Teamwork comes first

WHEN VETERAN magazine and publishing editor Ladawan Ratanadilokchai decided to switch careers and become a film producer at Talent 1 Production, she saw no real reason to change her management style. She points out that hiring a director and film crew is similar to choosing a writer whose style will fit the magazine, and that the producer, like an editor, should end up with the final say.
That belief has brought to Talent 1, whose second film project, the horror thriller “Rak Luang Lorn” (“The Couple”), opens in theatres next Thursday, a working style that is very different from mainstream and even indie studios.
In general, the producer oversees the whole production while the director dominates the creative work. In Hollywood as in Thailand, the usual process is for a director to pitch his or her project to the studios to approve before reaching agreements on the budget and script. The studio then leaves it to the director to oversee the production process without much interference.
That’s not how things are done at Talent 1. There, filmmaking takes the form of teamwork. The studio identifies the project concept, then puts together a writing team, a directing team and the crew and keeps a watchful eye on the entire filmmaking process.
“Obviously I have to deal with many more people in making a film than I did while working for a magazine. When I came to the job, I discovered they didn’t have a clear working system and I found that puzzling,” says Ladawan, who was regarded as a successful editor when she was with Bliss Publishing and In magazine.
As director of the studio, Ladawan oversees every aspect of the work and makes the final decision if disagreements arise.
“Filmmakers are good at what they do and they believe in their ideas. But there are disagreements and when these arise, it should fall to one person to make a decision and that should be based on the concept of the movie. At Talent 1, that responsibility is mine. It’s a kind of ego management in a way,” she says.
“We choose people based on their specialities but we are also open to and listen to the teams’ ideas,” Lada continues, acknowledging that many filmmakers are not familiar with or like this system. “We inform them in advance of the way we work and they don’t like it, they can withdraw,” she says.
Talent 1 is affiliated with Major Group, which runs the Major Cineplex chain and has a hand in other film-production copmanies, including M-Thirtynine, M Pictures and Transformation Films.
Ladawan is a director of the company and so works as the producer for their films. Unlike other studios, Talent 1 does not promote either director or writer when marketing its films.
Ladawan explains this lack of promotion by pointing out that the movie is the product of a team not a specific person. “We believe that we can use their specialities and blend these with the conceptual idea we already have,” says the producer.
That was certainly the case for Talent 1’s 2013 debut “Last Summer”, where Ladawan retained control of the entire process.
Nothing has changed for “The Couple” either. Ladawan says the studio decided on the horror project then gave it to the scriptwriting team to develop the story.
It focuses on newlyweds Aom (Sucha Manaying) and Karn (Pitchaya Nithipisarnkul), whose married life gets off to a horrific start when Aom discovers the body of her sister in-law Sita (Mali Coates) on their wedding night. Aom is later possessed by the spirit of Sita, who takes control of the bride’s body and directs her to do her will.
Aum and Sita are both modern wives who would prefer to live independently with their spouses but are forced to stay in the bosom of their husbands’ family.
“The characters question our need for independence. But can we break away from the family and do we have courage to do that? Because somehow we still depend on the group we are in and we don’t want to be considered the black sheep,” Ladawan says.
She says she learned from “Last Summer” that the horror and drama shouldn’t be separated and that the audience needs to live the horror through the characters.
“Horror scenes must be emotion driven so the audience becomes involved with the characters,” she says.
The physical movements of dark Japanese drama butoh come into play as Sita’s spirit takes over Aum’s body and uses her to do what she wants.
“Last Summer” earned about Bt50 million at the box office and Ladawan is confident that “The Couple” will do better, thanks to the refinements in Talent 1’s way of managing people and budget.
“I understand more about the filmmaking process, I had fewer fights with the team and spent less time shooting, which means we were able to reduce the budget,” says the producer, adding that an advantage of their working style is that the movie truly represents the studio’s style rather than just the director’s.
“In a way, making a film is like cooking. You have to blend all the ingredients to get the taste you want. We didn’t get manage this with our first film. For the second, I think there’s a big improvement and I’m hoping it will be even better in our next project,” she says.