What would a collaboration between up-and-coming actress Tay Ying, Star Search 2019 winner Zhang Ze Tong, well-known actor Gurmit Singh, and TV host and comedian Hossan Leong look like?
A comedy show? A spy thriller? Well, in a locally-produced mini series, it will be a romantic drama series that follows the love story between a guy and a girl who managed to find love against all odds, like a disapproving family and the lingering memories of a former girlfriend.
Singapore’s very own “Julia Quinn”?
If the storyline sounds as if it is full of the usual romance tropes, such as the stern mother who poses an obstacle to an otherwise loving couple as she believes she is acting in her son’s best interest, that’s because the creator of the original story deliberately made it that way.
The 25-year-old Singaporean writer, known as "Noelle" on Wattpad -- a social storytelling platform for writers to share their stories and for others to enjoy -- told Mothership that she had written “Slow Dancing” to celebrate her turning 21 and leaving her teenage years behind.
“It was a way for me to say goodbye to my childhood, so I incorporated a lot of the tropes that I used to read and love as a young girl into the story,” she said.
Having written 15 stories -- most of them about young, budding romances -- on Wattpad, Noelle is no stranger to the world of fiction writing.
She first started writing when she was seven -- her mum had made her practise writing a paragraph each day to improve her English.
But later on at the age of 15, she posted her writings online so more people could read her stories.
“Slow Dancing” is her work that received the most number of views so far. With more than 10.5 million reads from readers in multiple countries, the story outperformed many other works on the Wattpad platform.
While Noelle herself wasn’t entirely sure why this story in particular has resonated with so many people, it probably isn’t too much of a stretch to think that the blossoming romance between a girl and her crush of many years, which risks falling apart due to a lie, would do well among young readers who are looking to immerse themselves in an elaborate fictional world where a swoon-worthy male lead was the centre of attention.
Without giving much away, the story is full of twists and turns. The female lead (Isla) decided to step in after the billionaire guy (Kaden) she had been infatuated with since she was 16 became blind temporarily from a car crash that took the life of his fiancée (Evangeline).
To help free him from the shackles of the past, Isla impersonated Evangeline, with the help of Kaden’s friends and family.
That’s a lot of drama to unpack in six half-hour episodes.
Story extremely well-received by readers
Recalling the challenges she faced in the course of completing the 40-chapter series, which she took 10 months to finish, Noelle said she had to write an additional 15 chapters to satisfy the growing demand from readers -- all while maintaining consistent updates.
This was done in response to the explosion of popularity that her story received.
But her efforts were not in vain. “Slow Dancing” became the first Wattpad story that got picked up to be adapted into a print-to-screen show in Singapore.
When Noelle first heard the news, she was “really surprised” as she had not expected it.
But coupled with the initial excitement she felt, she also felt a little nervous as she didn’t think her story was “interesting enough” to be adapted into a drama series. Nevertheless, she said she is “very grateful and blessed” to have received this opportunity.
Commenting further on the characters that she had created, Noelle said she likes Kaden’s work ethic and his sense of responsibility towards the people he loves. But that doesn’t mean he is without faults.
“He could definitely work on being more emotionally open,” she said.
She added that while Kaden seems to be quite a popular character among her readers, she does not see him as an ideal romantic partner, for her at least.
As for Isla, Noelle said she deliberately made Isla’s personality different from her own so she could look at the character “more objectively”. Still, they share some similarities.
“I like to think that we are both quite bubbly and optimistic in certain ways,” Noelle said.
Fresh faces
Bringing the story alive in a drama adaptation are Tay Ying -- the daughter of veteran local actors Zheng Geping and Hong Huifang -- who plays two different roles, Isla and Evangeline, as well as Zhang Ze Tong, winner of Star Search 2019, who plays Kaden.
The two, whose chemistry on set was evident to viewers, even revealed that they lost their first onscreen kiss to each other.
Gurmit Singh and Hossan Leong in serious acting roles
Besides the two rising actors, the show also featured local comedians Gurmit Singh and Hossan Leong in roles that presented a more serious side that audiences are perhaps not really used to seeing.
Leong played Kaden’s elderly family butler who had to fight to keep his emotions at bay after witnessing some of the tragedies that happened to the family over the years, while Singh played Isla’s father who had lasting regrets of his own about his late wife.
But the two were never on set at the same time -- perhaps because the director thought it would be hard to maintain a serious atmosphere with both of them on set. As Leong put it in an interview with local radio station GOLD 905, that would have been “chaos”.
Recounting a funny anecdote that happened during filming, Leong said he had farted during a scene, and because “no one said cut”, he continued to say his lines as if nothing had happened.
It is unknown if the actual scene made it to the final cut of the show as Leong revealed that his fart was a “silent” one that only the soundman caught.
Sharing about the challenges they faced while filming, Leong said the director advised him to slow down and not to rush his lines as he is a comedian who is used to delivering snappy punchlines.
For Singh, filming could get quite “dreary” at times, but he tried to lighten the atmosphere on set by joking around with staff members and his fellow cast members on set when they weren’t filming.
It was also a way to help actors lighten up so they don’t carry the emotions from the set back home, he said.
Considering how fervent readers of “Slow Dancing” said reading the book was like taking a roller coaster ride, that might have been rather useful.
Find out what this story that captured the hearts of millions of readers across the world is about here on meWATCH!
This sponsored piece by Mediacorp makes the writer look forward to more home-grown content.
Top image via Mediacorp.