There has been a lot of buzz about the creative content industry and how it will drive the national agenda forward. What does it all mean really?

By Victor Yap

Since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak declared 2010 as the Year of Innovation, current sentiments about the local creative content industry has experienced a sudden surge of interest. In fact, just about every media organisation, government agency, investor, and business are buzzing about the happenings, revenue gains, and developments taking place within this “thriving” market sector.

Gaining such traction clearly shows how important the creative industry has become. In fact, the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) has even earmarked it as a critical economic driver, setting specific provisions to step up its development.

With the creative content industry now a part of the Roadmap to 2020, it has vindicated the many trials and tribulations the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), and similar government agencies like Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), went through to move the industry’s agenda forward.

However, even if they now reap the benefits of their work, it generally has caused more harm than good. According to Kamil Othman, Vice President of Creative Multimedia, MDeC, the creative industry is now in a state of flux.

“The various agencies and Ministries involved are trying to reach a compromise on the way forward. However, the result so far only shows progress that lacks coordination among its regulators and market players. Even if the economic potential of the creative industry has been acknowledged as critical to the nation, it is not moving as fast as it should be,” he explains.

In his eyes, non-cooperation and self-driven agendas are still present, causing major disruptions for any concerted efforts that are being planned. Worse still, it has stunted any potential growth the creative industry currently has.

Silver Linings

While the situation looks bleak, some breakthroughs have occurred due to these individual efforts. This includes MDeC convincing many foreign animation studios to consider establishing a base of operations in Malaysia, FINAS carrying out similar efforts with movie production companies, and MCMC making major in-roads with networked content.

Such endeavours were helpful to an extent but more needs to be done if the government’s new economic agenda is to be fulfilled. For Kamil, more radical approaches have to be considered with major emphasis being placed on funding, market awareness and talent education, as well as human capital development.

“If we are to do something about the status quo, we should really be focusing on industry wide concerns and come up with major initiatives that can address these challenges,” he adds.

Certainly, there are many ways to explore and drive the creative agenda forward. Unfortunately, many fail to realise that all these concerns are closely related to one another. Only a handful understands this with no one having a better grasp of the situation other than Kamil. In fact, in his role at MDeC, he is known as the primary driving force behind the new developments that have taken place.

Thanks to the on-going efforts of MDeC and MCMC, new investments from foreign studios such as Rhythm and Hues, a Hollywood post production and video effects studio, have been secured. Malaysia even received continued support from CodeMasters, a UK-based videogame production studio, proving that there is foreign interest in Malaysia’s potential.

Even on the home-front, there have been major signings with local creative firms recently inking joint-ventures and co-productions for new animate features and videogame content with countries like Korea and Thailand.

Creative Emphasis

Alan Quah; Co-Founder of Komikaki Studios

Such developments are something long time comic veteran artist and co-founder of Komikaki Studios, Alan Quah, has come to expect. In fact, he sincerely believes that this a positive step forward for Malaysia.

“I am certain Malaysia will be successful in its bid to become a hub for creative content development. As a young nation that is still testing the waters, we have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes others make as well as from the blunders we have done so far. Only through that can Malaysia become the creative content hub it aspires to be,” says Quah, who feels that what Malaysia talents really need is world exposure.

Effendy Annuar; Senior Digital Illusionist, Big Beak Pictures

Currently, global exposure is what the government and local creative studios are providing in spades, thanks to these regionally signed co-productions and joint ventures. However, for Effendy Annuar, Senior Digital Illusionist of Big Beak Pictures, it takes more than just exposure to bring up Malaysia to the fore.

“Training and experience are also critical if we are to push the creative industry forward. No doubt we are one of the best in Asia when it comes to talent potential but what we really need are the right facilities, trainers, and guidance to cultivate and nurture these raw recruits. Only then can we really become leaders in this industry,” he adds, his views a reflection from his training under the tutelage of some of the America’s finest from the Marvel and DC stables.

For Effendy and Quah, one thing is clear: while government support plays a key role in the development of the creative content industry, it is not the only fundamental factor that works to improve the creative industry. There are other elements hindering the local development of creative minds such as the education system and the negative impression most have about the creative industry.

Prime Fundamentals

The current education system does not nurture creative thinking as the format used stifles the cultivation of creative skills and innovative minds. From encouraging the practice of regurgitating facts, to reinforcing the impression that creativity, which includes art, craft, and innovative thinking, is bound for a shallow career, schools primarily kill potential creative talents at a very young age.

Colleges and universities are reversing that trend now but their efforts have limited success as many parents do not encourage such career considerations. A Game Design Lecturer from a prominent design university, Yee I-Van, personally feels the local creative industry has sunk into a rut of sorts because of this.

