Derek is the cofounder of Viddsee, a creator platform for premium short form content with over 3B+ views, 40M+ monthly reach, and 5K+ filmmakers.
With 15 years as a media and technology leader, Derek has worn multiple hats – from developing products to selling content IPs. And his passion lies in growing communities around content, building empathy with IPs and characters, and driving action through impactful storytelling to shape culture.
Guest Author: Derek Tan
Reinvention is key in doing what you love!
Jack Neo is a storyteller that I admire over the years for his mindset to grow, to change and reinvent to the ever-changing technologies, especially in our media industry.
For those who don’t know him, Jack Neo is a Singaporean filmmaker, comedian and actor. He’s popular for being one of the few filmmakers (if not, only) to consistently make over 1M in the Singapore box office for his movies.
Growing up, I watched him on TV as an actor/comedian
As Singapore entered our golden age of films in the 90s, he started making movies as a filmmaker, director and writer
In recent years, I started seeing him on my Tiktok feed
He even launched an e-commerce live-streaming platform!
Watch his films, and you realise how much he’s on trend too. With the trend of e-commerce live-streaming in his Durian movie, and NFTs/cryptocurrency in the latest “Money No Enough” movie.
Audience is at the heart of what he does
While many creators hone our craft in scripts or production,
Craft to him is a constant understanding of audience
And that is also why we tell stories
To entertain, to inspire lives with our observations of the people stories around us
What I learnt from Jack is his dedication to understanding audiences. And even at 60+, he is not afraid to reinvent with the changing technology in how we tell stories to audiences. And in the process, doing what he loves to do!
And I’m taking that lesson to reinvent myself as I explore how I continue to do what I love to do – working with creators to add value to audiences as I move from entertainment to knowledge stories.
P.S. How have you reinvented yourself?
P.P.S We always take a photo when we meet! Jack Neo has watched me grown since I first started my startup Viddsee and reinvented myself over the years building the company up. And he’s always the champion in the industry, ecosystem and what we set up to build!
#storytelling#growth#reinventyourself
