A teen gunman in Bangkok may have forced BEC World/Channel 3’s glitzy live showcase off stage in an early-October real-life drama. But, even if the show didn’t go on that night, the party is far from over for Thailand’s storytellers, producers, commissioners and rights holders. 

Anticipation was running high at BEC World on Tuesday, 3 October. The Thai broadcaster, enjoying extended moments in the global spotlight as its well-oiled production machinery delivers a steady stream of good-looking stars and story lines, was preparing to showcase the 13 dramas that will lead the schedule and international sales for the rest of 2023 and 2024.

Talent and fans had already begun gathering for the two-and-a-half-hour live extravaganza in Bangkok.

Inside the hall, final rehearsals were wrapping and talent was counting down to curtain up.

The station’s senior executives were either already there or on their way.

Everything was on schedule, which was, perhaps, the most unusual thing about the afternoon in a city where traffic can upend the best-laid plans.

Until a lone 14-year-old gunman, opening fire in the crowded Siam Paragon mall, brought the evening’s events to a screeching halt. Chaos ensued as the area was evacuated, police neutralised the shooter, and shocked guests, shoppers and bystanders were sent home in the pouring rain.

While the active shooter drama forced BEC World off stage for the night, for Thai content, the party is far far from over. 

Thai IP leads series pickups and streamer attention in Southeast Asia at the moment. This is as much for its production infrastructure, rising values and volume, as for local broadcasters’, platforms’ and producers’ determination to expand stories and storytelling skills to serve broader regional – and hopefully international – audiences. 

The initiative is wide ranging, including tapping into Asian and international scripted formats. Korean scripted IP continues to be adapted into Thai series by Korean/Thai joint venture, True CJ Creations, joined by Ben Lai’s Yam Cultural, which is adapting mainland Chinese IP into Thai dramas. In the past few years, titles such as Turkish drama Eternal the U.K.’s Doctor Foster and Japan’s Mother, among others, have been adapted for domestic audiences.  

Quite apart from producing in Thai, rights holders in the country have proved to be willing to experiment with windows and distribution in a bid to figure out what best suits a combo streaming/broadcast/online universe at home, in the region, and elsewhere.

The day before BEC was forced to abort its glitzy multi-million dollar showcase, Prime Video, in a star-studded event of its own in Bangkok, unveiled a multi-genre slate of Thai acquisitions for a 13-week content campaign. The “unbox Thai entertainment” campaign, which runs from 5 October to the end of December this year, is by far the streamer’s biggest in Thailand to date.

At the same time, Prime Video said that more than 70 new Hollywood and other titles slated for launch in the first quarter of 2024 would be available with Thai dubbing and subtitles, all part of a refreshed effort to woo Thai audiences.

Together, BEC World and Prime Video put 26 coming-soon Thai titles in the spotlight in the same week. 

If things go according to plan, this could be the dawn of a new era for Prime Video in Thailand. The October campaign followed the 31 August premiere of original series, Comedy Island Thailand. Prime Video does not release performance data, but says, amid mixed consumer and industry reviews, that it is happy with the engagement. 

There’s also the expectation of glory days to come under the newly installed Gaurav Gandhi/Aparna Purohit leadership team, with Darin Darakananda heading originals for Thailand. Gandhi, Amazon Prime’s APAC VP, and Purohit, India/Southeast Asia head of originals, are credited with Prime Video’s success in India, where the platform commands a 21% share of the country’s US$1.7 billion premium video on demand revenues (including SVOD & premium AVOD), according to Media Partners Asia (MPA). 

At the very least, for now, Prime Video says the Thai acquisitions reinforce its commitment to local content investment. Prime Video Southeast Asia’s content acquisition senior manager, Chaitanya Divan, calls the latest Thai slate “a significant milestone in the history of Prime Video in Thailand” and “a testament of our commitment to the creative community”. 

So far, Amazon hasn’t disclosed anything about the Thai originals that will come after Comedy Island, which was commissioned under the previous content regime led by Erika North. There’s also no word on a renewal.

