Producers, Scriptwriters Need To Produce Unique Stories Creatively For Ott Platform

By Norhidayyu Zainal

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- Scriptwriters and producers need to produce works that are able to lift unique stories creatively to enable them to penetrate Over The Top (OTT) streaming platforms.

Astroshaw Content Strategy and Distribution head, Norsalvina Alwee, said that most of the scripts received are those which are cliche such as love stories, which will bore the audience.

“The process of studying each proposal is not easy and takes a long time, imagine in a day, we receive five to six proposals with more or less the same storyline but in the end, they do not meet the requirements.

“Look at the dramas from South Korea, although most of them have similar stories, the way they work is different which piqued the audience’s interest in continuing to watch and some of them even create a phenomenon,” she said.

Norsalvina said this when appearing as one of the panelists in the One Step Closer: Excellent Project Management Towards Film Success in Cinemas Seminar under Film Production Opportunities on the OTT platform, here, recently.

Apart from Norsalvina, the programme, hosted by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), also featured Viu Malaysia production director (Physical) Imillya Irwani Roslan and iQIYI Content and Development head Nor Hazlin Nor Salam while producer, director and actor Zizan Nin acted as moderator.

Norsalvina said that the construction of characters and plots also needs to be strengthened to produce a good script.

“For producers to know whether their work can develop further or not, they should try sitting with the rest for a question and answer session. If all their questions can be answered, then it has the potential to be a good manuscript,” she said.

According to her, creative industry players, at the same time, also need to be sensitive to the direction and requirements of OTT, which are tailored differently to ensure that the work meets the set criteria.

Echoing Norsalvina’s sentiment was Nor Hazlin, who emphasised the use of the writers' room which is a space where scriptwriters gather to write and refine the script to produce a play or film.

“When I first started working with the OTT platform, I realised that the writers’ room is something new for producers. This is one of our challenges to work with scriptwriters who are willing to be in the writers' room.

“... what happens in the writers' room is that we will peel the characters, plot and structure of the story from the basics so that the 'audience loyalty' to the work continues until the story’s conclusion,” she said.

She added that via writers’ room, they are ready to learn new writing techniques, by understanding the story and further developing the script involved.

“It is one of the methods to manage the story. We are not criticising the work of writers or producers, we respect their work and our job is to ensure that the structure of the narration is neat and beautiful,” she said.

Meanwhile, Imillya Irwani said that Viu Malaysia always opens space in combining old and new actors since the selection of actors to play certain characters is important in helping to sell the product.

“Open your heart (and mind) to accept other people's points of view because we both want to sell the products and give the best. If we ask to change (actors or directors) it's not because they are not good but it just to meet the audience’s needs,” she said.

-- BERNAMA