WHEN Singapore film-maker Eric Khoo's My Magic was nominated for a Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, it was a new pinnacle of achievement for a Singapore movie.

In recent years, Singapore-made media content has been making big strides on the global stage in over 50 countries, among them the United States, Germany, New Zealand and China, not just in film, but also in television, games, animation and publishing.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) has helped to propel things along in various ways. These include organising events such as last year's Singapore Film Festival in Beijing, where movies like Jack Neo's I Not Stupid Too and Royston Tan's 4.30 were screened.

MDA leads Singapore companies on mission trips abroad to meet the major media players in other countries and helps budding film-makers, animators, game developers and authors with funding for their projects. It has also signed numerous co-operation agreements with media organisations in other countries which have created opportunities abroad for media players here.

The funding assistance that MDA provides has been invaluable for young media players. When leading local animation studio Peach Blossom Media first started out, MDA was a tremendous help, says its vice-president Karen Tang. It helped fund Tomato Twins, which became the first locally produced animation series to break into the international market when cable TV channel Nickelodeon bought it in 2002. Its next series, Tao Shu - The Warrior Boy, also received MDA funding.

The MDA has a number of funding schemes to encourage the production of original Singapore content, such as the Scheme for Co-investment in Exportable Content and the First-Time Writers And Illustrators Publishing Initiative.

Making content that travels But with the huge investment needed to develop original content, how can media players ensure that their works find as wide an audience as possible?

Jack Neo, probably Singapore's most commercially successful film-maker, believes that Singapore content needs to be different from what is coming out of other countries. 'The story has got to have a new angle, something people have never seen before,' he said. Since his 2002 movie I Not Stupid broke into the international market, his films regularly travel beyond Singapore's shores to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Author Lee Jin Pyn, on the other hand, thinks that a simple story with universal themes will have the widest appeal. She had a major breakthrough last year when she sold the worldwide English-language rights for her children's book, The Elephant And The Tree, to US publisher Running Press.

The question was also put to Royston Tan, director of last year's top-grossing local film 881. 'It's hard to say,' he mused. 'It depends on whether the audience can connect with it. People from different cultures have different ways of seeing things.' He does not try to second guess what a global audience might want.

'I just make films that I like,' he said. One way to increase the shelf-life of media content and enable it to travel to more territories is to take it across different platforms. For example, the MDA commissioned Peach Blossom Media to produce an animated short of The Elephant And The Tree as well as eight other stories by Singapore authors. Ms Tan thinks that the multi-platform approach is a good one for books. 'Any title will benefit from Internet and TV exposure,' she said.

Other Singapore-made content have also made the crossover to other platforms. These include Peach Blossom Media's animated show Tao Shu, which is now available as books; animated series The New Adventures of Nanoboy by Scrawl Studios and Katakune by Character Farm, which have mobile games based on them; and Tu Tu Le, a children's television series co-produced by Earth Tree and Shanghai Media Group, which has moved onto interactive websites and workbooks.

Made in Singapore entertainment >>

Made-in-Singapore entertainment

ANIMATION
Tao Shu - The Warrior Boy (2005)
A series of 52 eleven-minute episodes about a little boy and his family and friends in ancient China.
Produced by: Peach Blossom Media
International footprint: Has been broadcast in various Asian countries as well as in France, Bulgaria and the Middle East. The DVD Tao Shu: Wild About Wildlife was among the winners of US media organisation iParenting's Greatest Products of 2007.

BOOKS
The Elephant and the Tree (2006)
A tale written and illustrated by Lee Jin Pyn about the friendship between an elephant and a tree and the importance of environmental conservation.
Published by: Ele Books and Epigram
International footprint: Japanese edition, published by Media Factory Inc, will be launched in October. US edition, published by Running Press, will be released in 2009.

GAMES
Steam Iron
A real time strategy game for mobile devices, set in an alternate future where the electronic revolution as we know it never occurred.
Developed by: Mikoishi
International footprint: Winner of Technical Achievement Award at the 2008 Independent Games Festival Mobile Awards in San Francisco.

FILM
My Magic (2008)
An alcoholic magician tries to reconnect with his teenage son in this mostly Tamil-language movie.
Directed by: Eric Khoo
International footprint: Nominated this year for a Palme D'Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival.

881 (2007)
A musical about two friends who form a popular getai act.
Directed by: Royston Tan
International footprint: Released commercially in Japan recently. Rights outside Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan have been sold to the Easternlight label of international sales agency of Arclight Films.

TELEVISION
FestivAsia - Moon Dance (2008)
A one-hour documentary on the fascination the moon holds for different cultures in Asia.
Produced by: Big Communications and Creo Contents (Korea)
International footprint: Distributed by FremantleMedia Enterprise (worldwide, except in Korea)

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