A South Korean Studio Is Making A TV Show Based On This Malaysian Author's Books

It's a breakthrough for Maslina Yusoff, who will have her children's book series, 'Mila', turned into an animated TV series.

Mila is a nine-book series that follows the adventures of the main character, a little girl named Milla who has big, curly hair. It is one of the bestsellers on Amazon's list of top 50 books.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the South Korean studio H Culture, took place at the 10th Kuala Lumpur Trade and Copyright Centre (KLTCC) last Friday, 28 April.

"I'm really excited to see Mila come to life through the TV series, and I'm humbled that my character has garnered attention from an international studio. I believe it will be well-received by everyone and I hope it will go far," Maslina told Bernama.

H Culture President and animation director, Sukhwa Hong, echoed Maslina's sentiments. He shared his love and excitement for Mila's unique character and believes that the story is a heartwarming one.

"The character will resonate well with audiences. No doubt, producing a high-quality animation series will take time, but I believe with a great team and passion, we will have a great story to tell," Hong said.

According to Maslina, it was her daughter, who used to have "big curly hair" when she was a little girl that inspired the main character of the book.

"To my daughter, her hair was the biggest trouble but to me, it was the cutest and funniest thing I had seen."

"When it came to naming my main character, my daughter suggested 'Mila' simply because the name is easy to pronounce by anyone who reads the book. And that’s how Mila was created," Maslina was quoted as saying by an Indonesian site, Baltyra, back in 2014.

In 2014, Maslina's children's books received overwhelming responses from China's publishing companies.

Following the huge success, the books were translated and published in Malaysia by Fazamas Books and Buku Prima, as well as Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Born in Johor Bahru, she has certainly come a long way since graduating from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), majoring in Graphics.

She was with a Japanese advertising agency and climbed her way up to become the Art Director before she left to start an advertising firm with her husband in 2000, and finally realising her dream to write and illustrate children's books.

It was reported that Maslina is planning to expand on the characters in Mila's world for the 52-episode TV series.

She will play an active role in the upcoming adaptation, serving as a scriptwriter and supervising the character development.

According to media reports, the animated series is expected to make its debut in September while a trailer will be introduced to pitch potential buyers in France, the U.K. and Poland.

Hong said that the development of the entire series is expected to take two years.