#entertainment industry talk

[absolutebl]

Hi!

"2 Moons The Ambassador" is airing currently, and there are very few takers of the show. Also, it isn't available outside of Thailand, because it seems like "Motive Village" was scared of the backlash from the international audience, so went ahead with the project anyways, but decided to release it only for domestic audience. It looks like since they have the rights for the franchise, they wanted to mint money out if it, as much as possible, and as long as they possible can, given that this one is the last instalment of the story. Screenplay, Casting, Acting, and Direction seems to taken a backseat completely. I have huge respect for the boys involved in the project, it's just that I'm intrigued with the level of competition in the BL business that's forcing young talents to work with unprofessional production companies.

When I asked about audiences opinion on Reddit, someone pointed out that there is a possibility that sometimes certain films/series are rolled out as it could be a case of money laundering. Not sure how to react to it, many just concurred with that thought especially when if the production company happens to be shady. And this is a case in point with any show business around the world, just that its often talked in hushed whispers, unless the paparazzi uncovers the truth on the tabloids.

In one of our previous discussions, you did mention not being a fan of "2 Moons" and not having any expectations from "2 Moons The Ambassador" either. But my question isn't about the "2 Moons" franchise per se, but more so about understanding the eco-system of BL business.

So,...my questions to you are:

How far are BL filmmakers wanting to go mainstream, aware of the fact that the they have an increasingly “Attention Deficit” audience watching their content? (Which means,…what worked earlier may not work today, and that the audience may either get bored, or rebel over a particular trope being repeated without logic.)

How far is the BL industry good at marketing their series, especially if it comes from a fairly new production company? Are the producers doing enough, or are they content with the domestic market, keeping the international audience as an option anyway? 

For a BL producer, which market is more important, the domestic market (like airing the series on a local channel), or the international market (like selling the rights to an OTT platform to be streamed), or BOTH?

Are there BL Filmmakers who don’t wish to grab the attention of the International audience, and are quite happy selling their content to be streamed only and only on domestic platforms? Is there a specific strategy to this to avoid any kind of criticism, given that global audience are known to be pretty opinionated and vocal?

Barring a few sensible BL dramas, has visuals and soft-core scenes become the primary motive to make a BL series, and that story and other technical aspects like screenplay, cinematography, dialogue, and direction completely lost its relevance in the BL industry in the mad race to claim the numero uno spot on social media?

xoxo

Arjuna

Again, sorry for taking so long to answer these. Crazy busy these days. This is gonna be one of those ones where I’m not sure I can answer your questions, since I've never actually worked in the film industry in Thailand at all. Or had anything to do with it quite frankly. It's certainly not an interest tree large enough to have hired anybody like me ever.

1. How far are BL filmmakers wanting to go mainstream, aware of the fact that the they have an increasingly “Attention Deficit” audience watching their content? (Which means,…what worked earlier may not work today, and that the audience may either get bored, or rebel over a particular trope being repeated without logic.)

I think this is more a history of market trends. We see this all the time with everything. It's not quite the same thing but take for example the Roomba. When a product like this first enters the market there's usually only one or two versions to choose from, they're usually very expensive, and difficult to get a hold of. Then as distribution gets better, the technology becomes less proprietary, and more people have access and interested in making/owning such things, more and more versions hit the market, the price gets driven down to as low as it can possibly go. And you end up with a lot of trashy products and poor imitations. Eventually, everybody who wants one, and can afford one will own one. The manufacturing (production) companies that can't become profitable will go bankrupt, or start making something else. 

The trend dies down in the market shrinks. 

Or, more commonly in the entertainment (and Fashion) industry a new fad will come along. 

2. How far is the BL industry good at marketing their series, especially if it comes from a fairly new production company? Are the producers doing enough, or are they content with the domestic market, keeping the international audience as an option anyway? 

I actually expect that the trend for BL will die back down before Thailand (in particular) actually gets good at marketing to an international audience. 

3. For a BL producer, which market is more important, the domestic market (like airing the series on a local channel), or the international market (like selling the rights to an OTT platform to be streamed), or BOTH?

From what I can tell, domestic seems to be the priority for most of the smaller pulp Thai production houses. Or lack of marketing entirely. (Let's be clear if the production house is on YouTube they're actually concerned with sales - sales and marketing are two different things.) I just don't think any of the houses even have advertising departments attached to them. 

