Bangkok Film Market
THE NATION: Bangkok Film Market – Look Beyond the Box Office
Wednesday, January 19, 2005 The Nation
Producers missing out on revenue from songs, etc
The NationPublished on January 19, 2005 Thai movie producers must learn to brand their films to maximise profits now that the country’s film industry is enjoying some notoriety domestically and abroad. Many moviemakers are overlooking avenues for earning extra income apart from ticket sales, said Nadda Buranasiri, managing director of Universal Music (Thailand), yesterday at a seminar on the business and finance of film making. The forum is being held in conjunction with the Bangkok International Film Festival. Nadda suggested that filmmakers should explore selling soundtracks, which some producers have already caught on to. These producers need to capitalise when their films are peaking. More than 1 million people in France alone lined up to see “Ong Bak”, a Thai action flick. “Tropical Malady” collected a grand jury prize at Cannes. Pantham Thongsang, of production house TIFA, described last year as “the best year” internationally for the Thai movie industry. “There’s great demand for Thai movies internationally now,” said Pantham, who produced the successful film “Beautiful Boxer”. And with that demand comes tremendous marketing opportunities. “My Girl”, a Thai blockbuster, is an example of how producers can reap related profits. They also produced a hit soundtrack using known songs covered by young artists, Nadda said. The result: the soundtrack reached out to both the young and people in their mid 30s. There is also a market for cell-phone ring tone jingles of movie theme songs. The ring tone market is worth about Bt600 million a year, Nadda said. Working Title, the production house behind the hit romantic comedies “Notting Hill” and the “Bridget Jones’ Diary” films, is another good example of how a firm can position its products. The movies always feature memorable scenes with equally memorable songs, stirring the audience’s appetite to buy the soundtrack after leaving the theatre. “The government should seize this opportunity by supporting Thai movie producers to make good products. They might provide soft loans or cut a certain ratio of Hollywood receipts to support local production. Otherwise, the decisions to make or break a film would be left to only five studio heads here,” he said. Pantham said that being an independent producer, the company found it hard to find investors to take part in artistic projects. In November last year, TIFA won the “the best project” award at the Festival of Three Continents in Nantes, France, for its undeveloped movie script “Once upon a time” under the Producers of the South category. But TIFA has yet to find Thai investors to finance the movie even though international film producers expressed interest in funding the project. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Film Market kicked off to promote the sale of movies on the corridor of the festival. The market’s director, Christine Rush, said she expected the value of deals would surpass US$250 million this year, compared to $100 million last year. Jeerawat Na Thalang The Nation
THE NATION: Bangkok Film Market – Look Beyond the Box Office
Wednesday, January 19, 2005 The Nation
Producers missing out on revenue from songs, etc
The NationPublished on January 19, 2005 Thai movie producers must learn to brand their films to maximise profits now that the country’s film industry is enjoying some notoriety domestically and abroad. Many moviemakers are overlooking avenues for earning extra income apart from ticket sales, said Nadda Buranasiri, managing director of Universal Music (Thailand), yesterday at a seminar on the business and finance of film making. The forum is being held in conjunction with the Bangkok International Film Festival. Nadda suggested that filmmakers should explore selling soundtracks, which some producers have already caught on to. These producers need to capitalise when their films are peaking. More than 1 million people in France alone lined up to see “Ong Bak”, a Thai action flick. “Tropical Malady” collected a grand jury prize at Cannes. Pantham Thongsang, of production house TIFA, described last year as “the best year” internationally for the Thai movie industry. “There’s great demand for Thai movies internationally now,” said Pantham, who produced the successful film “Beautiful Boxer”. And with that demand comes tremendous marketing opportunities. “My Girl”, a Thai blockbuster, is an example of how producers can reap related profits. They also produced a hit soundtrack using known songs covered by young artists, Nadda said. The result: the soundtrack reached out to both the young and people in their mid 30s. There is also a market for cell-phone ring tone jingles of movie theme songs. The ring tone market is worth about Bt600 million a year, Nadda said. Working Title, the production house behind the hit romantic comedies “Notting Hill” and the “Bridget Jones’ Diary” films, is another good example of how a firm can position its products. The movies always feature memorable scenes with equally memorable songs, stirring the audience’s appetite to buy the soundtrack after leaving the theatre. “The government should seize this opportunity by supporting Thai movie producers to make good products. They might provide soft loans or cut a certain ratio of Hollywood receipts to support local production. Otherwise, the decisions to make or break a film would be left to only five studio heads here,” he said. Pantham said that being an independent producer, the company found it hard to find investors to take part in artistic projects. In November last year, TIFA won the “the best project” award at the Festival of Three Continents in Nantes, France, for its undeveloped movie script “Once upon a time” under the Producers of the South category. But TIFA has yet to find Thai investors to finance the movie even though international film producers expressed interest in funding the project. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Film Market kicked off to promote the sale of movies on the corridor of the festival. The market’s director, Christine Rush, said she expected the value of deals would surpass US$250 million this year, compared to $100 million last year. Jeerawat Na Thalang The Nation
Posts
