The undeniable truth is, western audience is in the search of the “new” and “fresh” content and in this context Southeast Asia dramas are on the rise. Except Korean, Chinese and Japanase; especially Thai series have gained so much global popularity in recent years. I am one of those global fans- about 6 months now I am paying close attention to Thai series. The fact that both actors and production team are really active in social media and have direct contact with the fans makes this industry much more interesting and entertaining.
We had the chance to have a chat with Thai filmmaker Film Pawis Sowsrion; he is the director of Pick&Rome and Pete&Kao episodes of Our Skyy series; assistant director of the new series WOLF and Theory of Love. We talked with him about the projects he had, future projects, working at GMMTV and more… He was kind enough to answer.
Q. Our Skyy was one of the most anticipated Thai dramas in 2018 and recently finished. And you were the director of Pick & Rome and Pete & Kao episodes. How were the fans reaction? Since OffGun and TayNew are two of the most popular couples of Thai BL series, did you feel any pressure?
Film Pawis: First of all, I have to say thank you to all the fans for supporting and loving this project. It was unexpected and I got very good feedbacks not only from Thai fans but also from international fans. Feedbacks made me so happy and give me other opportunities to do new projects.
Q. There was a slipper throwing scene in the series, which connects Pick & Rome’s episode with Pete & Kao’s episode. It was a pretty funny detail. Whose idea was that? Is there any chance to see those couples in a crossover episode in the future?
At first it was my idea, I wanted these couples to have a crossover. At the beginning, it was more than just a slipper throwing scene but we did not have so much time for shooting it. Also, TayNew and OffGun’s schedule were really tight so we did not have enough time. I hope we will see every Y’s univers in the same series as the Avengers. LOL
Q. Color pallette, every angle and every shooting location of Our Skyy Pete & Kao episode were amazing. What was your inspiration of this episode? Who choose the locations?
The thought was about Chinese’s belief in fate and I have noticed that red colour is the theme of it. I wanted to make a series that the fans can go to the real shooting places in the show and have same feeling as the cast they love. Also, the shooting venues are very nice by themselves, so they will be talked about regardless of the series.
Q. Thai dramas getting more and more popular everyday, not only in Southeast Asia, but also in Europe and America as well, despite of the language barrier. Every content is immediatly translated to English and many other language afterwards. Why do you think that, Thai dramas attract many global fans? When was the first time you realiz that Thai dramas have lots of global fans?
I’m happy that many Thai content attract global fans. I think that people in Europe and America are looking for brand-new content to watch and in this century it is very easy to find what they want. So Thai contents are one of the many choices for them. My very first project that I knew that international fans were interested was Secret Seven and I was very pleased. And it was very fun to me to interact with them on social media and I have to put the caption in English.
Q. Via Thai dramas, lots of global fans develop an interest to Thailand; they want to learn more, want to visit the country, learn Thai language etc. A general question: as a filmmaker, do you think you have any responsibility to promote Thailand properly to people?
Actually, a lot of my work shows beautiful places, people and culture of Thailand and I intend to show more wonderful places of Thailand in every next project I will have.
Q. Do you think that having same sex couples in TV series has any positive impact on society’s way of thinking? Have Boys’ Love series had any benefits in improving LGBTQ rights in Thailand?
For now, I think Thailand is very open about LGBTQ. You can see many different TV drama of Thailand are very popular – they belong to various genres. Every filmmaker needs to pay attention and love their work whatever the content is about- LGBTQ or not. If you love what you are working on, every work of yours will have super good results.
Q. Your next project as an assistant director will be Wolf. This series has been eagerly anticipated by fans for a while and it will be an Action & Suspense drama. Can you give us some information, what should fans expect?
WOLF is very big and challenging project to me and everyone else in the team. The director P’X is very smart and pays attention to every detail; this made the team love the show very much. So this project is so adventureus and fun since the beginning. So, I think everyone who loves action and suspense drama will love WOLF.
Q. As I know, for shooting WOLF, you have traveled to different countries. Since you like traveling, how was that experience like? Is it hard shooting in an unfamiliar environment?
At first, we all knew that making WOLF will be very hard but I think our team liked to challenge themselves and we already got valuable experience during shooting. Funny part, I thought while shooting in different countries the weather was going to be colder but we shoot it in summer so it was way hotter than it is in Thailand. But we got new friends and seen the new world; since I had not been to Vietnam, Japan and Macao-China before, making WOLF was a really good experience for me. I love this show very much.
Q. Which one of the 5 WOLF is the best travel companion: Punpun, Off, New, Toni or First?
Everyone have different style but the best travel companion for me was Toni. He is a traveler and a photographer same as me so we had so much fun during shooting WOLF. Me and rest of the team got great pictures from him.
Q. Can you give us any hint of when will global fans can watch Our Skyy?
Our Skyy will be on-air on TV in April and I think after that about a month, it will be on YouTube with English subtitles I guess.
Q. What kind of TV series you watch mostly? What are your favourites right now? Which GMMTV series you are anticipating the most in 2019?
I love horror and romantic-comedy and I hope to make my project as in these genres. In 2019, we are working on Theory of Love. P’X as a director. I have mini project after this is done. Please, stay tuned.
Q. What other projects do you have in 2019? What is your next goal? And can you please give us some information about your YouTube channel, OKWEGO?
OKWEGO is very fun activity for me and my friends. Thank you for asking and hopefully we will have international fans too. LOL! It’s friends sharing styles, traveling, fun, party and more… We plan to go big this year and some of our fans are coming from my work of GMMTV. Thank you so much for supporting no name people like us.
Q. How is it like to work in GMMTV? Judging by the social media posts, seems like you are having a lot fun? To me, all of you look like a big family or close friends…
GMMTV is my big family and I love everyone in this fun group of people. They gave me a very big opportunity for catching up my dreams as a director.
Q. Is there anything you want to share with us?
