Feature Film Shooting Logistics

Bank Accounts

Opening a production bank account in Thailand is quite easy. If Living Films coordinates a short-term job, we will usually run the accounting and payments through our own business accounts. However, for most feature films we recommend setting up a proper production account right at the beginning of prep. Perhaps the first payment to get things rolling can be sent through Living Films. Afterwards a proper production account should be set up.

For this we will normally recommend an account that has at least three signatories assigned to it. This way we insure that all checks and balances are in place. The signees often end up being one Living Films' representative (usually our line producer,) one producer representing the overseas production and the production accountant (freelance - often brought in from overseas). We can create an account on which any two of three signatures are sufficient to access funds. Of course other set ups are also possible. The Living Films head Thai accountant who works with us on most feature film productions knows exactly how to help set-up the right account for any given production and can help lead us through the process at the beginning of prep.

We have had good experiences in the past with Bangkok Bank. They allow the opening of Baht, Dollar and lately also Euro accounts. It usually makes sense to wire funds in foreign currency and then exchange them into the Baht account as needed. With this system, if there are funds left over in the production account at the end of production, it is easier to wire them back overseas out of the foreign currency account.

Related links: Accounting , Paperwork