A leading film company that Personal Thailand have talked to say that the happy pictures that the happy image that the Director General of Tourism Development Office try to paint is not true.
Most of their clients have canceled their shooting in Thailand this year because of the civil unrest and problems with the Redshirts.
The film making office in Thailand said that the film crews want safety and maybe that’s why they cancel their plans to make film in Thailand. Thousands of Redshirts that run around Bangkok every weekend is not consider safe and if you look back on what happen with Yellowshirts when they got desperate and Songkran last year in Bangkok.
The Thai government needs to do more then send out half true press reports to make everything ok again.
Original News from Thai News Bureau
Despite the domestic political difficulties that seem to afflict every industry in the nation, a certain group of foreigners has chosen to shrug them off and carry on with their multi-million-dollar projects right in this vibrant country.
Director General of Tourism Development Office, Mr Seksun Narkwong, said this year he expects more foreign filmmakers to come to Thailand compared with last year.
At least 6-7 major movies have already contacted Thai authorities for filming permission. This is considered a good sign after last year’s economic crisis impacted the industry.
Extrapolating from the trend, the number of movies to be shot in Thailand is expected to increase no less than 50% compared to last year, or around 1.2-1.5 billion THB.
However, it is unlikely to reach 2 billion as in 2008 due to the as-yet-uncompleted economic recovery.
Mr Seksun revealed the latest figures showing that there are now 133 movies which have filed permission requests.
However, some have decided to postpone their production plans as they are concerned that the uncertain political situation may be prolonged.
They may decide to relocate to other countries, which would disappointingly lead to losses of opportunity and income for Thailand.
If there is no violence like last year’s April riots, and no airport seizure, the filming will not be affected. The important thing the foreign filmmakers want is safety, Mr Seksun explained.
According to the Thailand Film Office, there were 116 foreign movies which were filmed in January and February, generating a total income of 213 million THB.
Out of this number, 40 were documentaries, 60 advertising movies, 5 feature films, 7 TV movies, and 4 music videos. A majority of the production is from Japan, a total of 33, followed by India, 22, and Europe, 20.
This year, the Office of Tourism Development will step forward in building confidence among movie producers abroad as well as introducing attractive shooting locations in Thailand to the global market.
Representatives from the agency will be joining major film events to be organized in Korea, Hong Kong, the US, France, Japan, and Spain. The upcoming event is the Film Festival in Hong Kong which will be held from 20-26 March.
