Cannes – The newly appointed Minister of Communications and Multimedia, The Honorable Dato’ Seri Ahmed Shabery Cheek is leading a record-breaking number of more than 60 Malaysian companies at MIPCOM 2013. His presence at MIPCOM emphasises the renewed commitment that the Malaysian government has in supporting the growth and development of the creative content industry. 

The Malaysian Networking Reception at MIPCOM 2013, where the deals were announced, showcased a large number of industry support with the presence of His Excellency Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications & Information of Singapore and Mr. Paul Zilk, CEO of Reed MIDEM. 

Arrival of Guest of Honour: The Honourable Dato’ Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Communications & Multimedia (Malaysia); Paul Zilk, President of Reed Midem; His Excellency Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of Communications & Information (Singapore) 

 
The Networking Reception was the platform to announce 13 prominent deals worth over US $50 million that were witnessed and announced by the Minister. 

2012 saw the creative content industry bringing in US$4 billion in for the country. This year, the number is expected to rise exponentially due to the government’s active involvement and support in creating the necessary infrastructure for Malaysia to facilitate creative content production. 

The recently-opened Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios is a fully-equipped state-of-the-art production facility that will act as a tool for both local companies and foreign partners to utilise and develop world-class contents from within Malaysia. This studio is the only one of its kind in the whole Asia-Pacific region and is backed by cinema giant Pinewood Group. Pinewood Iskandar spans over two acres and there are five film sound stages with a total area of 100,000 sq ft including Southeast Asia’s largest interior water tanks, two 12,000 sq ft Hi-Definition-equipped television studios, 35,000 sq ft of production office space and many more world-class features unique to the region. 

In addition to this world class facility, ASTRO has recently opened the doors of its facility to offer a full spectrum of services for production. This includes the use of full HD studios as well as a variety of other production services with highly trained personnel. The studio is home to over 170 TV channels and 37 HD channels and they have worked together with large prestigious companies such as NBC and Fox. ASTRO is currently involved in Asia’s Next Top Model – Season 2. 

This is in line with the Malaysian Government’s National Film Development Corporation, FINAS’s recently released ‘Film in Malaysia Incentive’ (FIMI). The incentive is a 30% cash rebate for the development of film, TV and on screen productions. It is available for both local and foreign companies to benefit and develop the Malaysian production industry. The 30% cash rebate will be on audited in-country expenditure, as long as the company qualifies the minimum spend criteria of US $806,000 for local productions, US $1.66 million for foreign productions; or US $484,000 for post-production activity solely. This will be in effort to encourage film production here in Malaysia. 

The government has also adapted support to encompass a myriad of funding and incentive schemes for the creative sector. This will include, VFX Funds from FINAS, The Creative Industry Development Grant from SKMM, MSC Status from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), CIP-500 Funds from Cradle, MyCreative Funds from MyCreative Ventures, the 1MDB Funds just to name a few. MDeC has recently launched the MAC3 funds, which is set to reach companies in the idealisation and development phase of their projects. In order to support the ecosystem of the industry also, the training grant under the Creative Industry Lifelong Learning (CILL) is available. It is specifically designed for practitioners and individuals from this industry who are keen to enhance their skills, knowledge and experience. This seeding and support is crucial for the start up of any productions that have the ideas and talents but just lack the monetary support. 

The Honorable Dato’ Seri Ahmed Shabery Cheek, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia reiterated, “I feel that Malaysia is rapidly evolving into a nation of advanced enterprise and modern commerce. We offer a truly unique experience for our industry partners to work with in terms of our many multi-lingual local talents, natural beauty and resources, convenient geographic location as well as the richness of our multicultural heritage; it is through this that Malaysia offers a unique competitive advantage for domestic and global growth. The government will continue to actively support our local companies as we keep moving forward to develop Malaysia into a high income developed nation and eventually the creative hub of Asia”. 

The Malaysian delegation to MIPCOM is led with the support of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and is co-organised by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC), in association with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Tourism Malaysia and the Creative Content Association Malaysia (CCAM).