

In its second year, the competition received more than 50 entries from 13 countries and only five finalists were selected to pitch their concept during the live on-stage judging session which concluded earlier today. Formats were evaluated based on creativity, originality and capacity to return for multiple series. The winning concept must also have the capability to resonate with audiences globally.

Portraying all these qualities was the winning format, Ranking. It is a game show where participants have to guess the correct order of a ranking in return for prizes. Besides the excitement value that comes with game shows, it also serves to dish fun facts and information to viewers. The judges loved the simplicity of the idea and felt that it had great potential for further development.

“As many people are familiar with rankings, I believe my format will appeal to any country. Also, I have not seen it in the form of a game show concept. As a producer myself, I understood that for a format to do well, it has to be simple. I am very thankful for the win, I didn’t expect it at all,” said Gamaliel Paulus (Gammy).

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To further develop the format and make it ready for pitching to broadcasters, Gamaliel Paulus (Gammy) will work closely with all3media International. This follows the success of “Hit It” from XTREME Media, which won at the inaugural ATF Formats Pitch last year, and has received its first local commission for a debut in February 2018.

Aside from the ATF Animation Pitch and ATF Formats Pitch, ATF and ScreenSingapore is also home to another pitching competition, the Southeast Asian Film Financing Project Market.

MUMBAI: Singapore-based Reed Exhibitions’ Asia TV Forum (ATF) will commence today with 60 countries taking part. The first day will see sessions based on content, advertising and the evolution of storytelling and digital traditions and innovation Ninety thought leaders will deliver fresh insights in over 24 sessions from 28 November to 1 December 2017, discussing present-day issues such as big data, movement in the over-the-top (OTT) scene, new monetisation strategies, unscripted entertainment formats and kids’ content.

The Indian sessions will start from the second day. The first one will be ‘Bollywood & Beyond: Fresh content from India’. The speakers present for the session will be Epic TV network head content syndication Adita Jain, Greengold Animation VP content sales Bharath Laxmipati, One Life Studios founder Siddharth Kumar Tewary, Rajshri Entertainment MD Neha Barjatya, and Toonz Animation India senior manager- content syndication and distribution Viju Thomas. The session will be moderated by Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.

Wanvari has been working on developing opportunities for India’s animation and live action sector – whether for TV or OTT – over the past three years at ATF as its representative for India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

India’s OTT ecosystem has been exploding with newer apps popping up ever so quickly. At last count, close to 42 OTT services were operational in India. The second Indian session will be about the needs and wants of Indian OTT buyers. The panellists for the discussion will be Pittie Group/Epic TV CEO and MD Aditya Pittie, Viacom18 Digital ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi, producer, entrepreneur and storyteller Sidharth Jain, Spuul founder and global CEO Subin Subaiah, and GoQuest Media Ventures MD Vivek Lath. This panel discussion will also be moderated by Wanvari.

ATF will also focus on virtual reality (VR) sessions, which will delve into the discourse that takes place among ecosystem partners, from content concept, creation and circulation. Real Vision VR filmmaker, speaker and published author Clyde Desouza will moderate the panel. Desouza is working with Times Now for its VR immersive journalism.

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On day three, listen to GreenGold Animation founder and CEO Rajiv Chilaka talk about how to provide 360-degree experience to kids. Chilaka has created and built one of the India’s largest animation brands Chhota Bheem, which currently has a viewership of over 40 million across platforms. He will also talk about nurturing localised IPs and stories and priming them to go global.

The major Indian satellite TV networks Sony Pictures Networks India, Star India, Indiacast-Viacom18, and Zee Telefilms have their syndication and licensing teams exhibiting at the Marina Bay Sands venue. Other noteworthy exhibitors include: format and content syndication company GoQuest, Swastik Productions’ One Life Studios that is hawking its mega-budget Porus and homegrown formats, One Take Media, which is selling its kids animation and cookery shows, film and digital content creator and distributor Rajshri Entertainment, infotainment channel Epic TV, and kids’ content pioneer GreenGold.

MUMBAI: Reed Exhibitions’ Asia Television Forum (ATF) is back. And Asia’s leading content market cum conference which brings together Asia’s broadcasters, digital platforms, distributors, studios, content creators to strike deals amongst each other and other international buyers and sellers from — countries, is buzzing like never before.

Says Reed Exhibitions senior project director Yeow Hui Leng: “It is  the ultimate destination for infinite deals and partnerships and to discover the vibrant future of entertainment content. And we are happy to have a stellar line up of speakers and some of the leading cross platform content buyers, sellers and distributors  coming in a big way this year.”

The four day ATF starts on 28 November and ends on 1 December 2017. The first day features a high end executive ATF leader’s summit.The market, conferences and networking events kick off on 29 November.And what’s noteworthy about the confab is the fact that it is the only Asian audiovisual content market where we can see all Hollywood studios and major brands under a single roof.

Says Hui Leng: “ATF last year saw deals worth US$244 million with 5,383 executives, 923 content buyers, 738 seller companies, 92 speakers, 54 countries and 21 official pavilions. This year approximately 60 countries are expected for the event.”

ATF 2017 has several conference tracks running concurrently, among which feature: The Content Connection  and The VR & SMF Ignite Conference on 29 November, Production Day on 30 November and finally the South east Asia Financing Forum on 1 December.

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A quality bunch of speakers – including Amazon’s James Farrell, PCCW’s Janice Lee, Iflix’s Mark Britt, Hooq’s Peter Bithos, MNC Vision’s Hary Tanoesoedibjo, HBO Drama Series Home Box Office Co-Head David Levine, YouTube’s Don Andersen, Viacom18’s Gaurav Gandhi, STUDIO LAMBERT’s Stephen Lambert, Spuul’s Subin Subiah, Green Gold’s Rajiv Chilaka – make the ATF conference, the leading Asian get together of content thought leaders.

Additionally, a clutch of leading investors, VCs and financiers will also be present to discuss the prospects for content ROIs and perspectives.

ATF 2017 is also putting its might behind discovering new content ideas through the All3Media’s Formats Pitch and Green Gold’s Animation Pitch, both of which have attracted a plethora of entries.

It’s not as if the 6,000-plus attendees will only be at the stands striking deals or in conferences downloading wisdom from those on the stage. More than enough networking events and parties will ensure that they also let their hair down and have an informal fun time too.

More coverage of the Indian presence at ATF 2017 will follow over the next few days on indiantelevision.com as well as live from Singapore during the market. So keep reading!

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