It's pretty clear that whoever was behind KinnPorsche, and GMMTV, are pretty focused on the international market. Where as these days Wabi Sabi (in bed with iQIYI) and some of the middle range houses, are interested in targeting streaming services. Which means they're tailoring their contact to a very specific corner of the international market, which is based on the viewer numbers (& country of origin) for those services. 

I don't know how intentional they're being about this, but they have to have this end goal of distribution in mind. 

And I would bet my bottom dollar that Korean BL production houses have nothing but the international market and streaming platforms in mind. 

4. Are there BL Filmmakers who don’t wish to grab the attention of the International audience, and are quite happy selling their content to be streamed only and only on domestic platforms? Is there a specific strategy to this to avoid any kind of criticism, given that global audience are known to be pretty opinionated and vocal?

Maybe? Possibly some of the more Indy and now defunct houses like the one behind ITSAY? I don't think they particularly care what the audiences say or how those audiences behave online, so long as they are watching and talking about the show. Whether that's negative or positive. The numbers don't lie.

Let’s take LITA as a case in point. A highly derisive piece of BL cinema. But I would swear on whatever you want me to swear on that Mame is going to get the funding for another one. Because the point is: we talked about it, and blogged about it and shared gifs. Whether engagement is negative or positive is irrelevant to the fact that, from sheer numbers of eyeballs watching, the show can be considered successful by Thai BL standards.

It would be a pretty poor business plan from anybody in a film industry as small as Thailand’s not to take the international audience into consideration, or at least want to produce content that could be repackaged and exported. 

5.  Barring a few sensible BL dramas, has visuals and soft-core scenes become the primary motive to make a BL series, and that story and other technical aspects like screenplay, cinematography, dialogue, and direction completely lost its relevance in the BL industry in the mad race to claim the numero uno spot on social media?

I actually ran the stats on this. And percentage wise to the amount of BL that is currently being produced, we have the same amount of high heat (11%) as we did last year and that’s less than in previous years. 

In other words, we're seeing more round numbers of high heat content, because there is more BL being made in general. 

I would also argue that it's not necessarily talked about more than some of the other BL either. Remember the waves that Bad Buddy caused at the beginning of this year? Or The Eclipse? Those are very low heat BL. 

Given the way these things work: we are going to continue to see the same percentage of very high-quality content with good production values (which has been, and always will be, small - and I suspect will be mostly dominated by Korea & Japan), the same percentage of pulps, and the same percentage of low heat. 

We are just getting more of everything right now. We're at the top of the trend. I'm not sure if it has peaked, exponential growth is incredibly hard to predict (especially in the entertainment industry). We will know at the end of next year - if the numbers go back down. (I think they might, but I have been very wrong before.) 

[cozylittleartblog]

"content creator" is a corporate word.

we are artists.

[ipushedthewrongbutton]

Imma do this final vent and then I’ll shut up about it.

This was a dumb move, from every possible perspective.

In the og goodbye video, they really made it sound like they were doing the streaming service because they wanted to go bigger, make cooler videos, really see what they could do and let their creative vision take the lead.

Growing as an artist is what you do when you Already Have The Money To Do So. You don’t tell your audience “give me money and then I will use to it to make cooler bigger things”. That’s not a streaming service, that’s a kickstarter.

They didn’t have the numbers to pull a streaming service off either. “We think we’re ready for television quality content” no you don’t. Sorry, no you do not. Television quality content means 30-50 crew per project, means at least 4-5 production being worked on at the same time, and at least 4-5 productions being broadcast at the same time. Watcher has maybe 2 series they upload simultaneously and they have 25 employees TOTAL. Not even CLOSE to tv levels of content, who the fuck do you think you are???

Did they really think all 3 million of their subscribers were going to follow them on this? Including kids, whose spending is dependent on their parents? Including the casuals, who only subscribed for the occasional video? Including people for whom $6 dollars on another streaming service just isn’t an option? Why DIDN’T they poll this, was this being a surprise really that important??

AND why would you completely cut off another revenue? Even if YouTube is restrictive, it’s still another source of income. Cutting that off completely is… bold.

Especially since in the apology, they let it slip that no, actually, it’s because Watcher is on the brink of having to close up shop because they’re not making enough money with just the patreon, the merch sales, the ad reads, etc.

So… one of those is a lie. Or at least part of the truth.

But let’s assume they are in financial trouble, then this was still the dumbest they could’ve done.