What we do know is that Prime Video is determined to skirt the same-old. Speaking during the ContentAsia Summit at the end of August, Darakananda said the platform was “looking for content that’s distinct”, a category she described as “content plus”. 

“So whatever genre we’re working on, like romance or horror, it should be romance plus, horror plus... it has to have that X factor, where it feels familiar, where the Thai audience would be like, ‘I’ve kind of seen this before, but there’s an interesting twist that I haven’t seen anywhere else’,” she said.

The quest, of course, is to boost subscription.

“Thai audiences are so incredibly savvy. If you just churn out a regular romcom, they’re going to know exactly what is going to happen. But what will get them to become a Prime subscriber? What will get them to become part of the Prime family is, ‘oh, this is something with a little nuance that is so interesting, that I haven’t seen anywhere else’. So that’s the thing that we look for. And that’s always really hard to put your finger on. But once you read a concept and you’re like, wow, I haven’t really seen this anywhere else... that’s the Prime brand.”

Prime Video’s acquisitions team received and read the same memo. 

Included in the new slate are the first the two series produced by the new BEC Studio, set up in 2021 as an independent studio separate from BEC World’s domestic commissioning team focused on local stories for free-TV network Channel 3. 

BEC Studio’s sole remit, under president Apicha Honghirunruang, is to create Thai content for the international market, which means figuring out, first and foremost, what global and regional streaming platforms want.

So far, Honghirunruang seems to be getting the Southeast Asia piece right.

His first two titles – "The Office Games" and "My Undercover Chef" – will stream on Prime Video in Thailand and across neighbouring countries.

"The Office Games" starring Chalida Vijitvongtong and Chanon Santinatornkul as ordinary office workers who struggle to cope with life’s vicissitudes, will stream on 16 November.

Also 16-episodes, "My Undercover Chef", stars Chantavit Dhanasevi as a detective who goes undercover as a sous-chef. The series premieres on Prime Video in Southeast Asia on 21 December.

The deal with Amazon signals a major shift for BEC Studio’s listed parent company, which has had to get its head around a regional business after decades of deeply domestic free-to-air focus. This is the first time ever that BEC-linked originals will stream in Thailand ahead of their broadcast date on BEC’s free-TV service, Channel 3.

Honghirunruang, who previously ran joint-venture Thai/Korean production house, True CJ Creations, says the Studio’s titles were created from scratch to address universal themes, with an international look and feel. “The market is open. So now we have to grab the opportunity... do something that may not be similar to anything else in the market right now,” he insists.

For Prime Video, the latest acquisitions push the envelope in terms of size and genre... and perhaps spend, although budgets have not been disclosed. Broadly, Prime Video’s acquisitions budget is level with Netflix’s with a premium of perhaps 10% for exclusivity. 

The first Thai title to stream in Thailand/Southeast Asia as part of the new Prime Video deal was director Lee Thongkham’s ("The Maid") girls-with-weapons action comedy, Kitty The Killer, which kicked off the campaign on Thursday (5 October). The 2023 film, which premiered in June at the New York Asian Film Festival, stars Ploypailin Thangprapaporn and Somchai Kemglad in the story of a band of female assassins who hide in plain sight until they are summoned by a secret clan of men called the Guardians.

Six of Prime Video’s new titles – four films and two series – will be available to Prime Video audiences globally.

The four films are life-after-death comedy "Ghost Rookie" (19 October), Ranee Campen starrer "Congrats My Ex" (23 November), village adventure "3 Idiot Heroes" (30 November), and "The Adventures of Rung" (28 December).

The two series are 10-episode crypto-drama, "Coin Digger" (2 November), and supernatural series, "Curse Code" (7 December).

Three concerts are part of the Prime Video campaign, kicking off with PP Krit – Lit & Glitter The First Fan Meeting concert recorded live in March 2023, and followed by Grammy x RS: Hit 100 Concert and Grammy x RS: 2K Celebration Concert, which will stream in Thailand only. The PP Krit Lit & Glitter will stream in Southeast Asia. 

For BEC World, the new slate that was to have been unveiled on that fateful night in Bangkok milks the country’s quest for love and penchant for romcoms, and leverages proven blockbuster properties. 

