Shared Link: The Question of Being the First Mover by David Kwok

A member of our group feedback to me about his thoughts on being the first mover in business. ” In businesses, first mover advantage often proves otherwise. The first one to do something usually fails. It’s more of a trap, really. 

Usually, the followers observe and see what works and take out what doesn’t, then gain critical mass and soon people forget about the first mover while crowning the first one to gain critical mass. 2 cents.” 

This is my answer below:

“You are right. I have another approach to this. I can only speak for my own experience. 

When I said first mover, I don’t mean that you blindly go into it. One still need to evaluate the risk. My objective for being the first mover is for branding, publicity and awareness of our company. (Which is very important since we are a small company.) It is almost like jumping the queue. From no one knowing who you are to the global players pay attention to what you do...

To read full article, click here! 

Last meeting at Marza and Sega

Our CEO, David Kwok had a last meeting at Marza and Sega America. 

Meeting at Splash Entertainment

It was a good meeting at Splash Entertainment yesterday. Thank you to Splash for their help, Dream Defender is now on Kabillion and Amazon Prime in the U.S. Also the amazing Popeye deal. Thank you so much to Mike Young and David Di Lorenzo for all your support. 

Catch up with Vic Cook

It was great to able to catch up with Vic Cook, Executive Producer of Hasbro Studio.

Previously we were working with Vic on the award winning Ben 10 Destroy all Aliens for Cartoon Network. Vic was the director for the film.

Met Pascal in LA

Our CEO, David Kwok, met Pascal Champion who has taught Master class in Tiny Island Production last time. Pascal said Hello to all our friends in Singapore and Asia! 

How can we still survive? by David Kwok

I met a friend in LA today. He used to be a senior management in a major studio.
He asked me

"How did you manage to survive? The market situation back home was so bad. Regional countries provide cheaper services. You do not have huge investor's money to back you up. Your company is so small. "

This is my answer.
"At times, I do ask myself whether this is my last month. ha ha."

I applied some of the principles of how our late Prime Minister build Singapore.

1) Build strong relations and connections with major players in North America and in Asia. Make yourself useful to others. As long as you are a useful chess piece to others. You will become important though you are small.

2) Identify new trends that can propagate. Move into new areas and take advantage of first mover. Provide unique services that others cannot provide.

3) Anticipate changes. Prepare new business model and adapt fast to the change."

The challenges you should know in producing an animated series these days by David Kwok

(The following is written based on my own experience. It is meant to give independent producers a clear view of the current market situation. The following does not apply to big studios who has deep pockets or with strong commercial channels)

I have attended a Children TV Trade Show in the U.S. recently. At the event, I have met a couple of independent producers. When they presented their IP to me, I am quite surprised that they are still trapped in the old system; expecting the TV licensing fee alone to cover the production cost. (Covering production cost is hard these days. Not to even mention profit. Even DVD market is dead.) One really needs a licensing/merchandising strategy. It is no longer an option. It is really hard to create an animated TV series or IP just to tell story without a commercial strategy in mind. I know it sounds horrible in a creative stand point. It is really not easy to raise funds these days.

To read more about this article, click here! 

Singaporeans Unite!

It was so good to bump into fellow Singaporeans who are working in the industry in LA! 

Great Catch up with our past Masterclass Guests

It's great to be able to catch up with Tom Zhao, Arthur Fong and Aemilia. When Tom Zhao was in Blur Studio and Arthur Fong in Dreamworks, they helped CG Protege run some wonderful master class. Arthur is now the Production Designer for BaseFx in LA. Hope we can work together again. Aemilia is Tiny Island Scholar currently working in LA.

Our CEO runs two companies, CG Protege Animation School and Tiny Island Productions.

