Gaming Drama ‘Ready Player Mum’ Tackles Grief, Family at TCCF

A brand new drama sequence exploring household bonds by on-line gaming has been chosen for the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), bringing collectively a cross-continental inventive crew anchored by veteran U.Okay. producer David Abraham and Singaporean showrunner Karl Gan.

“Ready Player Mum” follows Allie, a lady who relocates throughout continents to be along with her fiancé, solely to face his sudden demise. Left remoted in an unfamiliar land, she turns into the only real particular person able to find her grieving teenage stepson when he runs away – by monitoring him by the violent on-line battle royale recreation they as soon as performed collectively as a household.

The sequence marks a reunion of kinds for Abraham, the previous CEO of Channel 4 (2010-2017) and founding father of London-based Wonderhood Studios, with the type of tech-infused storytelling that outlined his tenure on the British broadcaster, which commissioned BAFTA-winning sequence together with “Black Mirror” and “Humans.”

“‘Ready Player Mum’ explores the changing nature of family connection and technology in a way that is entertaining and original,” Abraham says. “Karl has also created a world with the striking cultural backdrop of both U.K. and Taiwan today which will connect with audiences worldwide.”

For Gan, the idea emerged from a deeply private place throughout the COVID-19 lockdown. “During COVID lockdown, I was gaming so much by myself that my mother actually thought about starting a game just so she could have a conversation with me,” Gan says. “It honestly made me worried and paranoid that the next person I met online could be her.”

That anxiousness sparked the inventive premise: “a mother and son from two different worlds who are unable to emotionally connect in real life, but ironically, through anonymously teaming up in a vicious, bloody, online battle royale, can begin to do so.”

Gan created and served as head author for the 2024 interval boxing sequence “The Last Bout,” which earned a nomination for finest Asian TV sequence on the Busan Asia Contents & OTT Awards and received an Asian Television Award for finest manufacturing design. In 2019, “Fam!,” a sequence on which he labored, acquired an International Emmy nomination for finest comedy. He additionally served as a workers author on Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla,” which achieved the franchise’s finest opening-week gross sales.

“On Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media, it’s like everyone has constructed multiple avatars – just like in a game – to represent themselves,” Gan says. “The gaming aspects of this series are dazzling and fun, but at its core, this series revolves around two people seeking to simply connect authentically with each other and define for themselves what constitutes a family.”

Producer Holly Chan serves by Neverland Entertainment Limited. She is a Golden Horse Award nominee for finest tailored screenplay for “Stand by Me” and produced “Mad Doctor,” which received 4 Golden Bell Awards.

Creative producer Goh Ming Siu created comedy sequence “First Class” (2008) and sports activities drama “Polo Boys” (2009) at Mediacorp Studios. His function debut was “Repossession” (2019). At the 2024 TCCF, his miniseries “Pontianaks in Taiwan” received three awards.

The venture is at present in improvement. “The goal is to complete the series’ scripts and secure financing in 2026, with production scheduled to begin in 2027,” Chan says.

“At TCCF, we hope to build creative and financial partnerships that can help the project travel beyond borders – both culturally and commercially,” Chan says.

“TCCF is where the different worlds of gaming, literature, comics, film, and television intersect,” Goh says. “It is thus the perfect environment in which to find creative collaborators to help bring the different worlds of this series to life.”