S'pore media prod'n firm to locate in RP

Southern Lights Inc., a subsidiary of Singapore-based Internet broadcasting company KIDZ-TV.com and one of the largest players in the Asian animation industry, plans to produce original, Hollywood-style animated films from a facility it will establish at the Eastwood City CyberPark.

Southern Lights president and CEO Devan Nair said the company plans to start operations at the IBM Plaza building in the country's first animation technology park by the second quarter of the year.

He expects the company to generate $100 million in export revenues in the next five years from its CyberPark operations. The revenue flow is expected to come from original animated and live-action co-production projects which will utilize Filipino creative talents in all stages.

"Southern Lights will take the lead in transforming the Filipino animation industry from its traditional, low-tech mode to a modern, highly-digital industry which produces original content geared for a sophisticated world market," Nair said.

Nair noted that although Filipino animators rank among the best in the world, having formed the backbone of animator teams for major Hollywood production, the local animation industry has always been a contract servicing business instead of a production business turning out original content.

"Southern Lights aims to elevate the industry into one capable of producing original content through the development of a world-class pool of homegrown talents," he added. He said that the move to the Philippines is a logical one for the company because majority of the animators working in Singapore are Filipinos. He added that the company may require the services of up to 300 skilled employees for its operations.

He said that a major part of the effort to professionalize the ranks of animators in the country is through formal training. The Southern Lights chief executive is also the founder of the Philippine-based Institution of Animation Arts, the first of its kind in Asia.

Southern Lights is said to have bagged a number of co-production contracts good for the next three years. "Our outlook for the near term will allow us to be the fastest growing company for original content work in the industry," Nair said.

He disclosed that Southern Lights intends to eventually venture to other areas outside of animation, notably live-action co-production projects.

Senior vice president Kingson Sian of Megaworld Corp., the developer of Eastwood City CyberPark, welcomed the presence of Southern Lights in the IT park, saying its activities will showcase the distinct strength of the Filipinos in the area of animation.

He said that Southern Lights' objective to transform the local animation industry aligns with CyberPark's goal of attracting specialized, IT-based businesses where the Filipino workforce can be highly competitive.

The Megaworld executive added that the superior telecommunications facilities at the CyberPark will be a big boost to the company's aspiration to reach a world-wide audience for its original works. "Now it is possible for a company like Southern Lights to be as much in the center of the action as its Hollywood counterparts because of the instant and reliable connectivity provided by the CyberPark's multiple telecoms carriers and advanced infrastructure," he said.