Future of TV industry may rely on 'sinetron'

By Marselli Sumarno

JAKARTA (JP): The annual Indonesian Film Festival was scrapped in 1993 in response to the national film industry's decline in recent years. But the TV film industry, called sinetron, has skyrocketed since there have been five TV stations.

The third Indonesian Sinetron Festival was held on Thursday night and 44 cups were awarded in various categories. The cup for best sinetron went to Vonis Kepagian (Premature Verdict) directed by Dedi Setiadi.

The Indonesian Sinetron Festival was set up to promote and develop local TV programs, whereas the Indonesian Film Festival was grounded in the national film world. Therefore there are two questions: Will the sinetron festival fulfill its objectives? Will the festival live long?

To answer it is necessary to look at local TV programs.

The government has appealed to TV stations to get at least 70 percent of their programs locally. Although a 70 percent quota has not been reached more local programs have proven to be as good as imported ones. The series Si Doel Anak Sekolahan (Doel, the School Boy), for example, has managed to edge out the popular Baywatch series.

Asiaweek magazine splashed an attractive report in its Nov. 8 edition about the quality of local Asian programs which attracted local viewers. In short, there is no need to worry about an onslaught of imported programs.

Consequentially, local producers have to be ready to meet rising demand. Five years ago Indonesia made hundreds of sinetron programs a year. This year almost 3,000 were made. The increase is greater if music shows, quizzes, talk shows and other programs are included.

Several hundred production houses have cropped up but only a handful, those that have been involved in the film industry, are strong. Examples are Marissa Haque's PT Ratna Artha Mulia, Raam Soraya's PT Soraya Film, Gope Samptani's PT Rapi Film, Chand Warwez's PT Star Vision and, the biggest of all, Raam Punjabi's PT Multivision.

They can survive because they have adequate capital and management experience.

So it can be said TV program production in Indonesia has entered the industrial stage and become capitalistic. It is a public secret, for instance, that private TV stations have allotted air time for strong producers whose programs are certain to attract advertisements.

However, producers tend have the same interests. Sinetron series, resembling the popular South American telenovelas, are screened on Indonesia's five TV stations.

They usually have a dramatic love theme and are heavily colored with intrigue and hatred. They are set in cities and feature beautiful and handsome people. The plots are deliberately confusing to draw the series out.

Another trend is repeating national films in a mini series form. For example Badai Pasti Berlalu (The Storm Will Pass) and Si Kahayan.

The latest trend is for sinetron producers to buy the rights to popular Indonesian novels.

Sinetron programs based on popular novels (like stories by Mira W. Ike Supomo) are expected to flood TV programming next year.

But subject uniformity will bore viewers and the trend will limit program variation. People are objecting to the films being made and lamenting that only a few family programs or stories about teenagers' lives are being made, even though today's youth have many complex problems which would make for interesting television

Sinetron programs about social issues are rare. Surely viewers would be interested in everyday themes and problems which are familiar to them.

The award for Vonis Kepagian shows viewers are longing for social themes.

The story was about a female teacher, in a small town, trying to solve the rape of her ex-student and her friend. She failed because the rapist was the son of a high official who wielded his power so justice was not done.

Considering this, what are the prospects for the Indonesian Sinetron Festival? Because it is new the festival still stands in the shadow of the defunct Indonesian Film Festival.

Firstly, there is a sort of dependency on the government which restricts freedom of performance. Secondly, no limitations have been set about the type of winners as categories are more related to the production of programs.

One thing was realized at the U.S. Emmy Awards. There were various categories which all spawned a variety of attractive programs. The documentary picture Anak Seribu Pulau (Children of thousands of islands) should not be rejected just because it was not taped on video. Also, if awards are for sinetron alone, what about the best quiz and talk show producers?

Thirdly, popular and artistic programs would be assessed on their merits.

If the Indonesian Sinetron Festival could solve these problems, the sinetron industry would become a yardstick in the Indonesian TV industry's development.