Netflix’s Creative Asia Forum Highlights $41M Spend On Creative Equity Fund, Programs For Regional Filmmakers

Sara Merican

6 October 2024 at 4:59 am·5-min read

Netflix held its first Creative Asia Forum in partnership with the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) today, with 120 filmmakers in attendance from across APAC.

Minyoung Kim, VP of APAC Content (ex-India), provided an update on the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity. In 2021, the streamer committed $100M to the fund across five years to enhance pathways for underrepresented communities in entertainment.

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Kim said that the streamer has so far spent around $41M on 200 programs, with over 13,000 participants in more than 50 countries around the world. Netflix added that over 450 people from these programs have gone on to work on the platform’s productions in a variety of roles, ranging from line producers and associate editors to casting assistants and grips.

The fund has partnered with local film festivals like the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival this year to run programs, and content agencies like Taiwan’s TAICCA to run a six-week screenwriting workshop with local writers.

She also highlighted that Netflix works with production studios to identify skill gaps in local industries and organize production workshops to fill these gaps.

For example, the Korea team identified VFX and virtual production as two key areas for development in the domestic industry. They have since launched the “Grow Creative in Korea” program, training over 2,400 students as part of the streamer’s commitment to developing production talent, transferring knowledge and technical skills in virtual production, color and dubbing.

Earlier this week on the sidelines of BIFF, Netflix launched its 2025 Korean film slate, which included Revelations, from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho, as well as sci-fi disaster film The Great Flood starring Kim Da-mi (Itaewon Class) and Park Hae-soo (Squid Game), among others.

At the Creative Asia Forum, Born For the Spotlight writer-director (and former actress) Yen Yi-wen was also present to talk about the Mandarin-language series.

“I was an actress for 20 years and during that time, I really wanted to get an award. I got one in 2015, but the day after the award ceremony, I had to return to a production set,” Yen said. “But I realised my mindset had changed and I could not continue something like this. I was playing a mediocre character in a mediocre title with a mediocre script. I suddenly felt like I wasn’t deserving of the award. So that day, I went home and started to write a script about an actress who loses her ability to act after winning an award.”

That story became Born For the Spotlight, which premieres on the platform on November 7.

Yen also talked about the changes that she has seen in the Taiwanese entertainment industry over the past few years.

“In the past, actresses didn’t have many options for roles and about four to five years ago, when I was around 40, I was thinking about whether there was an age limit for certain roles,” Yen added. “I decided to write my own story about a middle-aged woman, so that I can tell stories that I want to see.”

Olive Ting, Born For the Spotlight’s producer, echoed that audiences are now more exposed to different genres and formats of shows, and the industry’s stories have become more ambitious about breaking away from traditional formulas.

“In Taiwan, about 20 years ago, we had mostly romantic stories and there was always a cliche about female leads waiting for love from rich handsome guys,” Ting said. “Artistic shifts have coincided with social changes in Taiwan. We are excited that there are so many options now and we don’t have to follow traditional storylines. We are grateful that viewers in Taiwan are open to different stories and genres, which allows us to explore more ambitious projects.”

On the Japanese panel, Beyond Goodbye director Hiroshi Kurosaki talked about how his background in documentaries shaped his approach towards directing a fictional love story. Beyond Goodbye tells the story of Saeko, who loses the love of her life, Yusuke, in an accident on the day he proposes to her. Another man, Naruse, receives Yusuke’s heart in a transplant, giving him a new lease on life.

“We wanted to make a fantastical love story,” Kurosaki said. “But I told everyone that we need to make the show 5 centimeters above reality, not 10 centimeters, to make this a beautiful but believable love story.”

As part of his research for the show, he talked to a surgeon that does heart transplants and asked about the concept of “memory transfer” that became a key part of the series.

On the Indonesia panel, Cigarette Girl co-directors Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah talked about the 12-year journey to adapt the book of the same name by Ratih Kumala, into a series. The series jumps between two periods — the 1960s and early 2000s — to tell the story of a family business involved in Indonesia’s clove cigarette industry.

“The story is all about female strength for me, especially during the period in the show where women didn’t have as many opportunities,” Andini said. “This is a time to acknowledge female strength and we wanted to make space for that.”

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