Business Trip to LA

Our CEO, David Kwok is still in LA for Business Trip. To follow his journey, you can check out our Facebook page here

 13th Feb - Meeting with our (Dream Defenders) production and distribution partner at Kidscreen Summit, Chapman Maddox (VP of Development and Production - Kid's and Family Entertainment, Fremantle Media) and Bob Higgins (EVP Children's and Family Entertainment at Fremantle Media). Our CEO is a founder of 2 companies, CG Protege Animation School and Tiny Island Productions. Dream Defenders is our own IP.

 17th Feb - 1st Meeting in LA. Always thankful for the opportunity.

Meeting with our wonderful writers for Dream Defenders. Eric and Julia Lewald. Our CEO is a founder of 2 companies, CG Protege Animation School and Tiny Island Productions. Dream Defenders is our own IP.

Singaporeans unite! So good to bump into fellow Singaporeans who are working in the industry in LA.

  Meeting at the home of Power Rangers.

 Jonathan Sherman, Founder of Bang Zoom. One of the lead production house in LA. Our (Tiny Island Productions) Animation partner for our new production - Food Truckers. Our CEO is a founder of 2 companies, CG Protege Animation School and Tiny Island Productions. 

 Dan Clark Company - Our (Tiny Island Productions) script & Storyboard partner for Food Truckers - Our new project. Our CEO is a founder of 2 companies, CG Protege Animation School and Tiny Island Productions. Dream Defenders is our own IP.

Article to read : Lessons learnt in Leadership by David Kwok

One of my staff asked me the following question :
“Sometimes what is sad is after training someone to be a good leader, they will go away and move on. Isn’t it tiring to keep training new ones?”

Here are my answer.
“If you are a good leader. Your disciple will stay. If he choose to go, it could be because he does not fully understand the true meaning of the leader’s work. It’s a transition and growing up. Sometimes when he goes out there to see the world and experience himself, he might slowly appreciate what he has learnt from his previous leader. And maybe someday he will return.

If he does not return, then I can only say that I have to work harder as a leader to deserve him. That is how I consistently improve myself.”

Her Second Question:
“When you give a connection to people, do you feel afraid that they will take that potential job away from you?”

Here are my answer.
“In business and entrepreneurship, it’s all about relations and trust. If one is afraid of everything and do not trust anyone, one cannot get things done.

It’s all about integrity of your disciple and the client you choose. And most of all, the values you bring together in a company. I am selective over my long-term clients and most of them became my friends. That is how I run my business.

If your disciple can easily steal your client. Then you know that you are weak in your business relationship and you are weak in evaluating the right person to be chosen as a leader. So you have to pay for the price. The more mistakes you make. The sharper you will be.

Treat people with your heart and sincerity. You will attract the same kind of people to you. (Both client and employee) With this, no one can steal anything from you.”

This article is taken from Entrepreneurship in Animation Blog (a blog run by our CEO, David Kwok)

Talk about VR

Learn how to Create Immersive Virtual Reality Worlds and Experiences. Virtual Reality has been forecasted to be a US$120 billion by 2020, and has multiple applications in entertainment, serious games/applications, simulations and more. Learn how you can be part of this growing market.

 

CG Protege is collaborating with Presence Pictures to make VR more accessible to everyone. You don't need expensive game engines or coding knowledge to create virtual reality worlds. Nor expensive equipment, wires or controllers.

All you need imagination to create the worlds, and a smartphone and basic VR goggles to experience it.

Presense Pictures has had years of experience creating VR experiences for educational institutes, community organizations such as SPCA, and commercial clients.

In 2016, Presence Pictures collaborated with Tiny Island Productions to help Cisco create its Cisco Network Security VR experience, to to showcase the complexity and vulnerability of today's security systems. They also partnered introduce the concept of interactive storytelling, by bringing players into the world of Dream Defenders in a fully interactive VR experience where players are able to run, jump, shoot and influence the outcome of the story.

If you are a Singaporean or PR, and a media fresh grad, or working in the media industry, you are eligible for a 90% subsidy off the course fees.

More details can be found here.

If you are interested, please drop a mail to admin@cgprotege.com