What is this session about?

How does being bi-lingual, or even multi-lingual, win you deals in life? Many people can speak at least 2 languages in today's world but what you do with that knowledge is what can make a career. On top of that, your knowledge of a culture can help build bridges that mere knowledge of a language cannot.

We invite Producer KQ, who used his advantages of being bilingual to step in between both worlds, closing deals, helping to seal them, and bringing him all over the world, into the inner circle of powerful people.

From the speaker:

In this sharing session, I bring you to lunch with Donnie Yen. We step into the room where Stephen Chow is listening to stories. We have whiskey with an Oscar award-winner.

Dialect was what my parents spoke at home. I came from a simple background in Singapore, and could not afford film school. But here I am, sipping champagne in Cannes at the producers’ network session; here I am, pitching an animation movie to Donnie in English; here I am, with Stephen Chow on the movie set of Mermaid 2, showing him new designs; here I am in Los Angeles, describing character arcs to the Hollywood visual effects team.

Oh, I made it to Disney too, working with their team in Shanghai. Yes, Disney, the company who was rich enough to buy Marvel and made you sing “Let It Go” non-stop.

Along the way, what form of language was useful and what insights were gained? As a midcareer creative seeking opportunities, or a fresh beast ready to unleash, these stories may hold the key to your next big break.

Workshop Time Structure and Content Outline

Total Time: 2.5 hours

- Introduction and Context - 5 minutes

Speaker’s language background and early career

- Interaction - 15 minutesGetting to know participants and warming up

- Adventures - 100 minutesLunch with Donnie Yen: Using language that you know

Meeting Stephen Chow: The use of a new language

Face-off The Language of persistence

Tools - 15 minutes - Multilingual edge and Multicultural compass - InteractiveCommunity building and Summary - 15 minutes

About Producer KQ

Experienced in short-form and long-form content creation, KQ has worked with award-winning teams to develop narratives and visual magic for brands and organizations across different markets and platforms.

Born in Singapore, KQ's multi-cultural outlook and knowledge of the global visual effects pipeline have enabled him to work with artists across the world. From Berkeley to Beijing, LA to London, KQ has frontline experiences in creative development alongside top directors as a producer. Oscar-award winners like TIPPETT and PIXOMONDO have worked with KQ on creating character animation and complex visual sequences for Asian clients.

As a director, KQ has crafted characters and stories in many visual forms too. He directed the micro-documentary series TALES ALIVE (that was selected for screening at the Frankfurt Book Festival in Germany), and both storyboarded and directed the pilot that led to a new season of KUNGFU DRAGON being green-lit for DISNEY Shanghai (which he was also invited to be executive producer). Combining directing know-how with producing capabilities, KQ has also outlined strategies for myriad market segments. He developed an online video campaign for Singapore Sports Council’s TEAM SINGAPORE, co-directed the first ever PORSCHE vs PLANE race video for Changi Airport Group, and directed Chinese infotainment programs for Mediacorp from live-studio segments to reality shows.

KQ's first international sci-fi movie - LaMB, for Sony Pictures Entertainment anime channel ANIMAX, won the BEST ANIMATION SHOW at the Golden Bell Awards in 2009. As producer of that multi-platform project, he led a regional team to craft a narrative arc from mobile phone comics, cable channel movie, to episodic web series. In 2013, he was selected for the CANNES PRODUCER WORKSHOP - an event where only 300 applicants worldwide are shortlisted.

From 2012 to 2015, he moved to Beijing and completed the 3D stereoscopic China sci-fi movie IMPOSSIBLE as line producer, and as visual effects producer, led his team to the technical achievement of China’s first successful digital replacement of an actor for a feature film.

From 2016 to 2017, KQ continued to work in the areas of creative development and translation for top filmmakers of the China movie industry.

KQ has been invited to speak internationally from Korea, Beijing to Singapore. He spoke in Korea at the BUCHEON FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL 2015 as a movie producer sharing insights into the China movie industry. The event was covered by Hollywood Reporter. He was invited by Oscar-award-winning movie visual effects studio Pixomondo to join their panel of speakers at the 2015 Beijing International Film Festival on creative character design. In 2016, he was invited to a short teaching stint at the Beijing Film Academy for the subject of the producing visual effects. KQ has also been invited to share professional insights as international producer at his alma mater Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Continuing his work with prestigious brands, KQ directed an animation promo for Singapore Airlines with award-winning global creative agency TBWA in 2019.

KQ's latest movie project is with Golden Horse award-winning studio Different Digital Design, working as visual effects producer on Stephen Chow’s MERMAID 2. Keen on promoting multicultural interaction and bilingual proficiency, KQ emceed the inaugural National Tertiary Chinese Reading Festival 2019 in Singapore, where he spoke with distinguished filmmakers from Beijing and writers from Singapore. Recently, he is developing new projects in Los Angeles and Singapore, creating stories with multi-cultural teams for international markets.