Welcome to the entertainment industry where we follow 1 giant fucking rule: Kill Your Darlings.

Fellas, pals, amigos, bros, dudes. If your projects spend more than what they make, it’s time to downsize. Not upscale. Cut the shit that’s spending the most money, start concentrating on how you can conserve without having to fire your crew. Put the projects where you have to fly out and buy new stuff all the time on the back burner, you can get back to them once you actually have the money for them. Work with what you already have. You have a MASSIVE studio space, fuckin use it. You HAVE sets, you HAVE props, you HAVE talent and you have ideas. Start workshopping all the crazy and shit ideas you thought weren’t gonna work and start thinking how you could make them work with the lowest possible budget you can have. Your audience is there, they’ll watch whatever you throw at them. Now is the time to go crazy and see what sticks. You HAVE viewership. Collab. CONSTANTLY. Get it the fuck out there that you exist. A lot of people had no idea a patreon existed, mention it ALL THE TIME. To the point that it becomes annoying. Do it!

If your studio is becoming too expensive, get rid of it. Sorry, kill your darlings. Move some shit around in Steven Lim’s tesla garage, put up some green screens, this is where you work now until you can afford a studio in LA again, you dipshits. Editors can work from home, sound designers can work from home, writers and researchers can work from home, meetings can happen in someone’s kitchen or living room.

And finally: be transparent. Be honest to your audience and communicate. “We’re sorry to put Ghost Files on hiatus, however we can no longer justify the cost of traveling to locations.” The majority of your audience will understand and show patience. The part of your audience that matters will wait and enjoy your other wacky shit in the meantime. Hell, they might spontaneously start their own kickstarter because those who can, will want to support you financially, if you’re just hONEST WITH THEM.

As a business, you constantly have to choose between your financial stability and that of your employees, your vision and the future of your company and what you Want to do with it, and your integrity, the trust between you and your audience. (Especially that last one, businesses can’t pretend they don’t have a relationship with their audience, that’s not how business works, guys.)

When you’re in financial straits, one of those has to go. Watcher chose the latter, they should’ve picked the middle. Their grand television quality ideas can fucking wait, if money is a problem.

Look, I’m an artist too. I had a vision too. But it was either my creative vision or being able to afford food and rent. Creativity can wait, creativity will always be there once I can support it. Living comes ALWAYS first. Asking my audience to fund my huge artistic dreams though, with only the promise of something cool, NEVER even crossed my fucking mind. That’s what donations are for, that’s what the patreon is for.

They apologised. And good. But this was a dumb decision from the goddamn start. There were like 500 steps in between and they skipped all of it. And for what? For money? For grand ideas? For greed or for hubris? How many of their original subscribers are actually gonna come back? How much money did they lose with this stunt? If they really are in financial trouble, this MASSIVE risk -which is what it has always been- might just be their downfall. And it’d be 100% their own fucking fault.

[ribbittrobbit]

me, vibrating out of my skin: please for the love of god let people have normal, different bodies

[bandzboy]

read this in an article (published on march 25 2022) about links to zionism in the music industry and i thought it was important to share

[overthinkinglotr]

Everything in the Amazon lotr series makes perfect sense when you learn that the show runners have literally no experience working on tv shows. None. 😂 J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have barely any experience in the entertainment industry. And like if you check their IMDb, their only credits are a Flash Gordon screenplay for a movie that wasn’t made and “uncredited” writing on the 2016 Star Trek movie (meaning they weren’t an official part of the production but talked to J J Abrams every now and then.)

The only way I can praise the Amazon show is the way you’d praise something written by a kid…”like wow this is your first try? Your first time ever working in tv and writing a fantasy story? This is good for a first try! Nice work! Your mom should hang it on the fridge!” The real question though is like, why didn’t they give biggest budget of any tv series ever made to people who had literally ANY experience showrunning ahsjndndnd.

To be honest I’m baffled at people who say this show is “desecrating tolkien” because like…first off, desecrating tolkien can be super cool. He sucked sometimes. Second, “desecrating tolkien” implies they were creating a story that had something specific to say about Tolkien, and they knew how to use their medium to convey what they wanted to say. But like…they didn’t. The Amazon series can’t desecrate tolkien, it’s relying on tolkien as a crutch to tell an amateur story that would be literally totally incoherent without you filling in the blanks with prior knowledge gained from the books and from other better adaptations.

