In two weeks’ time, the first of Toggle Originals, A Selfie’s Tale, will make its debut online on February 1. This mini-series, which stars Joshua Tan of Ah Boys To Men fame, 987FM deejay Sonia Chew and online personality Aden Tan, is just one of 11 made-for-digital productions lined up for this year.
Some projects to keep a look out for are Run Rachel Run, a 24-minute web comedy which premieres in March and stars Hey Gorgeous 2015 runner-up Hor Ying Ying and comic personalities like Vernetta Lopez, Alaric Tay, and Suhaimi Yusof; Double Trouble, a 5-minute satirical comedy which premieres in May and features comedic duo Kumar and Mark Lee; and I Want to be a Star, a 30-minute Chinese reality and drama series which stars Shane Pow, Ya Hui, Hong Ling, Kym Ng, Chew Chor Meng and Dennis Chew.
Other upcoming projects that are in the works include Trapped Minds, a crime thriller series; YES Madam!, a dramedy about the life of a female armed forces regular; Soul Reaper, a mystery-horror series about ‘reaping souls’; Life Spam, a sketch comedy series on a group of characters who have a need to be ‘social’; K.O, a martial arts-themed series; 6ixteen, a mystery sci-fi series; and The Breakup List, which is a collaboration with Big 3 Media the Tree Potatoes team.
Five out of 11 Toggle Originals projects will be filmed in Mandarin, with the remaining six productions filmed in English.
These 11 shows will be launched online and offered on an on-demand basis; Toggle Prime subscribers are given access to binge-all episodes at one go while non-subscribers are able to watch for free via its scheduled weekly releases.
As a local OTT (over-the-top) provider, Toggle aims to deliver a variety of entertainment to its users through its catch up service and original shows; it believes that digital productions should not be compromised with poor production quality or a weak storyline.
Past Toggle Originals series that were well-received by online viewers are titles such as Sabo and Mystic Whispers, and the editorial-driven celebrity interview series Toggle Talk.
Apart from working with Mediacorp Studios, Toggle will also collaborate with a few familiar production houses such as Oak3 Films, who produced telemovie Spelling Armadillo which was nominated at the 4th International Emmy Kids Award, Maker Studios and Tree Potatoes.
In an official press release sent to the media, Anil Nihalani, head of Mediacorp’s Connected Media hopes the upcoming slate of 11 Toggle Originals, which is supported by the Media Development Board of Singapore (MDA)’s PSB Contestable Fund, will meet “varied content consumption needs” and “strike a chord with viewers”.
“As media consumption shifts online, Singapore viewers can look forward to a greater variety of local content on Toggle,” Director of Public Service Broadcast, MDA, Dorothy Lai, said in a statement. “Singapore content producers will also have more opportunities to create innovative content to engage a wider audience, especially the youth, beyond our Free-to-air TV platforms.”
Stay with Toggle for these latest shows. You can also download its app for iPhone, iPad, Android devices, Smart TVs and Microsoft Xbox One to access the latest bilingual entertainment news, videos and catch up on your favourite dramas, variety shows, series, movies and original local content.