“The economics are such that we want to make sure we invest in projects that are prestigious and with the right budgets that are feasible for international distribution,” Aminullah says, adding: “The ROI has to come from the world”.
The Ideate Media venture is part of a broad rework of Malaysia’s role on the global content stage, including the much-lauded 30% production rebate and multi-million dollar new studio facilities at Pinewood Iskandar. Aminullah says Ideate will invest in “stories and concepts that lend themselves naturally to feature films and television series in both live action and animated form”. Aminullah isn’t ruling out an Asian production staple – factual – and says a factual series is already on the cards. He is excluding anything that isn’t scripted. “We’re sticking to the scripted space,” he says. He adds that the company will be seeking “strategic partnerships globally to maximise the reach and commercial potential of its investments”.
“Malaysia has emerged as a new destination for international filmmakers... Ideate Media is well positioned to play an active role in this growth,” Aminullah says. The joint venture between Astro Overseas and Khazanah Nasional Berhad was about two years in the making. Aminullah says the idea grew out of the opportunity “to participate more aggressively in the development space”. This followed years of Malaysian involvement in production for regional and international projects.
He says the energy poured into these initiatives “has helped to create an industry and helped local companies to participate in international projects. In that, it’s a job well done”. At the same time, “not a lot of money was being spent on development... on developing our own IP and stories”. Aminullah’s drivers in pitching the venture to the two shareholders included an aggressive government play in attracting international producers to Malaysia, including the 30% rebate and a slew of co-production treaties. The third dynamic was Pinewood Iskandar. “The idea was to set up a commercial venture that allows us to have equity participation in international projects,” Aminullah says. Ideate Media’s strategy includes participating more aggressively in development, and allocating resources to acquiring underlying rights and spending money to develop ideas. “We want to be able to have a strong development pipeline that we can take to the market and talk about to potential partners,” Aminullah says. The new element that Ideate brings to a relatively familiar creative/sales/marketing process is “joining the dots between the development and commercial processes”.
Aminullah says companies in Asia tend not to link creative and commercial. “They’re passionate about projects but don’t have the link to commercial processes. There is a lot of opportunity to play a role in joining the dots, in making sure the development slate is commercial,” he says.
That includes forming funding relationships with other investors and commercial partners. He adds that Ideate Media is “not a production company... we will be using the ecosystem out there, working with production houses, allowing them to be part of a bigger vision”. “We are doing this because we want to make sure that the shows and concepts that we invest in are going to be able to be successful internationally,” Aminullah says, adding: “At the end of the day, we want to be known as a content company, as a venture that owns commercially successful IP.”
Kuala Lumpur, 5 April 2013 - 
Cannes, 8 October 2012 – His Excellency Dato’ Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf, Secretary General of the Ministry of Information, Communications & Culture of Malaysia is leading a Malaysian delegation comprising of 40 companies to MIPCOM, which is being held this year from October 8th to 11th 2012 in Cannes, France.
Kuala Lumpur, 2 October 2012 - 'Bola Kampung' a popular home-made animated television series in its sixth season, as seen on Disney Channel Asia and Cartoon Network Asia in over 16 Asian countries, has recently made its appearance in last week's auspicious PJ Half Marathon event and surpised over 10,000 participants with its social obligations & fun activities as a great role model for the children & families of tomorrow. Much loved 'Bola Kampung' characters Iwan, Kumar and Stezo joined the energized participants in the annual sports event in the PJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya in the much anticipated 'Bola Kampung - Oppa Gangnam Style' fever. Joined by many families and friends in the country, the creators of "Bola Kampung" took the liberty to co-organize various activities and raise the level of fun in the interest of charity for the PJ Half Marathon event by playing a major role in the community by leading the participants in proper conditioning & warm-up activities before the kick-start of the PJ Half Marathon 2012.