A Singapore-penned tale of “love, longing and loss” that’s had 9.5 million reads has been picked up for the first collaboration between the global online story platform Wattpad and Asian content creators Mediacorp.
Slow Dancing follows the highs and lows of life with central character Isla as she cares for the blinded billionaire she is smitten with. It marks the Singapore-based Mediacorp’s first English-language scripted series sourced from the Canada-based Wattpad library.
Wattpad claims a community of more than 80 million people across its flagship platform and claims they spend more than 23 billion minutes a month “engaged in original stories.”
The project will be produced by Wattpad’s Aron Levitz and Eric Lehrman, who helped put together the People’s Choice-winning film After, and Hulu’s Emmy-nominated hit Light as a Feather.
“With a page-turning mix of mystery, suspense and romance, Slow Dancing has built an international fan base, connecting with readers all over the world on Wattpad. We’re thrilled to work with Mediacorp to turn the story into a series that can find new fans everywhere,” said Dexter Ong, head of Asia, Wattpad, in an statement.
The story was conceptualized by a Singapore-based 25-year-old woman under the pen-name Noelle (@Hepburnettes) and it will now be developed into a six-episode series. The author has more than 243,000 followers and has had 45.7 million reads across her 17 stories on Wattpad.
“I hope that this new venture will give more visibility to aspiring Singaporean writers, regardless of the medium in which they write in,” the author said.
The Slow Dancing deal was formalized Wednesday at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum & Market, and is part of Mediacorp’s “Lights. Camera. Singapore” initiative, which aims to promote “Singapore storytelling.”
Mediacorp operates six TV channels and 11 radio stations as well as the likes of the digital video platform Toggle and the CNA news app.
Slow Dancing is slated to premiere in August 2020, free on-demand on Mediacorp’s digital entertainment service Toggle (set to be renamed meWATCH from January 2020), and also on Mediacorp Channel 5.
