HOOQ launches first original series, more in the pipeline

VIDEO-ON-DEMAND services have steadily moved on from just being distributors of content to actually creating content with Netflix and Amazon Studios at the forefront of this change.

On the Asian front, both HOOQ and iflix have ventured into producing their own content, with iflix launching Hoy! Bibig Mo, it’s first Filipino original comedy series in late 2017, while HOOQ deciding to enter the fray with its first Hollywood original, The Oath.

The series, created by Joe Halpin (the Hawaii Five-O reboot in 2010, and Secrets and Lies in 2015) is set in Los Angeles and “dives deep into a world of gangs made up of those sworn to protect and defend,” said a press release.

Starring Sean Bean and Arlen Escarpeta, among others, the crime drama is said to tread “where most cop dramas don’t [thus] shedding light on corruption and ‘police gang’ culture.”

All 10 episodes of The Oath were released on March 8.

“What you’re seeing now is one of the new things we’re promising our subscribers moving forward — we’re going to build up our HOOQ Originals. These are content that can only be found in HOOQ,” HOOQ Philippines country manager Sheila Pail told BusinessWorld in an interview on March 7 in their offices in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

She added that the company is working with “mostly independent studios” in order to “put out series and movies that would normally not be able to land on TV because they are groundbreaking, because they are very different and unique and do not follow the free-TV pattern.

“We’re aiming to be the home of Asian originals, it’s something we’re doing in all the markets we’re in,” she said before adding that Thailand and Indonesia already released their first original movies.

HOOQ Indonesia’s Marlina: The Murderer in Four Parts, directed by Mouly Surya, was screened as part of the Director’s Fortnight in the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

Meanwhile, the follow-up to Erik Matti’s crime drama OTJ (On the Job), which was announced last year as a HOOQ Original, has finally gone into production. The sequel to the 2013 film will include a full-length film which will act as a sequel to the first film, and a prequel to the series which will have five episodes.

Also held last year was the first part of the HOOQ Filmmakers’ Guild which called for series scripts, the best of which will be turned into full series. The finalists — Bhak from India, Aliansi and Heaven and Hell from Indonesia, Suay from Thailand, Haunt Me and How to be a Good Girl from Singapore — all received $30,000 to produce their series pilot episode. The best of the pilots will be turned into a full series.

“It’s all about scripted entertainment, we’re not looking yet at other formats but the genres will be those that will identify the most with the audience,” said Ms. Pail, who added that while they are not closing their doors on reality-TV entertainment like iflix’s stand-up comedy shows, they prefer to focus more on scripted entertainment. — Zsarlene B. Chua