The Email That Changed Everything
I was finishing my final year of Film & TV Production at Columbia Academy in Canada when an email appeared in my inbox that would alter the course of my life. It was from Ishadi S.K. a name that carried enormous weight in Indonesian broadcasting. A former Director of TVRI, the nation's state broadcaster, Ishadi had spent decades shaping how Indonesians consumed television. Now, he was building something new.
His message was simple and direct: he was assembling a team to launch a television station that would, in his words, shake Indonesia. He wanted young Indonesians studying abroad to come home and build it with him.
It was flattering. It was also not what I wanted.
I had moved to Canada to become a film director. Television was never the plan. So I wrote back, politely: "Pak Ishadi, thank you for the offer. It's an honor. But I want to make films, not work in television."
I thought that would be the end of it. It wasn't. His reply came quickly, and it contained a single line that dismantled my entire argument: "You can work at Trans TV and make films at the same time."
That sentence sat with me for days. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Why choose one when someone was offering both? I packed my things and flew home to Indonesia.
Forty Pioneers
In early 2000, I joined what would become the founding team of Trans TV, just forty people tasked with building a national television network from scratch. The venture was the brainchild of Chairul Tanjung, one of Indonesia's most prominent business figures, who had famously told Ishadi: "If you're tired of being fired all the time, let's just make our own television station." Together with Alex Kumara, we were given a mandate to create the roadmap for what would officially be called Televisi Transformasi Indonesia.
The name said everything about the ambition. This wasn't going to be another channel. It was meant to transform how Indonesia experienced television.
My assignment was to build the production team. Two hundred fresh graduates joined us, and for six months straight, we trained them, teaching them the craft of television production from the ground up. These were kids with no industry experience, and we needed them ready to compete with networks that had been on air for over a decade. It was intense, exhausting, and one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
Launch Day
Trans TV officially went on air on December 15, 2001, launched by President Megawati Soekarnoputri herself. We had preceded the national launch with months of trial broadcasts, starting in the Jakarta metropolitan area in July, expanding to Bandung by October, and gradually reaching major cities across Java.
What set Trans TV apart from the start was a commitment to original, in-house programming. While other new stations relied heavily on imported content, we bet on homegrown creativity. The result was a lineup that quickly became the talk of the industry: Ekstravaganza, a sketch comedy show that redefined variety television; Dunia Lain, a supernatural reality program that had viewers glued to their screens after midnight; the KD Show; and Digoda, a dangdut music showcase that tapped into Indonesia's most popular genre with fresh energy.
Among five new television stations launching in the same period, including Metro TV, Lativi, Global TV, and TV7. Trans TV emerged as the clear frontrunner. By 2002, we were broadcasting eighteen hours a day. By September of that year, we hit twenty. The industry took notice. Trans TV won the CAKRAM Award in 2002 for its innovative approach to broadcasting.
Keeping the Promise
Through all of this, Pak Ishadi's promise stayed in my mind: you can make films too. And he was right.
In December 2002, my directorial debut, Andai Ia Tahu (If Only She Knew), opened in cinemas across Indonesia. Starring Rachel Maryam and Marcell Siahaan, it was a romantic comedy about two strangers who fall in love after being trapped together in an elevator, only to be separated and spend the rest of the story trying to find each other again. The film drew over 500,000 viewers, a significant number for Indonesian cinema at the time, which was still recovering from a long period of decline.
More importantly, Andai Ia Tahu marked the birth of Transinema, the first film production division ever housed within an Indonesian television network. It was a model that didn't exist before. Television and film had always been separate worlds in Indonesia, and we were bridging them.
My second film as director under Transinema was Biarkan Bintang Menari (Let the Stars Dance), released in 2003. It was a musical, a genre that had virtually disappeared from Indonesian cinema. Starring Ladya Cheryl, fresh off her breakout role in the landmark teen film Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?, alongside Ariyo Wahab and El Manik, the film told the story of childhood friends reuniting in Jakarta, their bond tested by time and change. Leila S. Chudori, the respected film critic at Tempo magazine, called it the first Indonesian musical film of its era, a distinction that still fills me with pride.
The Next Chapter
These early years taught me something I carry to this day: the most transformative decisions often come from unexpected directions. I had said no to television. Television said, not so fast. And in the collision between what I planned and what the universe offered, I found a career that let me do both, build groundbreaking TV and make films that mattered.
By 2004, on the strength of what we had accomplished at Trans TV and Transinema, I received an offer to join RCTI, Indonesia’s first private television station and one of its largest broadcasters, as Head of Production. It was a new arena, a bigger stage, and the beginning of yet another chapter.
But that, as they say, is a story for another time.
