Yahoo Lifestyle Colonial Botanical Thriller ‘Isle of Ease,’ Backed by Singapore’s IMDA, Launches at Mipcom (EXCLUSIVE)
Singapore’s Peddling Pictures, the production company behind award-winning docu-series “Riot Island,” is presenting its new six-part fiction series “Isle of Ease” at Mipcom.
Backed by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the crime thriller is set in 1920s Singapore and follows a rookie detective investigating a murder on an offshore penal colony in Malaya, uncovering a secret botanical experiment in the process.
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The series draws inspiration from a real-life prison experiment conducted by British colonial administration in 1960s Singapore. This historical event, which aimed to reform secret society gangsters, ended in a riot and resulted in Singapore’s largest trial to date.
“Riot Island” won top prizes around the world including at the New York Festivals and the Asian Academy Creative Awards. “This fiction series is our twist on it. We call it a botanical murder mystery set within a prison experiment on a colony. A nature-noir,” said Peddling Pictures’ Aditya Thayi.
Ken Kwek, known for works such as “The Blue Mansion,” “Sex.Violence.FamilyValues.” and “#LookAtMe,” has joined the project as a writer. Latoya Wilson, whose credits include “Holby City” and “Top Boy,” will supervise the script.
The series features a fictional botanist character, Henry Burkill, inspired by various Singapore Botanical Gardens directors and their correspondences with Kew Gardens in London.
The support the project has received from IMDA includes a development grant.
Justin Ang, assistant chief executive for media, innovation, communications and marketing at IMDA, said: “Since its launch in 2023, IMDA’s Media Enterprise Program Development Grant has supported over 30 original concepts from close to 20 Singapore companies including Peddling Pictures. These concepts span a diverse range of genres across film and broadcast mediums. Some of our international partners have shown interest in the concepts, and this is a validation of the global appeal of Made-With-Singapore content. We are delighted to see Peddling Pictures, known for their strength in factual production, leveraging this opportunity to unlock their potential in developing IPs in scripted content.”
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