Hooq Launches Amazon-Style Pilot Season to Find Its First Asian Original

Hooq has launched a TV pilot programme akin to Amazon's now-defunct US pilot season called Hooq Filmmakers Guild, which involves five pilot episodes from India, Indonesia, and Singapore. The streaming service – jointly owned by Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., and Singapore's Singtel – will premiere them on Thursday, March 29, and one of the five will be green-lit for a full season.

The five pilots, which span genres such as comedy-dramas, supernatural horror, action-thriller and sci-fi comedy, include Bhak from India, Aliansi, and Heaven and Hell from Indonesia, and Haunt Me, and How To Be A Good Girl from Singapore. Hooq says the five were chosen from over 500 screenplay submissions over two months, and were then given $30,000 (about Rs. 19.5 lakhs) to produce the pilot episode.

But unlike Amazon's approach, where the decision rested solely with viewers, Hooq will put its pilots in front of filmmaker judges from Asia, including Indonesia’s Mouly Surya, and Nicholas Saputra, Philippines’ Erik Matti, and Thailand’s Wasin Pokpong, and Puttipong Promasakha Na Sakolnakorn. For what it's worth, viewership numbers will be a factor.

The Indian pilot, Bhak, is about the adventures of two ambitious young filmmakers, who are sick of how Bollywood works. It's been written and produced by Arjun Chatterjee and Shreyom Ghosh from Big3 Media. Both of Indonesia's originals are in the native Bahasa Indonesia language: Aliansi is an offbeat comedy by Muttaqiena Imaamaa that blends sci-fi tropes with satiric overtones, while Heaven and Hell, from the producers of The Raid and The Raid 2, offers a look into the Eastern Indonesian mafia.

That leaves the two Hooq pilots from Singapore, both in English, which star popular local actors Nat Ho (Haunt Me) and Shu An Oon (How To Be A Good Girl). Haunt Me, as the name says, is the supernatural horror one, from Oman Dhas and Goh Ming Siu. How To Be A Good Girl follows a former socialite turned ex-con (Oon) trying to reclaim her life.

The fact that there are more productions from Indonesia and Singapore makes sense since Hooq has been stronger in the Southeast Asian market than elsewhere in the continent. The Singapore-based streaming service's biggest Indian rivals, Amazon and Netflix, have a lot more shows in production – 17 for the former by last count, and seven for the latter – all of which have been straight-to-series orders.