Leading the list of new dramas is the long-awaited sequel to 2018 romcom," Love Destiny", which was followed by blockbuster movie, "Love Destiny: The Movie", last year. 

Picking up from where season one left off, the 26-episode "Love Destiny 2" (พรหมลิขิต / Prom Likit) stars Ranee Campen as Pudtarn, a confident modern woman who opens an ancient chest and is magically transported to a different time and place. There she meets and eventually falls in love with Rid, played by heartthrob Thanavat (Pope) Vatthanaputi. Love Destiny 2 premieres on Channel 3 in Thailand on 18 October, with simultaneous streaming releases. 

Another return is five-part romance anthology, "Dhevaprom", the sequel to 2013 blockbuster, The Gentlemen of Jutathep. Scheduled for early 2024, Dhevaprom features five women whose lives and histories are intertwined with the noble Jutathep male heirs. The complete anthology runs to 73 episodes, mixing romance, action and fantasy set in the 1960s, when marrying well was still considered essential for the last line of nobility. Two of the series are made by Good Feeling, and the other three are from Maker Y, Metta & Mahaniyom and Act Art Generation. 

Among the brand new titles for 2024 are Mario Maurer starrer, "Kissed by the Rain", and "Never Enough" from "Bad Romeo" director and ContentAsia Awards 2023 best director, Ampaiporn Jitmaingong. Starring James Jirayu, Bow Maylada and Ice Paris, the coming-of-age series is a friends-to-lovers tale with a promised triangle twist. 

If BEC World is ahead in putting Thai drama in front of audiences in Southeast Asia/China, globally, Netflix has drawn ahead in putting Thai films and series on the global map. 

Sitisiri (Dome) Mongkolsiri’s Hunger in April was followed in September with 6ixtynin9 The Series, an adaptation of Thailand’s Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s 1999 movie. The six-episode series was one of Netflix’s top 10 non-English-language shows for the week of 4-10 September 2023, debuting on the chart at #8 with 6.5 million hours viewed and 1.4 million views. Written/directed by Ratanaruang, 6ixtynin9 The Series stars Mai-Davika Hoorne (Pee Mak) as Toom, who loses her job during the pandemic. A box filled with cash mistakenly delivered to her doorstep sets off a chain of ill-fated encounters.

Hunger, which was on Netflix’s top 10 for six weeks earlier this year, was a milestone for Thai drama. “Hunger changed the perception by showing that a strong character drama set in Thailand can travel,” says Netflix content director for Southeast Asia, Malobika Banerji. 

Thai coming-of-age feature film, GDH’s You & Me & Me, also popped on Netflix’s top 10 global non-English films. Released theatrically in February this year, You & Me & Me is about identical twin sisters who share everything – until a boy walks into their lives and puts their bond to the test. The film was viewed for 1.38 million hours around the world, giving it 8th spot on the list for the week of 8-14 May. 

At the same time, two of BEC/Ch3’s tentpoles – season one of Love Destiny and The Betrayal, the local version of BBC Studio’s Doctor Foster – top Thai rankings on Netflix and, anecdotally, on regional streamer Viu, which boasts its own list of Thai originals, including Wannabe and Finding the Rainbow.  

BEC Studio’s Honghirunruang highlights a rising flexibility that runs alongside the bid for a regional/international business. “We have to understand which platform wants what kind of content, how many episodes, the genres, the gaps, the trends... we need to listen to the audience. That’s the most important part”. 

As Thai storytellers look outwards, the five-year-old Bangkok-based Thai-Korean joint venture, True CJ Creations, remains committed to bringing Korean IP home, in cinematic quality, primarily for the True platform with additional distribution on Netflix. Successes so far are led by Voice and, more recently, Bad Guys. New projects are led by a Thai adaptation of KBS drama, Good Doctor, which is currently in post-production.

Co-CEO, Ari Arijitsatien, says the most important learning about the meeting point between Korea and Thailand remains interpreting and bridging cultural differences. She notes a newfound Covid-driven willingness by film directors to play in the TV space. “This,” she says, “shifted the way of production in Thailand”.

▶ Published in ContentAsia October 2023 magazine