I’m baffled at people trying to act like Amazon is being progressive with this series when its sorta like…the peak of conservative Hollywood nepotism? Two upper middle-class white dudes with literally no idea how to run a tv show because they have never been part of the process, ever, were gift wrapped the highest budget for any tv show ever made— not because they deserved to make the most expensive tv series ever made, but because they were upper middle class white dudes who happened to know famous people in Hollywood. People work in television their whole lives for the chance to be a showrunner and these two mediocre white dudes who have barely done any professional writing were handed the most expensive tv series of all time.

And it shows! It explains why the show doesn’t feel as expensive as it is. The process was “run” by people who literally have never needed to understand how creating a tv show works.

Everything feels so clumsy, unfocused, and generic because it’s being showrun by people who do not have enough experience to know what they’re doing.

It feels like someone’s first published work because it is. there’s some vague generic theme about being corrupted by darkness but it’s portrayed with all the grace and subtlety of showrunners who have no experience telling stories professionally, don’t understand how to do it, and so are just turning to the audience and flatly saying what the themes are supposed to be in bland boring language. (They couldn’t even find relevant quotes from the books to use instead— at least then it would sound pretty. Tolkein’s language is almost entirely absent from the show. :P)

There’s a lack of specificity— the tone veers wildly from “epic and idealized like the Pj films” to “relentlessly gory and cruel like GOT,” and almost no quotes from the books appear in the show despite language being so important to the feel of middle earth— because the showrunners are too busy struggling to learn the basics of showrunning for the first time to figure out things like “how to set a consistent tone.”

Characters turn to the camera and spoon-feed the audience information like we’re stupid and constantly reiterate exposition from previous episodes because the show runners have never worked on tv shows before, and don’t have enough confidence to trust the audience to understand anything.

The pacing is so bizarre and wonky, and the introductions of important characters/McGuffins is so clumsy, because the showrunners have never done this before ever on any tv show.

The show doesn’t look like the most expensive tv show of all time (even though it is) because the show runners don’t understand how to budget visual effects effectively. Tons of expensive labor is wasted on dream sequences and meaningless one-off plot beats that don’t add anything to the story when they could’ve been spent on the actual important emotional story moments.

And of course the way the show handles gender and race is so hollow because it’s driven by two white male nepotism hires tackling these topics for the Very First Time. They decide to handle sexism in middle earth by making it a world where patriarchy just doesn’t seem to exist(?), but they’re also not willing to actually genuinely imagine what that would look like. so we get a world where “there’s no patriarchy” but most the warriors/leaders are still men, all the women still dress in feminine clothing/hairstyles and all the men have masculine clothing/hairstyles, no women are butch and no men are effeminate, a woman fighting/showing up in battle armor is framed as a big cool reveal, and every single relationship is suffocatingly heterosexual (and there isn’t even the possibility of queer relationships/homoerotic subtext.) They had three POC play some of the side characters but were careless in how they handled them, in a way that’s a disservice to the talented actors— for example the character they marketed as “the first black elf in tolkien” is immediately thrown into a plotline where people are racist to him for being an elf and then he’s captured into slavery and spends a few episodes in chains driven around by white orcs with whips in a way that makes you realize the creators were too white to think about the optics of this. They also don’t tackle the root issues with the way tolkein portrayed race (the idea that different races are different Species with immutable personality traits) and just take his racist assumptions for granted. Meanwhile, every scene where people are “fantasy racist” against white blonde Galadriel for being an elf is handled with all the grace of a white teenager who just realized racism was maybe Bad writing their first fiction story saying Deep Things About Society for a high school assignment. Can you imagine how much more thoughtful writing we would’ve gotten from literally ANY of the far more talented experienced female and poc directors in Hollywood, people who understood how to tackle gender/race in their writing and who understood how to actually run a show? But no, the show has to be handed to two white dudes who have literally no experience writing for tv and no relevant credits, just because they’re white men who are well connected, and we have to trust tHese people to condescendingly explain the importance of diversity to us like we’re children. And then we have to pretend to like it because theres a massive right wing backlash against the show for being “so woke” (when it isn’t). ANSJSJJDJDJD

I just kinda…don’t understand? Why give so much money to people who have no experience and don’t know what they’re doing? People whose only qualifications are being random white dudes who know famous people?

It feels like such a waste of money and resources to throw so much into what’s essentially a training exercise for people who’ve never run a show before. The Amazon series is longer than the first two PJ films but it doesn’t feel that way because the showrunners don’t understand how to use a medium they have never worked in.

