SINGAPORE— A television producer known for borrowing Western program formats is giving reality TV a new spin.

After adapting shows like “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader” and “America’s Next Top Model” for the Singapore audience, David Searl, senior vice president of Content Partnerships (Star TV), is producing the first original Asian reality TV series.

Searl sees more than just ratings in the slice-of-life, unscripted show “HP Space.” The eight one-hour episode series, which debuts across Asia on Star World and Channel [V] this month, will feature artists from different fields in a new creative challenge each week.

They will showcase their art using the latest, cutting-edge product innovations from Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest technology company (as ranked by Wikipedia). Plugging the gap between art and technology? The buck stops with these artists.

“It’s going to be very exciting to watch these charismatic, talented young Asians bloom,” Searl said in a press con that introduced the 16 finalists last week at the Gallery Hotel. “It will be an adventure that will push them out of their comfort zones.”

Pinoys competing

Searl acknowledged that taking the spin-off route is more sponsorship-friendly and less risky, but he believes a new format is “potentially more financially rewarding.” That is, he said, if the Asian audience warms up to “HP Space’s” approach, which does not focus on surveillance or voyeurism, unlike some widely franchised shows, like “Big Brother.”

Thus, the new show exposes the artists to complex creative challenges minus the controversies that are customary reality show fare. They need not appeal for viewer votes, either. Acknowledged gurus in design, film, advertising and music have been enlisted, not only as mentors but as guest jurors. There will be two permanent judges: Japanese inventor Ban Yih Jheow and Australian advertising maven Sean Cummins, both internationally renowned.

The finalists will face individual and group challenges until Dec. 31. A single winner will bring home the US$50,000 prize money and get a full-time job on the live action feature film adaptation of the cult anime classic, “Bubblegum Crisis,” in Australia.

Searl said excellent audition pieces drove the selection committee to up the number of finalists from 12 to 16, picked from a field of 2,000.

The top 16 include two Filipinos— Manila-based music video director Rafael Francisco, 37, and Hong Kong Disney performer Adrienne Vergara, 25. Like the 14 others, Francisco and Vergara each submitted the required one-minute video pitch, which qualified them for the recent live audition in Singapore.

The rest of the finalists are: illustrator Admira Pustika (Indonesia); architect Brandon Liu, entrepreneur Daniel Tran and art director David Tan (Australia); design students Eric Zhang Hailin and Lora Lee (China); director/producer Kaz Cai (Singapore); music video director Liu Ming-Chun (Taiwan); graphic designer Note Pongsuang Kunprasop (Thailand); graphic designer Phan Huynh Trung (Vietnam); photographer Rohit Ferreira and visual artist Sawan (India); filmmaker Tan Chung Han (Malaysia); motion grapher Uni Lee (Korea).

Manila-based Francisco, a familiar name in the local music video circuit, said the competition has a more straightforward mission than the more popular reality shows. “It’s the ideas that take center stage,” Francisco told the Inquirer, comparing the show to character-focused programs.

“They’re pitching the show as a ‘Project Runway’ type,” added Vergara, who resigned from HK Disney when she made it to the final cut. “They’re more interested in the output.”

Although the contestants are clueless about the challenges, Franciso said they will likely be collaborating as they did for the live audition. Francisco and Vergara’s team was asked to re-define the laptop for 2030. The group thought up an “HP dot in different colors” — a dot-size laptop that can be worn as an accessory. All the team members made it to the finals.

The element of surprise is also very engaging, added Vergara, who recalled that when the contestants arrived in Singapore, they were asked to learn Bollywood dancing. “We don’t know what we are going to do next,” she said.

Franciso, whose latest directing project was Sarah Geronimo’s music video, “Christmas Girl,” has done about 70 music videos. “Name a popular singer,” he said, “and I’ve probably done a music video for that artist.” He has also made audition videos for “Amazing Race” contenders, ABS-CBN executives Gina and Ernie Lopez and TV hosts Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez.

A competitive bodybuilder and extreme sports enthusiast, Francisco recalled saying to himself when he came across an “HP Space” ad: “It’s coming at a time when I want to move on to the next level, a bigger stage beyond the Philippines.” Francisco’s audition video shows him tied up and being urged to unleash his creativity, while his credentials flash on the screen: music video director, screenwriter, cinematographer, session musician, “man’s best friend.”

Vergara, a product of the Philippine High School for the Arts’ Dulaang Sipat Lawin and the University of the Philippines’ Dulaang UP, looks forward to the show’s unpredictability. As a HK Disney performer, she recalled, she played the same roles in the same shows since the theme park opened in 2005.

“We [presented] our 8,000th show this year,” she said. “I’ve done almost 4,000 shows. I can do them with my eyes closed. I just felt stuck, and I was craving change... when I saw the ‘HP Space’ ad. My mom said, ‘You have to join.’”

Splash of neurosis

“HP Space” is out to show that art is keeping up with technology, said Vergara. “Anybody can be a techie but to infuse creativity? That’s what sets us apart from the regular techie.”

Her audition video, which she shot and directed herself, shows her as a musician, cultural dancer and visual artist. She dressed up as her idol, Lady Gaga. Her closing spiel: “Creativity... is resourcefulness and a splash of neurosis.”

Both Pinoy artists consider the show as much a journey of discovery as a venue to make it big in their fields. Franciso, who has also done a lot of TV commercials, would like to do a feature film next. “I want to make the most out of this [competition],” he said. “Make connections. Have fun. Win.”

Vergara concluded: “As a Miss Gay Philippines finalist once said, ‘I have to feel good because when I feel good, I do good... and when I do good, I’m the winner. Thank you.’”

(“HP Space,” to be hosted by Asian VJ Paula Malai Ali, premieres in Manila tomorrow at 9 p.m. on Star World.)