SeNT: A tale about tech mishap

SINGAPORE — From Taiwan as locale for The Teenage Psychic, HBO Asia brought a motley of characters to Singapore as their playground, so to speak, for its first original comedy-drama series titled SeNT.

The narrative will go beyond the island city-state’s famed cityscape and showcase its rich cultural diversity.

“Singapore is a potpourri of cultures, different races. You have Chinese characters. You have Indian characters. (You have) Malay characters. You even have foreign (characters),” shared Alaric Tay, the show’s director and co-producer, with The STAR and other print media outfits from the region in a group interview.

The word “foreign,” Alaric added, refers to persons who do not belong to the three “ethnic groups” he had mentioned. “I think it is a side of Singapore that is interesting to know and the way the characters speak in the show is the way a lot of Singaporeans speak as well,” he added.

Televiewers will hear a lot of Singlish — one of the variations of English or part of the so-called World Englishes — when SeNT premieres on Sept. 17 at 9 p.m. on HBO. 

Alan Wong’s party guy Max finds a freelance interior designer wife in Carla Dunareanu’s Zoey

“A lot of the stories take place in various offices and a couple of homes,” said the director of the story milieu, which includes a landed property, a location in the old estate Tiong Bahru built during the colonial times and a hippie café.

Again, these will serve as play areas for lead character Jay Bunani (portrayed by Haresh Tilani), whose “hot e-mails” accidentally get sent out to a list of individuals who have angered him; couple Zoe and Max Wong (Carla Dunareanu and Alan Wong; journalist Charley Siew (Rosalind Pho); and Zacheus Lee (Adrian Pang).

With that technology mishap, disaster follows as the first episode implies and the comedy takes off from there.

“It’s a little bit more naturalistic comedy,” shared Alaric of the genre. “You see these characters caught up in ridiculous situations. And hence, the comedy. Not so much, you know, falling-on-a-banana-peel type of comedy. That’s not what we are after. So more naturalistic comedy for sure.”

Before taking the director’s chair, Alaric was an actor and remains a reliable one. He has shown his versatility in The Noose (comedy, which ran for eight seasons) and Serangoon Road (drama) and has done short films. Given his on-cam and off-cam credentials, one can say that Alaric is an actor’s director. SeNT is his first TV series directorial assignment.      

“I think they’re both complementary to each other,” he said. “Being an actor helps me become a better director. Being a director helps me become a better actor.”

Alaric the actor appreciates a director who gives him that creative freedom to interpret his role and breathe life into it. “I would appreciate very much if the director was not specific (with) what he wanted me to do, but would give me emotions or put me in a moment… He gives me an objective and I navigate my way there. Usually, that’s more productive rather than say, now look to camera left, take two steps to your right, react and then turn left… I like it when my director puts me in a moment of the story and tells me where to end up and then I just navigate my way.” This is what his SeNT actors had experienced during their taping days and Alaric was weighed but found not wanting. His artists had only good words for him.

Alaric Tay, director and co-producer of HBO Asia Originals’ first comedy drama series: It’s a little bit more naturalistic comedy. You see these characters caught up in ridiculous situations; hence, the comedy.

According to Alaric, the thought of him playing Jay did cross the mind of the show’s think tank. However, he was “pretty straight up with HBO guys,” and knew the challenges of acting and directing at the same time. “I told them, ‘I don’t think it would be efficient,’” he recalled. “‘I don’t think you would get the best performance out of me if that would be the case. I could either be your actor or director.’ I think they took a chance (on) me by saying, ‘Why don’t you direct this? You want to do that and we let someone else take on the lead role.’ I’m perfectly happy with that.”

Alaric was involved in SeNT’s development process but not directly in writing the script. “I contributed ideas and I was in the room when they were (brainstorming). If there was anything that I was to provide, (it was) the visual reference,” he shared. Among his contributions was Max and Zoe’s relationship, a bit based on his experience and friends’ relationships.

How was his transition like from being a film director to TV series director?

“I think from the experience that I had previously, the films that I shot and worked on involved me in a lot of making key decisions,” Alaric replied. “I think if you have a television series as huge as this, I’m not just the key decision maker. I have a whole team of people who sit together and make decisions together. So the amount of team decision-making is a lot. It’s 10 times more than a small film that I have done before.”

Alaric considered working on SeNT a refreshing experience because of the constructive inputs. “One thing stands true though — whether it’s film or television work — screen work is a collaborative art. You have to consider everybody, especially key decision makers and the process. The final result is never one-person’s vision. It’s everyone’s input. Otherwise, it won’t work.”

(SeNT will be streaming on HBO GO and also available on HBO On Demand. For online users, they can access the first episode on HBO Asia’s website from Sept. 18 to 24.)