iDreamin: Helping Young Creatives Break Into The Industry

You’re young, you have ideas and you’re trying to get a foothold in the media industry. Problem is, no one will give you the time of day so what are you going to do about it?

If you’re Emmy Teo, you get two of your friends together to start your own creative talent incubator.

Launched in 2009, iDreamin, according to the 24-year old aspiring scriptwriter, was borne out of a frustration with the lack of opportunities in Singapore for young creatives to showcase their work. “I feel that the Singapore media is pretty much monopolised by broadcasters such as Mediacorp. We want to provide a platform for young creative talent to showcase their portfolio online and at the same time, we want to help matchmake them to [industry players such as] broadcasters, music publishers and advertising agencies.”

How iDreamin works

Think of it as an online Creatives R’ Us that lets members upload their portfolios and sell their services online. The company also networks with media companies and “encourages them to come to our website and engage them.”

According to Teo, the company is presently working with 15 local companies, including Universal Music, Ocean Butterflies, 77th Street and OCBC. “We have companies asking us to manually outsource talent to them as well. I’d say we have a pretty good number of projects going on each month.”

A key feature of iDreamin is that it has an integrated online sales service that allows members to accept and be paid for projects online. Similarly, media companies can also leave testimonials for the freelancers they’ve worked with on the site.

Constructing new plans

Launched with money raised from family and friends as well as $50K in funding from MDA’s iJAM programme, iDreamin currently has around 8,000 members, of which approximately 900 are creative talent.

However despite the steady stream of business that iDreamin has been getting, Teo tells us that the company is currently undergoing a revamp and that it is looking to concentrate its focus on a specific sector in the media industry, a decision which came about after the team returned from their trip to Silicon Valley, which they undertook as participants of IDA’s iStart programme.

“When we were in Silicon Valley, the main concern raised was that we didn’t have a focus. We’re trying to do everything in the arts, music and advertising industries. Even though we have traction, talent and clients here in Singapore, it wasn’t enough for the investors and people we talked to. Over there, the entrepreneurs are so good in what they do. For example, if they choose to go into event management, they might just concentrate on the ticketing portion and excel in that area,” says Teo.

“Coming back from America, we realized that in order to bring the company to the next level, we have to focus on a niche. So we’re currently conducting market research and working on a plan to relaunch a whole new website sometime in the middle of the year.”

On where she sees the company in five years time, Teo says, “We definitely have plans to move to Silicon Valley and my [eventual] goal is to partner 90 percent of the art schools in the world. I think that’s the best way to get creative talent.”