Toiling Behind the Screens

CHLOE WONG delves into local content creator Jeremiah Chen’s journey as a YouTuber in Singapore.

“Once you set your mind on something, and you already say you're going to do it, you have to keep doing it," says Mr Jeremiah Chen. PHOTO BY: JEREMIAH CHEN

For Mr Jeremiah Chen, 29, choosing a career path was never a problem. From a young age, he had his eyes set on joining the media industry. His determination later turned out to be the biggest factor that helped him overcome the struggles of building a YouTube channel.

After completing his O-level examinations, Mr Chen took a film course in New Zealand to hone his video production skills.

“It was better to learn hands-on for me, I wanted to just learn the basics and then go on to do it by myself,” he says.

Unfortunately, good things never come easy, and Mr Chen soon realised that in order to fulfil his dreams of starting a production company, he first had to attain some capital. He ventured into sales to earn money more quickly, then went on to business development, and gradually started straying from his path.

“One thing led to another, and sooner or later I found myself doing something which I didn't really want to do,” Mr Chen says. Upon realising this, he told himself: “I have to stick to what I told myself I was going to do at the start.”

In 2016, Mr Chen left his full-time job as a salesperson to build his YouTube channel, Tropic Monsters TV (TMTV), from scratch. With this new beginning came more obstacles, and the first of which was finding his channel’s identity. He had to find ways to create content that would make him stand out from other local YouTubers.

A screenshot from TMTV’s first parody video in 2016 “Rokok (O.T. Genasis - CoCo Singapore Parody)” starring Mr Chen. PHOTO BY: JEREMIAH CHEN

“Sometimes after we posted videos, people didn’t really share or like them and it was a bit demoralising,” he recalls. “Then comes the money portion, how long can we keep creating content for free?"

Mr Chen’s family and friends questioned whether he’d “be able to earn money” or “have a future”, but it didn’t stop him from pursuing his passion. As he experimented with comedy skits, street interviews and parodies, he managed to engage wider audiences and monetise his channel.

“There will definitely be doubts everywhere, you just cannot doubt yourself. That's the most important thing,” he says.

The Covid-19 pandemic was another bump in the road, when Singapore entered the circuit breaker period. Seeing that he couldn’t film outdoors, Mr Chen created home-based content for his channel. However, things weren’t going well for his YouTube career. Although he was on the verge of giving up, he still persisted.

“I just thought to myself, ‘I cannot give up, what would people think? I would be letting so many people down,’” he says.

Mr Chen devised a plan “to give it one final shot” by utilising trending social media platforms like TikTok, and his efforts paid off.

“Even during times like the circuit breaker, he knows how to be flexible and change the content to fit whichever period he needs to,” says Ms Jamie Teo Ming Xuan, 22, who joined TMTV in 2019.

Ms Jamie Teo (right) and Mr Daryl Tang (left) filming the street interview “Who is the best at their Mother Tongue?” at Our Tampines Hub. PHOTO BY: JEREMIAH CHEN

Since then, Mr Chen has worked with notable organisations on projects, such as the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2020 Recap video. “We shot from morning all the way till 1am. Then we edited and there were so many days where we had to do overtime all the way till 11pm,” Ms Teo says. “But it was very nice, the two of us editing together, encouraging each other, and looking at the end product, it was really good.” Mr Chen also recently collaborated with Republic Polytechnic (RP), along with the Institute of Mental Health and National Council of Social Service. He worked with RP’s students on a two-part Final Year Project, consisting of a street interview video and a short film, to raise awareness about mental health. “Jeremiah did a fantastic job at leading each and every one [of us] who was involved, and he was very professional,” says Mr Razzif Bin Ismail, 20, a student who worked with Mr Chen, and a fan of TMTV since his secondary school days.

Mr Chen and his team shooting the short film “Breaking Barricades” at Republic Polytechnic. PHOTO BY: JEREMIAH CHEN

“You can really tell that he has a lot of passion for what he does,” Mr Ismail adds. With over 66,000 YouTube subscribers today, Mr Chen plans to continue growing his channel and creating new content. “I want to make different types of series that people can relate to and watch everyday, so that they can resonate with and be entertained by our content,” Mr Chen says.