Foreign directors shoot 196 movies, series and adverts in Thailand

Foreign film crews shot a total of 196 movies, series and advertisements in Thailand since July 2020, generating over 6 billion baht in revenue for the country. The Ministry of Culture (MOC) plans to increase revenue from foreign filmmaking by implementing more tax measures. The country’s Culture Minister plans to use ‘soft power’ to “promote the image of Thailand” on the global stage through entertainment media. He is also pushing for filmmaking to be made an elective subject in high schools to encourage more Thais to get into the industry.

Film crews from 33 countries filmed in Thailand throughout the past two years, generating a total of 6,384,000,000 baht in revenue for the country. Countries who came to film the most were India, France, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK. The three countries that spent the most during filmmaking in Thailand were USA, Australia and Hong Kong with budgets of 1.95 billion, 702 million and 616 million baht respectively.

But how did foreign film makers get into Thailand when the borders were closed…? The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) granted “special entry” to film crews to make use of Thailand’s scenery and skilled workforce while Thailand’s beaches were void of tourists.

The Film Board of Thailand recently met with Thailand’s Culture Minister Ittiphol Khunpluem via zoom to discuss ways of expanding Thailand’s film production industry. Guidelines for tax measures were drafted as a way of further increasing income generated by facilitating foreign film crews. A total of 97 countries worldwide have tax incentives of 20-45% on foreign film production to generate income into their country.

Another point of discussion at the meeting was a proposal to the Ministry of Education to make filmmaking an elective subject in high school grades 1-6 to encourage more Thai people to get into the industry in the future. Currently, there are over 230 animation and visual effects companies in Thailand who produce movies, animations, TV series, advertisements, media and games to both domestic and international customers.

The Minister of Culture also said a framework was approved during the meeting to use ‘soft power’ to “promote the country’s image” on the global stage through entertainment media.

SOURCE: BangkokBizNews