PUBLISHED : 17 Aug 2023 at 04:00
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt has ordered all district offices in Bangkok and the City Law Enforcement Department to speed up processing times for foreign film shoot applications.
Applications for shoots in public areas should be processed within three days or seven days for public parks.
Mr Chadchart said yesterday that Tourism Department director-general Chaturon Phakdiwanich had raised complaints by foreign filmmakers with City Hall that shooting productions in Bangkok were made difficult by official protocol.
Many claimed the application process takes a long time and is not structured clearly.
Mr Chadchart said existing application procedures left the door open to bribery and such misconduct hurts the country’s reputation.
According to the governor, Mr Chaturon also said that some foreign film crews were fined by officials from the City Law Enforcement Department in Ratchathewi and Pathumwan districts even though they had applied for a production permit in Bangkok.
The officials claimed the filmmaking crew had obstructed pavements and traffic.
Also, filming applications in 51 parks under the BMA’s Environment Department and Sanam Luang should take seven days to process.
However, filmmakers will be charged 6,000 baht per day for commercial TV shows and 3,000 baht for commercial photoshoots, Mr Chadchart said.