In our last post, we mentioned
the importance of incentives and how Thailand loses a lot of potential
businesses from the big international studios for the lack of it. Yet, there is
no denying that the country is still attracting filmmakers from all over the
world who find other factors prevalent in the country to be attractive. In this
post we will highlight these factors.
During the one day seminar of the
Thailand International Film Festival 2013, many of the guests agreed that
Thailand is one of the best places to shoot a movie and some including Mr.
Daniel Zirilli and Mr. Andrew Pfeffer (Bangkok Dangerous, Running Scared and
etc.) shared their wonderful experiences of shooting their projects here.
During their stories, they repeatedly highlighted some of the factors that make
Thailand an attractive place to shoot. In this post, we will detail each of the
factors and share the experiences from the filmmakers to illustrate how without
the incentives, Thailand is still one of the most appealing place to shoot.
Hard working and experienced
crew: Daniel Zirilli recounted an incident on one of his earliest shoots in
Thailand when heavy equipment was urgently required for a shoot on top of a
hill and it was proving to be difficult due to some unforeseen problems. One of
the crew members solved the dilemma by lifting the equipment and went all the
way to the top without once complaining. This story is one of the many examples
of hard working attitude of the locals who are not afraid of working hard and
are always ready to brave any kind of situation. Additionally, with many upcoming film production services in the
country, more and more people are gaining the valuable experiences and thus
become what one of the guests said “the most attractive workforce for film
production in the region.”
Locations: When the
Chinese government suddenly revoked the permit to film a week prior to
shooting, Weinstein Company’s ambitious project Shanghai ran into trouble. They
had to walk away from an expensive set and find a new location in a short time.
Fortunately for them, Thailand has the locations that can double up for the
historical time China and at a lower cost. In other instances, Thailand’s
beautiful (and the popular notorious side) beat out Rio to be featured in
Hangover 2; and of course the beautiful paradise for Leonardo Di Caprio in TheBeach. The country is no short of having beautiful locations and has in fact
been a favorite for many Bollywood filmmakers who increasingly using it to
double up for places such as New York, Bahamas, to name a few.
Low cost of production:
Thailand as mentioned above was used to double up for many other locations
primarily not only because of its beautiful locations, but also of the low cost
of production. The production services down here are not only reasonably priced
but other factors including logistics and accommodation are among the best and
cheapest in the region. Moreover, sets construction is admittedly by many of
our clients one of the cheapest at the highest quality in the region. This all
contribute to the lower cost for the filmmakers and thus saving costs to a
large extent.
Excellent Infrastructure:
Thailand’s infrastructure is undeniably one of the best in the region. Many
filmmakers find it easy to shoot in Thailand and easy to transportation of the
equipment or the crew to locations quickly. In fact we have had finished shoots
that take place at 3 different locations in a single day itself!
Professional Production
Services: The guests had praised highly of the professionalism of the
production services in Thailand and this made us proud. We at Benetone Films
had strive to be the best of the crop and we value transparency and honesty
highly when servicing the clients.
Friendly atmosphere: Thailand
is popularly known as the land of smiles and this is always pleasant for the
filmmakers who come back to Thailand again and again to enjoy the hospitality
and joy of working with the locals. Moreover, Thai people are gracious and go
out of their way to make sure the visitors are comfortable. Mr. Kulthep Narula representing Benetone Films in fact shared how
during the 2010 Thai political protests, the shoot went on without any trouble a mere
distance away from the protests. Moreover the protesters were handling out
water or refreshments to the crew.
The above factors are one of the
other many others to make the filmmakers choose Thailand despite not having
incentives. In the end, we welcome you to experience the country for yourself
and for any assistance, please feel free to contact us.
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