Singapore stunt school Sandbox faces bankruptcy, dealing blow to film and theatre industry

SINGAPORE – Action director Peps Goh’s dream of boosting stunt actor training and best practices for the local action industry has been grounded. The 31-year-old founder of Sandbox Training Ground faces bankruptcy and his school at Raeburn Park may close ahead of its September 2026 lease expiration.

Sandbox Training Ground is one of the few stunt training schools in Singapore, which faces a scarcity of action productions due to lack of investment and a small stunt actor pool.

Since its founding in 2021, Goh estimates that Sandbox has trained 200 actors under its system but is facing limited growth as stunt actors – who might be paid around $120 for a day of work – cannot afford to upgrade skills.

He tells The Straits Times that the “crushing weight” of commercial rental costs – Sandbox pays about $17,000 in rent and overheads monthly – is killing the school.

“I hope we can be free of the weight of the rental on our backs, because we’ve been spending so much time just trying to make money to feed a space,” says Goh, who has been bounced around arts, sports and media funding bodies to no success.

It is a scenario familiar to commercial players in the arts and entertainment sector – with the

closure of indie cinema The Projector

after 10 years,

arts and craft businesses ineligible for subsidised arts housing

and

the closure of local bookstores

. Combined with Singapore’s small audience pool and steep rental costs, arts businesses navigate a challenging terrain.

When Sandbox announced its impending closure on Instagram on Nov 17 – save for a “Singapore Bruce Wayne” who could fund $100,000 to tide the company to the end of its lease or $15 million to restructure the entire business – the news was met with sadness from the local acting community.

Actor Zheng Geping commented that it was “heartbreaking” to hear the news. “Our industry needs a film action training school like Sandbox. We are falling too far behind in many areas compared with the rest of the region.”

Actors who have trained with Sandbox include former Hong Kong TVB actor Alan Wan and Singaporean actresses Apple Chan and Tay Ying, who is Zheng’s daughter. 

Theatre actress and choreographer Tan Rui Shan says the issue has resonated with members of the arts community – who are calling for help from the likes of the National Arts Council and the Infocomm Media Development Authority – precisely because problems like rental and lack of support for skills development plague the industry.

She worked with Goh for the fight choreography in

Singapore Repertory Theatre’s action-packed Macbeth

.

Tan, who praises Goh for bringing safe practices to stunt work, tells ST: “We need to support this kind of skill development, places and platforms, so that the people who are actually doing the work can feel supported. If the country doesn’t recognise this is an investment we can make for the local talent here, then we will just keep getting stuck in this vicious circle of creative output rather than excellence.”

Goh cites the South Korean government’s subsidies for stunt actors’ training, leading to an action boom in the country, and urges the Singapore Government to look beyond the “immediate return on investment” when supporting the industry. Even local projects for action shoots have gone to vendors abroad, he says.

Ironically, he is starring in the mockumentary Sandbox, which is premiering on Nov 30 at the Singapore International Film Festival. The movie, which also stars Benjamin Kheng, Estelle Fly, Nathan Hartono, Xuan Ong, Fauzi Azzhar and Oon Shu An, tells the story of a group of friends trying to rescue a declining stunt school. 

Goh, who plans to leave Singapore for Hollywood for his stunt acting career if there is no way to save the business, says: “It’s not right to say that Singaporeans don’t like action – just see the top 10 highest-grossing box-office shows in Singapore. Singaporeans love action; they just don’t watch Singaporean action.”

He is appealing for funds, but is also clear-eyed that the industry requires structural change.

Goh laments: “It’s been four years, but the industry seems to refuse change.”