The Origins What are the first few words that come to mind when you think about Circuit Breaker? For those who work in the film and theatre industry, it would probably be, cancellation, postponement, and free time. It was a time when many struggled to adapt to the new routine and new norms. But it was also during this strange time that three individuals got connected and started many conversations that probably might not have happened without COVID-19 and Circuit Breaker. Meet The Three Musketeers Junior Foong (Art Director) and Feng Kexin (Camera Assistant), the husband-and-wife duo have been working in the film and TV industry for many years. Due to the nature of Junior’s work and his love for vintage items, he started his personal vintage collection, which slowly expanded over the past 7 years. Prior to The Props Collective, their warehouse (My Little Props House) was a gem to many Art Directors due to the wide range of props it had. On the other hand, Lam Dan Fong is an experienced Production Manager who is well known in the local theatre scene, having worked with many different theatre companies and independent groups. After managing more than 70 productions, she realised that many of the times, similar props were purchased across different productions. On top of it, a lot of companies or independent artists are not able to keep functioning props due to limitation in storage. Though they would try their best to give them away to others who might have use for these props, a significant number of props still ended up in the trash bin. Here comes COVID and Circuit Breaker The outbreak of COVID and the implementation of Circuit Breaker pushed some freelancers working in the creative scene to come together and form a Facebook group. This community has gathered quite a significant number of freelancers working in the creative scene (as of 10 Jan 2022, it had 11.3K members). Not only is it a support group, it also provides an avenue for freelancers to share the problems that they are facing, in hope of looking for an alternative or a solution. Prior to the pandemic, Junior and Kexin had planned to shut down My Little Props House as the lease was coming to an end. It hadn’t been easy for them to continue the lease. Their initial plan was to sell everything they had in the warehouse, but COVID and the implementation of Circuit Breaker made it impossible for them to sell their inventory. They ended up extending the lease for their warehouse. On the other side, troubled with all the wastage that resulted from just one single production, Dan Fong was looking for a solution. She began to be involved in discussions with other like-minded theatre practitioners. One of their main discussions was about changing the way theatre productions were done and turning theatre making into something that is more sustainable with as little wastage as possible. How did the Three Musketeers meet? After extending the lease, Junior posted in the Facebook group, with the intention to ask for opinions and suggestions for the warehouse. Though the burden of continuing the lease for the warehouse was heavy, both Junior and Kexin were determined to make it worthwhile. They wanted the inventory that they had accumulated over the years to serve the needs of the industry. His post caught the attention of many in the group, which includes Alvin, Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage. As a member of the theatre discussion group, Alvin then shared this post in their group chats and a meeting was set up to discuss some of the possibilities. That became the meeting that Junior, Kexin and Dan Fong met for the very first time. Conversations started, discussion continued, three of them found that they had a common goal: to transform the current industry practices for film and theatre and introduce sustainability into the practice. The three musketeers decided to take a (huge) leap of faith. And the rest is history. The birth of The Props Collective As Paulo Coelho has said, "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” If there is one good thing about Circuit Breaker for the film and theatre industry in Singapore, it would be time. Film and theatre makers are always racing against time to achieve the best for the project. However, for once, time was on their side. Having the time has allowed the three of them to meet with different stakeholders in the scene, to better understand the needs of the industry. Their effort paid off as they managed to secure a grant to kickstart the company and the cause that they believe in. Dream(s) for The Props Collective
“We hope that we can help to build an eco-system for the film and theatre industry. We named it a collective and not a company because it’s not about forming a company to earn from the film and theatre makers. It is about building an eco-system, whereby resources can be communal, skills can be shared, and art directors and props makers have a proper workstation with the equipment to work on their project.” And this is the origin story of The Props Collective.
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Birringggg Hello! My name is Way, short for Dian Way, and I’m one of the talents from The Props Collective. Recently, I got nominated by the rest of my friends to be the Head of Publicity. Actually I low-key excited lah, cause I love to talk. (But don’t let my friends know, if not later they throw more work for me to do) (I know I already self-intro on Instagram but just in case people miss it, you know, I have to do it again.) Anyway, for my first post on this blog, I thought it would be nice for you all to know what we, the talents, have been doing since the company officially started in October. Since the inauguration of the company, we have been really busy packing and cleaning our office. Previously, we didn't have a designated area because we were always rushing in and out the company for different projects. But we realised that it can get really messy after a while and since now we have more time (*cough* cause no job *cough*) on hand, we thought it was a good time to set up a system. It’s always difficult setting up a system, especially when you have a house full of actors. I tell you, it’s a nightmare. (Cause some want to be near aircon lah, some don’t want, all want natural light, but there is only so much natural light in our place, you know?) So to move things along and to prevent us from getting into unnecessary drama, our bosses got us a manager to facilitate the process. I didn’t talk much with the manager, but she is really good at making difficult decisions. I mean, most of us have pretty much settled in because she has been managing the situation. Also there are three interns assisting her, three lovely ladies who are always there to help us. Because of them, I have found a lovely corner in my department where I can set up my work desk and do all the publicity writing for us. And after settling into different departments, we are now in the process of taking new headshots for our CV! I heard that it’s because our bosses wanted to use our new headshot for our talent website. You know, I was so happy when they told us they are building a website for us. This means, it would be easier for our potential client to hire us for projects! So maybe a website = more work? That pretty much sums up what we have been doing so far! That’s all for now!
I’ll be back for more. Till then. Hello! Welcome to The Props Collective: Journey.
The Props Collective is a newly founded company that has something to do with props (bet you already figured that out). This is not the actual site to hire our talents (ICYMI - we refer to props as talents), but a place for us to document our journey). We love to share stories, so you can expect to read about conversations we’ve had with different people, conversations that range from theatre, to film and TV, to sustainability, something that is very important to us. Also, we have to tell you about the transformation that our talents are currently going through! Our warehouse supervisor has been working her magic with our talents, making sure their personalities and abilities are properly recorded for our talent-for-hire site, which will be launched in early 2022. Who knows, our talents might take over and tell you their own stories! In short, we have a lot of things that we can't wait to share with you. For now, feel free to check out the different pages and get to know us better! |
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