A piece of the action

Now that a Thai film has won a jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, it's a pretty safe assumption that Tropical Malady director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is going to be a hot property and by extension, just about any Thai director is going to be sought after.

A newly formed production company has positioned itself to take advantage. As a followup to an an earlier posting, I now look at a recent Nation article about the new production company started by GMM, Tai Entertainment and Hub Ho Hin Film.

The three companies have merged to become GTH. The players are the top entertainment corporation, GMM Grammy, cinema guru Visute Poolvoralak’s Tai and the ad-maker turned movie house Hub Ho Hin Films.

The new firm, Thailand's second largest after Sahamongkol Film International, already has nine titles in the works, The Nation said.

“GMM’s strong media will be our arms to reach the customer, Tai will be the heart of the operation and Hub will be the brains supplying the creativity,” Visute, GTH's chief executive officer told The Nation.

GMM put up 51 per cent the 300-million-baht (about US$7 million) start-up investment, Tai kicked in 30 per cent and Hub the balance, the article said.

Visute says they’re eyeing a 40-per-cent share of the domestic film market – which collectively earns between Bt600 million and Bt900 million a year – by the end of next year.

To accomplish that, he told The Nation that GTH “might not invest in alternative movie projects that could be risky in terms of profits.”

This is pretty ironic, in light of last month’s Cannes success by an independent film. But GTH is a business, and it wants to make money.

Producer-director Jira Malikool, a co-founder of Hub who’s heading up the creative and development team at GTH, is with Visute, who is cast in the article as a sharp-tongued taskmaster, conscious of the bottom line.

“Visute is very enthusiastic, and this just might be the team that he’s been longing for,” Jira was quoted as saying.

Tai Entertainment’s most phenomenal success was 1999’s Satree Lek (Iron Ladies), a 7-million-baht movie that ended up netting its backers’ 99 million baht. Last year's sequel to the comedy about a ladyboy volleyball team earned Bt69 million.

Both were eclipsed when last year’s Fan Chan (My Girl) banked 134 million baht for Tai. That film was a co-production with Hub Ho Hin.

Visute is pushing for more success and the new company “can catch up with my ideas and work out the practical aspects. That couldn’t happen if I work alone at my company.”

Jira admits he and Visute have differences. “It’s a challenge for me working with the others,” he said, while admitting that he and Visute are as dissimilar "as chalk and cheese".

“It’s interesting to learn from a film guru like Visute, and he’s open-minded about learning from us too. We do have something in common: we look at the same kinds of ‘stars’ when it comes to making a good film.

“Meanwhile,” Jira added, “he’s careful, and that balances what is perhaps our biggest flaw, which is taking risks. He helps us to be cautious.”

Perhaps not ironically, it's the smaller, independent parties that bring better track records to the new venture, The Nation said.

GMM’s Grammy Films, run by director Euthana Mukdasanit, and GMM Pictures, which followed in its demise, have struggled.

Grammy, with Jira in his directorial debut, made the hit Mekhong Full Moon Party, which earned 50 million baht. But One Night Husband (by former Nation writer Pimpaka Towira) and the trangenderl kickboxer biopic Beautiful Boxer proved to be disappointments.

GTH’s first movie will be director Yongyooth Thongkongtoon’s Jaew, a comedy about a group of housemaids turned reluctant spies. Superstar Pornchita "Benz" Na Songkhla is in the lead.

Jira will follow that with his Mueang Rae (The Tin Mine), about a Chulalongkorn University engineering student who ends up toiling in the mines in southern Thailand. The 1950s writings of Ajin Panjaphan provide the inspiration.