Curious Films’ Peter Grasse took to the Adfest stage this week to argue for importance of production values and giving producers time to come up with exceptional creative solutions. But he ended his panel discussion with a surprising twist.

In order to prove his point, he wants to help the four countries that have never won a Lotus at Adfest by offering to produce an amazing idea from one of the countries… for free. The hope is that he can use the challenge to prove just how effective great production can be and that next year he can help bulk out the trophy cabinets in these places.

Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Brunei are the four countries in question, each has struggled to have its voice heard at the regional festival. Countries like Japan and Thailand have established production communities and plenty of home grown talent and so perform well year after year, and Peter is hoping to bring a little movie magic to those places with less of a film production heritage.

“It’s not about money, it’s about finding solutions. I guarantee that whatever the idea is that we choose, it won’t be a toothpaste, it will be something that we all care about,” said Peter, speaking to Little Black Book after his session.

The rest of the session, ‘Production Value Redefined’, examined how great production can elevate a project. Peter was joined by Cutters, ADK Singapore and Alt.vfx.