JKS Entertainment, 1ON Studios recruit TikTok stars for Kazakh YA drama

@Homm9k and @Raidess in young adult mystery drama Target

Kazakhstan media company JKS Entertainment has teamed with a local production company on a mystery drama for young adults set in an elite private school.

Target (8×30′), an English-language coproduction between JKS and Almaty-based 1ON Studios, features an ensemble cast of popular TikTok vloggers.

Global rights are currently available to the show, which began filming in Almaty earlier this month and is due to be completed in the fall. A second season is already in development, according to the producers.

The show revolves around a high school senior and his friends, who attend an elite private school and start to receive mysterious targeted messages on social media that predict real-life events.

The ensemble cast includes @Lunamccall and @Raidess together with @Homm9k, officially recognised as one of the world’s most influential TikTokers with 43.3 million followers.

JKS Entertainment’s Beksultan Kazybek said: “I’ve long had a dream to create competitively cool content with our TikTokers as I wanted to show that they can be actors, too.”

1ON Studios’ Temirlan Ataulla and Oleg Dyo said in a joint statement: “It was obvious that sooner or later an international scripted series with Kazakh TikTokers and talents would be made. There was a desire to collect the best representatives of the industry.

“The TikTok stars are the new media elite. You have to agree, making a story about a school played by high school idols is a pretty appealing idea. Our mission is to create a special, comfortable space to work together with international crews and talents, and to develop content that will resonate in global markets.”