Winning ideas

FIFTEEN MONTHS after suffering a minor setback when its first film “Oversize Talai Pung” (“Oversize Cops”) left cinemas with a meagre Bt15 million in takings, T Moment film company led by industry veteran Visute Poolvoralaks is back, this time with two movies in different genres.

Opening on August 1 is “App War”, a romantic comedy set in the world of start-ups and starring young actors from TV commercials, music videos and movies led by Patchanan “Orn BNK48” Jiajirachote. That’s followed on September 27, by the thriller “The Pool Narok 6 Mate” (“The Pool”) directed by Ping Lumprapleng, which sees actor Teeradej Wongpuapan trapped in an empty swimming pool with a mysterious monster.
“I haven’t given up yet. In fact, for the past year I’ve busy working on projects,” says Visute, dismissing with a wave of his hand suggestions that he was no longer making films after “Oversize” tanked. However, he’s the first to admit that things could have been better in the period following his departure from GTH to set up his own company T Moment.
T Moment is his third sortie in the filmmaking business. More than 30 years ago, he set up Tai Entertainment, which then merged with GMM Grammy and Hub Ho Hin Company to become the most successful film studio GTH before ending its run slightly more than two years ago. And despite his vast experience, he is well aware that turning T Moment into a success will be no easy task, saying that he nonetheless intends to devote 10 years to this venture before calling it quits. 

“We weren’t ready to make a new movie after GTH wrapped,” he says, adding that it was necessary to put out a debut film, hence “Oversize”. 
“If you ask how I feel about the flop, I have to say I feel nothing. It’s not the first time I’ve faced disappointment with a project over the last 30 years. But if you ask me about how I feel about the bad start to my new company, then the answer is not good at all and that affects my policy for working on new projects,” says the producer.
He spend time considering whether to start over by rebranding the company or move on with a second film before finally choosing the latter, “Even if I change the name and logo, people still know it’s my company,” he reasons.
But while the projects on which he was working in parallel with “Oversize” are on hold or cancelled, “App War” is different. It was developed even before “Oversize” but time was needed to find the right background for the story. 
“In fact our original idea was to make a romantic comedy set in an office. But that’s been done so often that we wanted something different. A start-up seemed the obvious answer,” says the producer.
“App War” depicts two new start-ups going up against each other in creating applications for a competition. It’s the second film of director Yanyong Kuruaungkoul, who made his directorial debut with “2538 Alter Ma Jib” (“Back to the 90s”) in 2015, and brings together hot actors and actresses from TV commercials, models and a beauty blogger, among them Nat Kitcharit, Sirat “Too” Intarachote, Warisara Yu and also Orn of BNK48 fame. 
The story centres on Bomb and June, opposing team leaders each designing a new app for a start-up competition. When they meet and discover that they share many similarities in life and ideas, they enjoy a hot night out. That inspires Bomb to create an application only to discover that a very similar app has been developed by June’s team. 
“The Pool” meanwhile is an exciting collaboration between writer/director Ping and actor Teeradej, who plays an art designer for an advertising agency who becomes trapped at the bottom of an abandoned swimming pool with a vicious animal. Unable to climb up from the six-metre depths, he has to find a way to survive while |hiding and fighting with the |animal.
Ping had waited 10 years to find an investor for his movie and was delighted when Visute gave the greenlight after reading the plot. 
“We have seen such plots in Hollywood movies like “The Shallows” or “127 Hours” but never in a Thai film. “The Pool” is a new idea for local audiences and we felt it had a good chance of success,” says Visute.
“We can’t do bombings or car explosions at the Hollywood level,” adds Ping. “What we can do is bring a character into a high-pressure situation and give the story a good rationale. This film is neither a ghost or horror story but the story of a man who is trapped in a life or death situation,” says the director. 

“The Pool” finished shooting since August last year and the last 12 months have been spent on visual effects and postproduction.
Both movies are an attempt to bring something new to the Thai film industry, which is currently suffering a major downturn. In 2017, Thai films dropped below 12 per cent of market share and Visute predicts this year will be even worse. 
GDH is currently the only studio with strong branding and film buffs accept its products. Other studios including T Moment are struggling.
“GDH is successful in maintaining its income. What I learnt from GTH’s success is that you have to create the brand first, then strengthen it by constantly creating good movies. Only then will people will accept your brand,” he says.
“Right now, the audience only accepts the GDH brand and ignores all others. We are like a boxer working on earning a higher ranking so we can get into the ring and face the champion Manny Pacquiao. Our mission is to keep working so that at least we have a chance to fight. Winning or losing does not matter because it’s better than doing nothing and accepting defeat,” says the veteran producer.
“The key is to work constantly, whether that’s two years or 10 years until audience accepts the brand and is confident that it won’t let them down when you see its film,” he explains.
From now on, he adds, T Moment will release at least two movies a year. He aims to let the movies speak to the audience and convince them that a T Moment flick is worth the ticket money. 
“People keep asking me what I would like T Moment to be. My answer is that I don’t want my company to be stereotyped as making only a certain kind of movie. I hope that bringing fresh ideas to Thai movies is our strength. It may take a while but I am confident we will get there.”