“We have a lot of talent out there, but they are not being tapped into. The impression that being in the creative content industry is not as rewarding as it seems has stuck on really hard,” he adds.

Such impressions, Quah reveals, are something the creative industry has to contend with for a long time. “Our talents are not really getting what they rightfully deserve and, as it is, they are being over-exploited for the amount of work they do,” he shares.

The current conundrum has been slowly killing off the cultivation of local talents because it hammers home the general impression that the creative industry bears zero career success. This is why the government had to step in and take an active role in the development of the creative sector.

According to Yee, such support from the government now is timely and critical. “We are generally falling behind in many aspects when it comes to creative content. Brilliant advertisements are coming from Thailand, a nation that has a movie industry that is expanding at an alarming rate. Even Singapore, which is highly supportive of its creative content industry, has stepped up its efforts as it has already enticed the likes of Ubisoft, KOEI, and Electronic Arts to the island nation’s shores. At this rate, Malaysia is going to be left behind,” he explains.

The situation was not like this in the beginning. In fact, Malaysia used to have the market leader advantage but because it rested on its laurels for too long and, as Yee puts it, “has now become the proverbial rabbit that lost the race.”

“We used to be the envy of our neighbours when Malaysia introduced the MSC Malaysia initiative, its heavyweight International Advisory Panel, and all the new ICT innovation that were supposed to come out. However, with the fanfare now long gone, we are now at least five years behind Singapore and Thailand in terms of production quality and creative sector development,” Effendy adds.

This has led many in the content industry to ask this particular question on a number of occasions: how is it that Malaysia now lags behind if it boasts some of the world’s best ICT infrastructure. The answer, according to Kamil, lies in the focus of development that Malaysia is currently undergoing.

“We are not focusing our efforts in the right areas. Instead of content, we look at other market drivers, some of which may not necessarily be useful to the development of creative content or establish a knowledge-based economy,” he says.

Is Content King?

One major area of focus that has always been debated on is the deployment of broadband. For years many have propagated that broadband proliferation will boost content development. For those involved in the development of creative content, high-speed broadband is a key enabler for content creation. The telco industry, however, firmly believes that the growth of the content industry will be catalysed once broadband penetration reached critical mass.

This assessment is the main reason why content developers always play second fiddle to broadband infrastructure deployment. In the eyes of these broadband players, infrastructure is of utmost importance because they believe that it is a need that has to be fulfilled first before content production competencies can be considered.

It certainly does help that there is broadband connectivity and high-spec infrastructure. However, such support can only do so much. According to Kamil, the number of creative content companies stands at around two dozen at his last count. This clearly shows that broadband connectivity is not the prime mover of this industry.

So what really drives content development then?

Current efforts that MDeC has in place that work to expand the creative sector include pre-seed funding, investment programmes, awareness campaigns, and skill development workshops. However, the largest support MDeC has ever conceived was the introduction of the annual Intellectual Property Creative Challenge (IPCC). Introduced a few years ago, it was designed to attract the best and brightest in the creative industry to compete and showcase their talent for the chance to produce a pilot concept.

“Efforts like the IPCC and the specialised workshops are great ways to spur growth and encourage talents to come out of the woodwork. I think the government regulators should consider more plans like the IPCC and make them more accessible. Doing so will allow those who want to produce a piece of quality work to be able to tap into these support services. In fact, such funds should only be granted to those based on merit,” Yee notes.

Besides IPCC and highly accessible funding mechanisms, Kamil feels the growth of the creative industry all boils down to market coordination. While he acknowledges that current efforts have contributed to the industry somewhat, he firmly believes the market fragmentation will do nothing but hamper future progress.

“Perhaps we should consider establishing a single body that takes care of the creative industry rather than having a multitude of regulators, each having specific agendas. What we need now is a unified front that drives the creative agenda, not stumbling blocks that serve to hinder the development of the content industry,” he adds.

Even if the government is backing the creative industry at 100%, there are too many implementers and complex agendas already in place that have to be considered.  The concept of a unified regulator for the creative industry would do away with this pertaining problem and directly focus on the current lack of coordination the local market is now facing. A single authority will certainly enhance the government’s approach towards the creative industry, giving it the ability to address any concern in a more unified fashion.

“A consolidated regulator for the creative sector will be able to do more than any new effort the government comes up with. Even the recently proposed national policy for the content industry is subjected to prioritising the differing agendas of all regulators involved,” Kamil explains.

In the end, it is not about who does what effort or how far these efforts have gone, but about being able to work together for the benefit of the entire creative industry, and subsequently, fulfil the national economic agenda.

To achieve this, Kamil feels it is not enough to just label 2010 as the Year of Innovation. The onus on all stakeholders in the creative industry is to clearly understand how critical the situation really is and to come together in advancing the development of the creative content industry. “Without creativity, there will be no innovation!”