Singapore on the screen

It was an operation worthy of the undercover operative that gives the movie its name.

The crew for “Agent 47”, with its stars Zachary Quinto and Rupert Friend in tow, came into Singapore stealthily earlier last month to film a few scenes on its streets. Other filming took place in the new, massive sound stages run by Infinite Studios, off Portsdown Road.

But despite producer 20th Century Fox’s attempts to keep things quiet, paparazzi buzzed the Robinson Road shooting site. All it took was a leak perhaps from a reporter breaking a confidentiality agreement and news of the photographic locations spread quickly.

Sources say the leak displeased the studio, which was trying to keep images related to the video game-inspired movie franchise a secret until the action movie’s release next year.

As far as hiccups go, the leak was probably a minor one for a production with a budget in the tens of millions that will take several years from birth to release.

Mike Wiluan, chief executive of Infinite Studios, says “Agent 47” is only the start of what he hopes to be a string of major productions making the trip to Singapore.

This will be especially so after the film’s views of Chinatown, Marina Bay and, yes, Robinson Road, are seen by a worldwide audience. “This will turn heads. The benefit will be that it will have a lot more producers, more people in the business, interested in coming to shoot in Singapore.”

Infinite Studios is a co-producer of the project.

Fox did not come here purely for the sake of scenic locations, a skilled workforce, national infrastructure, the use of English and the new sound stages – reasons often given by those promoting the nation as a film location.

The island competes with other countries in the game of snagging studio work. It is understood that an undisclosed financial incentive was offered by the government. Tax breaks and other perks are standard in the industry.

New Zealand, for example, offered more than US$79 million (Bt2.59 billion) in grants and other breaks to Warner Bros to keep the production of “The Hobbit” films in the country. The movies, as well as the earlier “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy (2001-2003), bring in a stream of tourists eager to visit the locations where filming took place.

Angeline Poh, assistant chief executive (industry) of the Media Development Authority (MDA), says Fox’s decision to come to Singapore “is the result of a long term effort to build up relationships with international companies and win their confidence in Singapore’s capabilities to take on large-scale productions”.

“MDA has been actively promoting and marketing our media industry’s capabilities internationally,” she says.

The payoffs of having a major Hollywood feature film shot here the first in decades are many, says the MDA.

More than 70 Singapore crewmembers are involved in the production, working alongside media professionals from the United States and Europe. Ten of them worked on the film in two locations, first in Germany, then in Singapore, Poh says.

Poh lists other knock-on effects that should be familiar to those in the Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions) industry – the production used logistics, hotel and other services.

These days, there is no stipulation that film companies wishing to shoot here must submit scripts to the government for checks on undesirable content. But the usual permissions have to be sought when filming might inconvenience the public.

“Agent 47”, and the financial incentives it took to get it to come here, shows that Singapore’s major feature industry is still in the pump-priming stage. On top of that, there are also roadblocks.

One obstacle that looks impossible to overcome is Singapore’s higher cost structure, which drives even local crews northwards to Malaysia. But as Infinite Studio’s Wiluan says, the island can compete on other factors, such as skills, facilities and the famous skyline.

But it is a no go if that skyline is to be filmed from a helicopter. Sources say Fox’s request to fly a copter over Marina Bay for aerial shots came to naught over security concerns, but not until after weeks of negotiations with various government agencies.

Wiluan says that to make filmmaking easier, industry professionals are in talks with the government about creating a one-stop liaison centre resembling the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting in New York, which helps filmmakers gather permits and financial incentives. Similar bodies exist in other large cities to overcome the problem of civil service silos, he says.

Another major obstacle to Singapore becoming a Hollywood in the Malacca Strait is the lack of specific skill sets. For example, large film productions require transport coordinators to work out how a convoy of trailers and lorries can get into and out of a location. People with that skill set are rare here, say experts.

And as one “Agent 47” executive noted wryly, there is an absence in Singapore of the trailer, the well-appointed caravan commonly seen on American film sets, in which stars rest.

And in a highly urbanised nation, trailers might not be the best solution. The stars of Agent 47 used air-conditioned tents and nearby hotel rooms, he says.

“This was the first major Hollywood production taking place in Singapore. In any production, there are always things that may not be readily available. But we are always there to make it happen. That is our job,” he says.