Mandarin-language series “The Fundamentals” won Taiwan’s first Serial Bridges Asia Co-Pro Pitch prize in the French city of Lille Wednesday afternoon, taking home the right to apply for $65K funding – not actual cash – and face time with Germany’s Beta Film.

This unusual prize arrangement didn’t diminish the impact of the quantum leap in the revised structure and quality of Taiwan’s producers’ pitches at Series Mania this year.

Neither did it mask Taiwan’s ambitions to expand its footprint in Asia, led by government agency TAICCA, which said today that Thailand was joining the Serial Bridges Asia development initiative for the first time in 2026,

Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency (CEA) will host the next edition of the workshop in Bangkok in July, followed by participation in the Taiwan Creative Content Festival (TCCF) in Taipei in November. The best projects will return to Series Mania in 2027, TAICCA CEO, Erica Wang, said in Lille this afternoon.

“The Fundamentals”, a 7x45-min thriller set in a remote mountain village, is about an investigation that turns dark when the trail leads to a secret cult and a city detective faces a chilling question: can truth survive when belief begins to shape reality.

The Taiwan/Singapore series from Volos Films/Akanga Film Asia is directed by Siew-Hwa Yeo and produced by Stefano Centini, Fran Borgia and Ai-leng Tan.

“The Fundamentals” was one of four finalists pitching in this year’s upsized programme involving producers from Taiwan, Singapore, the U.K. Thailand and the Philippines.

“Ready Player Mum”, presented by Singapore writer Karl Gan, is a coming of age collaboration between Singapore, the U.K., and Taiwan. The six-episode series, about a quirky 40-year-old Englishwoman and her Taiwanese fiancé, explores the family and growth through the lens of gaming. The series is produced by David Abraham and Holly Yu-Shan Chan / Neverland Entertainment and Wonderhood Studios.

The third project was “Emperor's Shit”, a Thai-Taiwanese co-production from writer and director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (“A Useful Ghost”). The six-part dark comedy/satire set in an ancient Japanese ryokan is about a group of Thai tourists who find themselves entangled in chaos that leads to a murder in the hotel’s onsen.

The final project, “Never the Bride”, an eight-episode Philippine-Taiwan dramedy about Asian luxury weddings, won the TCCF pitch in November 2025. The series, presented in Lille by writer Liza Dino and producer Stefano Centini, stars Jodie Sta. Maria.