Haresh Tilani posted his first Ministry of Funny video on their YouTube channel in November 2011. Back then, he was still juggling a non-comedy full-time job in the e-commerce industry.
After filming videos in his spare time after work for nearly three years, Haresh and his co-founder, Terence Chia, finally went full-time into Ministry of Funny in May 2014.
Just Film One Video Every Week For One Year, And See Where That Takes Us
Despite being confident in creating good video content, Haresh had no revenue model or business plan. In fact, the only plan “was to film one video every week for one year, and see where that takes us”.
Despite just starting and being in their early 30s, Haresh and his co-founder instantly felt like dinosaurs in the content generation scene. All of their peers were much younger. This drove the duo to think outside of just catching new trends.
Rather than see it as a disadvantage, the Haresh began tackling deeper or more sensitive issues that they had more experience and thoughts about compared to their younger peers. This included topics like xenophobia, sexual harassment, and even terrorism, among many others.
An early video on Ministry of Funny was about Awkward situations only an Indian would understand, which garnered over 3.4 million views on YouTube. He didn’t stop there, Ministry of Funny also went on to create videos on awkward situations that Malays and Chinese commonly find themselves in. This is one way “we try to be socially conscious when tackling such topics with comedy”.
Within six months Ministry of Funny gained sufficient traction that clients started reaching out to them to work on projects together within six months.
Read Also: 5 Questions With…Karl Mak, CEO & Co-Founder of SGAG
The Content Generation Scene Is Constantly Evolving
Even though Ministry of Funny started on YouTube, it quickly became apparent that they had to also be on other platforms – Facebook, Instagram and others – and even explore other content formats – audio and even longer-form content. Haresh has also delved into acting and stand-up comedy.
In 2016, Ministry of Funny received a cold email from HBO. Haresh had to google the name of the person who sent it to him to verify it was legitimate. After responding, “it blew my mind when they wanted to cast me as the lead actor because I didn’t have any prior experience”.
This led to Haresh to work on SeNT – HBO’s first English comedy in Asia – alongside experienced actors in Singapore such as Adrian Pang and working with writers from Hollywood to develop the show.
Haresh subsequently won their first network pitch for a new T.V. programme “She’s A Terrorist And I Love her”.
Haresh shared that he’s really proud to have won the pitch as it was an open call from around Asia – meaning there were 500 to 600 submissions. Many of these came from big and experienced production houses that had made T.V. shows before.
“We made it to the final 10, the final 5, made a pilot, and came up against experienced teams from Malaysia, Indonesia (and) Thailand, and we won the whole thing. We made the T.V. show, and when it was launched it became the network’s most watched original in Singapore for the first two months and got a lot of good reviews in the local mainstream media”.
“We were also nominated for two Asian Creative Academy Award for Best Comedy and Best Orginal Programme by a Streamer. This was our baby – our first T.V. production that we saw end-to-end. It was a huge, huge thing for us”.
Hit By The Pandemic In 2020 – But Back Stronger In 2021
A lot of their longer-form filming gigs got postponed in 2020 because of the pandemic. Shorter Ministry of Funny videos leveraged on on-the-street-type of set-ups, which also had to stop because of Circuit Breaker. And even when people returned to the streets, they had to ask themselves whether it was responsible to continue such video formats.
Haresh also saw many of his advertisers cut their spending on advertising and content creation.
Rather unexpectedly, the network running “She’s A Terrorist And I Love her” liquidated two weeks before Circuit Breaker, which was another big hit to the team.
Today, Ministry of Funny has pivoted to become executive producers of T.V. show projects. Ministry of Funny is currently piloting Vasantham’s “Mars Poiyi Sernthuttom”, a sitcom about creating a Singapore Tamil colony on Mars, and another Channel 8 programme titled The Amazing Showman. Haresh is also piloting an audible original, an audio story set in the not-so-distant-future where humans can sell shares in themselves.
With the future of Ministry of Funny looking brighter than ever, we caught up with Haresh for our 5 Questions With… feature to find out more about his entrepreneurial journey.
Dinesh: You were juggling a day job while trying to start-up Ministry of Funny as a business. What were your main challenges doing this, and do you think it was the best way to get started?
Haresh: Not being able to do it full-time from Day 1. Doing anything part-time makes it very difficult, and you cannot build on good momentum.
But I wouldn’t do it any other way. Starting on the side made a lot of sense and allowed us to experiment with content, format and get better, while not depending on it for our livelihood.
I recommend anyone who wants to make such a switch to try it on the side first. This also forces you to be focused and efficient. Before going full-time, I could also build a buffer so that not having revenue and income in the first six months was tolerable.
Dinesh: In the last decade or so, we’ve seen the rise of content creators and micro-influencers. Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and so many more have made it increasing easy to create and distribute content as well. How do you stay relevant in such a fast-changing environment?
Haresh: Staying relevant is trying to keep track of what’s happening in the content space. Not just in your country and region, but what is going on elsewhere like in the US – and can be a guide to what’s going to happen in Singapore eventually.
It’s also not just about just knowing what’s trending. You must have a voice, and people value this unique voice from a content producer.
Dinesh: You’re in the content creation industry. So, what are some local content producers you think Singaporeans should watch?
Haresh: There are a lot of other well-known channels and people, so I want to give a shout-out to some who are maybe lesser known but are creating awesome content.
First is a Duo of instagrammers peekmaister and frsmri. It’s not just slapstick comedy. They have very good chemistry between them, and a unique style. Their vertical videos are also made for social media consumption.
Second, Forehead to Heaven – but their last video was 10 months ago, so I hope they do it more. It’s like V/O over old tv footage.
Dinesh: It’s not always as fun as it sounds to work in a career you’re passionate about or being your own boss. But what’s one thing that you really enjoy doing?
Haresh: Running our podcast Ya Lah But is something I find really fun. Terence and I debate the latest news using comedy. You understand, but you also “ya la, but…” or have an alternative point of view.
A big discovery was also that our followers wanted to engage with us and themselves (based on our content) on reddit. One of our listeners actually set up our sub-reddit. We now paste every episode there. It’s been surprisingly thoughtful and constructive. People even make memes out of it, and that’s awesome. There’s now over a thousand members.
Dinesh: What’s the one advice you have for aspiring YouTubers or TikTokers (is it a thing yet)?
Haresh: Just start uploading content as much and as often. Don’t wait for the perfect piece of content. The faster you do it, the better you get.
Subscribe To The DollarsAndSense Business Pass
Enjoy what you are reading and want more? Join The DollarsAndSense Business Pass and unlock access to valuable tools, exclusive networking opportunities, and tap into the wisdom of industry experts to fuel your business expansion!
