Kumu and Wattpad Partner to Adapt Filipino Hit Kiss Master as a Fan-Driven Streaming Series
Kiss Master fans will have a chance to guide the 8-part series adaptation of Jamille Fumah’s Wattpad hit. The branded entertainment partnership follows a series of successful collaborations between Wattpad and Kumu.
Kumu and Wattpad are tapping into the power of fandom! Kumu, the leading social entertainment platform in the Philippines, and Wattpad, the global entertainment company and leading webnovel platform, today announced a partnership to adapt Jamille Fumah’s (@JFStories) Wattpad hit Kiss Master as an 8-episode series for multi-platform distribution. Through the power of real time engagement via Kumu’s interactive livestreams, Wattpad’s thriving fandom will have the ability to influence the project’s casting, storyline, and more.
Currently with 7.7 million reads on Wattpad, Kiss Master follows Sussie five years after Arkanghel Wolfgang broke her heart. The playful bad boy once head over heels for Sussie has since turned into a cold and arrogant billionaire CEO. Now separated not only by their social status, but also personal differences that could separate them for good, their worlds seem even further apart. But when Arkanghel reappears in her life, he attempts to mend their broken ties, but will Sussie ever be able to forgive her first kiss?
Jamille Fumah (@JFStories) is one of the most exciting Wattpad writers in the Philippines, with 1.5 million followers on the platform. With more than 30 stories published on Wattpad, her work has accumulated more than 336 million total reads. Jamille Fumah has also published five books with Bliss Books, Wattpad’s joint imprint with Anvil Publishing in the Philippines. Her latest release, When I First Met You, was a National Book Store bestseller.
The partnership will allow Wattpad and Kumu to connect with Wattpad’s massive local community of more than six million people in the Philippines - one of Wattpad’s largest markets. The country is also a home to some of Wattpad’s most influential authors and fandoms, where writers like Abigail De Silva (@CeCeLib), Gwy Saludes (@4reuminct), Tina Lata (@blue_maiden), Maxine Lat Calibuso (@maxinejiji) have amassed millions of followers and reads for their work on Wattpad.
Modern Methods for Modern Stories
Making this vision a reality is the team behind Black Sheep Productions, known for Philippine cinema hits such as Exes Baggage, Alone/Together, Fan Girl, and Whether the Weather Is Fine. Their work, both mainstream and independent, has audiences enraptured with engaging, relatable stories—made even more so now, with the reader-first, fan-driven nature of the endeavor. “We believe in Black Sheep’s capacity to adapt this story,” says Angelo Mendez, Co-founder and Chief of Content of Kumu. “Listening primarily to the fans isn’t easy, but it’s what drives Kumu, and we’re confident we can work together to stay true to that principle.”
Joining as director is Chad Vidanes who previously worked on the hit rom-com Wattpad series He’s Into Her. Bringing the character of Sussie to life is Kaori Oinuma, whose face may be especially familiar to Kumu users through the movie, Love at First Stream; Kyle Echarri, who rose to stardom on ABS-CBN’s On the Wings of Love, takes on the role of main romantic interest, Arkanghel. Adding tension and completing the love triangle is Hugo, played by Joao Constancia, who has worked with Vidanes previously and is known for his role in Four Sisters Before the Wedding.
An Enduring Partnership
“Kumu is focused on raising the voices of creative Filipinos, and through our partnership with Wattpad, we witnessed the rise of the writing community and their passionate fans inside our platform,” said Mendez. “Our expanded partnership with Wattpad is the next project in a series of fan-influenced adaptations. We’re excited to work with the Wattpad team this year to innovate the future of storytelling through this web series, nurture the community of aspiring writers, and give the fans the best, heart-warming experience possible."
“Filipino authors are some of the most successful and influential on Wattpad,” said Dexter Ong, Managing Director, International, Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. “Like Wattpad, Kumu has built a massive, passionate, and engaged community. Working with Kumu, we’ve already seen incredible engagement in the past year, connecting Wattpad authors with their fandoms on Kumu. Together, we’re creating a new frontier of the Creator Economy, developing new ways for Wattpad’s biggest influencers to monetize their work, and activate built-in fandoms to create on-screen hits.”
The partnership was developed between Wattpad Brand Partnerships and Kumu, along with marketing agency Culture Group supporting strategy and commercial negotiation. The partnership is Wattpad’s first Philippines-based Branded Entertainment project, after launching the new offering in 2021. Wattpad WEBTOON Studios will produce the new series alongside Kumu.
The partnership follows a number of successful campaigns from Wattpad and Kumu in 2021, designed to bring Wattpad’s Filipino fandom closer to the authors and stories they love. In 2021, the companies launched exclusive Wattpad livestreams from the official @WattpadPH account on Kumu. The weekly Friday “Write With Me” livestream series brought together fans and aspiring writers to discuss all things storytelling. The successful livestream series generated more than 200k views on Kumu, and was followed by the very first Wattpad Fan Fest in October. The multi-day virtual event gave fans, readers, and authors a chance to celebrate the Filipino Wattpad Community, complete with writing tips and tricks, appearances from Wattpad authors, and information about writer programs at Wattpad. Fifty local Filipino Wattpad influencers have taken part in the partnership to date.