9 Problems Within The Malaysian Film Industry That Should Be Fixed

Written by Shanjhey Kumar Perumal

9 Problems Within The Malaysian Film Industry That Should Be Fixed

Editor’s Note: This post on the problems that need fixing in the Malaysian film industry was first published on Shanjhey Kumar Perumal’s Facebook page. We’re republishing it here with his permission in hopes that it reaches a wider audience.

A well-known TV Station contacted me to become a jury for their upcoming award show for their recent Tamil TV Series. I had to politely say no as a sign of subtle protest.

I do appreciate the fact that finally, the TV Station has been giving lots of projects for the local production houses particularly young people.

Last year, my friends and I (we used to be part of a protest coalition) sent them the appreciation letter and requested a few changes to happen. Until today, there are no changes.

What is the point of having an award show when there are lots of important things to be settled first?

There are some problems within the Malaysian film industry’s ecosystem:
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The budget given is still the same budget as the industry had 25 years ago, probably in some cases, lesser.
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The majority of talents are recreating the Indian Kollywood cinema template. Yes, they have a new variety of genre’s but the soul is still Indian cinema. There are few efforts that tried to reflect the Malaysian Identity (I appreciate it).
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Most of the TV series are mere ‘radio dramas’. You can watch them by closing your eyes and you can still understand the story.
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The TV Station owns the entire IP. There should be an effort to create residual income for the artist. Yes, some effort has been taken by Finas to make sure the artist keep their IP (appreciate it) but we can’t see the actual efforts from the TV Stations to secure a long-term commitment to share the IP.
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There should be an experienced panel to evaluate the content.
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Creative freedoms for the production house.
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A good development timeline.
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The TV Station should at least commit to training some young writers. Netflix is doing it with Indonesian writers.
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Quantity over quality.
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I know lots of producers won’t talk about this openly. Let me be the one who bites the bullet for them. I’m writing this hoping there will be a significant positive change in the future.

PS: I urge the TV station people and the content producers to watch Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Ten episode series ‘Dekalog‘ (1988). It’s a masterwork on how to make an impactful sociological story without preaching and without using long dialogues.