Taiwan-based regional streamer Catchplay and its manufacturing subsidiary Screenworks Asia have introduced a slate of Mandarin-language originals, headed by eight-part crime thriller Not A Homicide Story, directed by Chen-Nien Ko (The Silent Forest) and starring Kuan-Ting Liu (A Solar).
At the moment in post-production, the sequence is a co-production between Screenworks Asia, Taiwan’s Gala Tv Corp and Hong Kong’s MakerVille Firm. The story revolves round an aspiring actor who wakes up one morning with a lifeless lady beside him. Sonia Sui (Girls Who Flirt) and Gingle Wang (Detention) additionally star.
Additionally in post-production is coming-of-age comedy drama I Can See You Shine, scripted by Xin-Xuan Huang (The Making Of An Extraordinary Girl I & II). The story of two highschool associates, certainly one of whom is a second era immigrant, goals to problem stereotypes round immigrant households in Taiwan.
Screenworks Asia has additionally introduced its first movie manufacturing, psychological thriller Love Is A Bitch, written and directed by Hsin-Yin Sung (On Happiness Highway). Ivy Shao, who starred in Netflix drama Extra Than Blue: The Sequence, heads the forged of the movie, which is scheduled to begin capturing in December this yr.
Catchplay, which operates a streaming service in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia, and can be a theatrical distributor and investor, backing movies equivalent to Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant, unveiled the slate on the eve of the Taiwan Artistic Content material Competition (TCCF), which kicks off tomorrow. It launched Screenworks Asia in 2020 as a three way partnership with Taiwan Artistic Content material Company (TAICCA).
The streamer’s earlier Mandarin-language originals have included The Making Of An Extraordinary Girl II, Dee’s Discuss and Twisted Strings, the latter government produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien, which between them acquired 30 nominations and 7 awards at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards final month.
Catchplay CEO, Daphne Yang, mentioned: “This has been fairly a difficult however rewarding two-year journey. Screenworks Asia was established in 2020 within the midst of the pandemic. Happily, via collaboration with excellent skills and companions, we have been capable of ship and launch our first three initiatives efficiently. Our perception is in partnerships and bringing high quality leisure content material with extra creativity and variety to the world.”
Initiatives scheduled to begin capturing subsequent yr embrace romantic comedy sequence Lesley In Taipei: Grass Jelly Bubble Tea, co-produced with Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara’s KawanKawan Media. Written by Indonesia’s Makbul Mubarak and Taiwan’s Ke-Yun Chen and Pin-Jun Lin, the sequence follows a younger Indonesian lady beginning a brand new life in Taipei.
Different upcoming initiatives embrace psychological drama mini-series Islanders, based mostly on Lolita Hu’s 2019 novel and co-produced with Taiwan’s Jollify industries; and supernatural horror sequence Losmen Melati, a co-production with Singapore’s Infinite Studios, which has already wrapped. Catchplay is distributing Losmen Melati in Taiwan and Indonesia, whereas Singapore-based Clover Movies is dealing with gross sales for the remainder of Southeast Asia.
