When you plan a shoot in Thailand, you will hear three titles: fixer, line producer and production service company. They overlap, and many companies use them loosely. But they are different jobs, and hiring the wrong one either leaves you short of help or pays for more than you need.
The three roles at a glance
Fixer
Opens doors
- Locations and location permits
- Local contacts and translation
- Solving problems on the day
Fits: documentaries, news, small crews that run their own production
Line producer
Runs the shoot
- Budget and schedule on the ground
- Hires crew, vendors and equipment
- Keeps the money and the days on track
Fits: commercials and series where the producer abroad can't be on the ground full-time
Production service company
Carries it all
- Registered coordinator for permits
- Visas and work permits
- Contracts, payroll, insurance, rebate
- Fixers, line producers, crew and gear
Fits: any foreign production that needs a permit, which is all of them
The fixer
A fixer knows the country and the people. They find locations, get you in the door, translate, and sort out whatever goes wrong on the day. For a small documentary team running its own budget and schedule, a good fixer may be all the local help you need.
What a freelance fixer usually can't do on their own is the legal side: apply for the film permit, sponsor visas and work permits, or sign contracts and invoices as a Thai company.
The line producer
A line producer manages the production on the ground. They turn your script into a budget and a schedule, hire the Thai crew and vendors, and make sure the money and the days go where they should. On a commercial or series where the producer abroad can't be in Thailand for the whole prep, the line producer is your producer here. See our line production service and our producers.
The production service company
A production service company is the Thai legal entity behind the shoot. It is registered with the Thailand Film Office as a coordinator, applies for your film permit, handles visas and work permits, contracts and pays the crew, and stays your official representative until after the shoot. A good one also supplies the fixers, line producers, crew and equipment.
The legal part
Under Thailand's Film Act, every foreign production, including commercials, music videos, TV and documentaries, has to film with a permit from the Thailand Film Office. The permit must go through a Thai company registered as a coordinator. Whoever you hire, make sure there is a registered company behind the permit.
Side by side
| Who does it? | Fixer | Line producer | Service company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locations and scouting | Yes | Manages it | Yes |
| Budget and schedule | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hiring crew and vendors | Contacts | Yes | Yes, under contract |
| Film permit application | Only through a registered company | Only through a registered company | Yes |
| Visas and work permits | No | No | Yes |
| Thai invoices for the rebate | No | Partly | Yes |
| Equipment | No | Rents it | Supplies it |
Seven questions to ask before you hire
- Are you registered with the Thailand Film Office as a coordinator?
- Whose name is on the film permit?
- Who applies for the visas and work permits, and when does that start?
- Who contracts and pays the Thai crew and vendors, and do they issue Thai tax invoices?
- Who is on set every day, and who has the authority to make decisions there?
- What insurance covers the crew, the equipment and the locations?
- Which international productions have you done recently?
Which one are we?
All three. Bangkok Productions is a registered production service company, and our team includes the fixers, line producers and producers a shoot needs. On the Clones music video we were the fixer and production team for a crew from Pakistan. On Het Perfecte Plaatje we ran a full two-month season. Most projects sit somewhere in between, and we set up the help to match.
Read how a commercial shoot in Thailand comes together, or send us your project.