Like Peter Jackson had never directed anything on the scale of LOTR, but he had directed plenty of movies (with the writers who later partnered with him on lotr) before he was allowed to make it, AND had spent years pitching his scripts around Hollywood and helping develop the technology used for the visual effects. Heck, Ralph Bakshi had made animated movies before, and Rankin/Bass had worked on tv specials. As much as all those adaptations are flawed like?????????? I genuinely don’t understand why you wouldn’t hire more qualified people for the most expensive tv show of all time. or even just. Anyone who had literally any qualifications at all.

But I guess I’m thinking about this all wrong because…their lack of experience is likely why they were hired. Because of the complicated legal and rights issues happening behind the scenes, Amazon likely didn’t want to hire anyone who would have a coherent vision and a clear idea of how to execute that vision. The show needed to bow to the mandates of Amazon but ALSO the copyright issues (they don’t have the rights to actually adapt most of the stuff dealing with the history they’re adapting), the mandates of the Tolkien estate (who were allowed to make whatever petty changes they wanted to the story at any time) and the mandates of New Line Cinema (who were allowing Amazon to ape the style of their movies to get l publicity for their brand but are also completely willing to enforce copyright and demand change if they felt Amazon was stepping on their toes, and etc etc). Amazon needed inexperienced people who would go along with whatever they were told to do. Someone who had a clear vision and knew how to execute it would fight against the dumb corporate mandates. Someone who has literally never worked in tv before would assume Amazon knew best and do whatever they were told.

I don’t know, I feel the same way I do about the hobbit films where it’s just—it’s such a waste? It’s such a waste. It’s such a waste of time and a waste of labor, on a project that (because of weird corporate nonsense) has no clear artistic vision and only exists to be part of a lucrative Brand(tm.)

I won’t be watching the next season— I assume the the future seasons will be “better” because the show runners have now had their very first season of experience working in television ever (good for them and congrats on breaking into the industry for the first time etc etc), but that doesn’t change what a massive corporate waste the first eight hours were— again, that’s longer than the first two PJ films but it doesn’t feel like It because it’s so directionless and devoid of a clear artistic vision. Idk as long as the only Lord of the Rings adaptations we’re legally allowed to get are massive Mega corporate ones funded off the suffering of all the underpaid Amazon workers who die in the warehouses, you would think the adaptations would at least be good XD. Again, can you imagine what more experienced and talented directors with a long history of working in TV, and who were free to execute their artistic vision, could’ve done with such a giant budget? Can you imagine if corporations didn’t waste an entire season of television as the world’s most expensive training wheels for people who’d never seriously worked in tv before? Can you imagine how much good art we could get if Hollywood was actually a meritocracy? Idk dudes, idk.

[kevin-day-is-bi]

every time a woman in pop releases a new album, I listen to it and it's two hours of her talking about how the way that society expects her to perform led to men taking advantage of her and abusing her and then I go online and it is hundreds of takes about her being selfish and stupid and overdramatic and how she's asking for her treatment

and no this is not just about Taylor Swift. I have seen this happen to Taylor Swift, to Halsey, to Olivia Rodrigo, I'm watching it happen in real time with a small-ish gay pop artist Chrissy Chlapecka (who makes amazing music btw, go listen to her!). If a woman releases a song about finding herself attractive or wanting to dance and have fun and you say that that makes her basic and therefore acceptable to dislike, that's just misogynistic rhetoric. If a woman releases a song about how the entertainment industry requires her to maintain a specific image or have her career suffer and you say that smaller artists suffer more or that she has no right to be complaining or that she's not even a good artist anyway, that's just misogynistic rhetoric.

I'm getting a little tired of female artists being held to such high standards that even them openly discussing abuse gets mocked. This doesn't make you more intelligent or less susceptible to capitalism, it just makes you sound misogynistic.

[apostate-in-an-alcove]

People on BookTok will unironically diagnose every woman who reads smutty books with a porn addiction and call everyone who disagrees with their puritanical standards for books a gooner and then pat themselves on the back for being so moral and enlightened as if they're actually going to achieve anything of substance by doing this.

[alexandraisyes]

The way our economy and entertainment industry is shaping access to things like movies, particularly due to corporate greed, is increasingly troubling. Many feel that high costs and exclusive content leave them with fewer choices. However, don’t let yourself be discouraged, while navigating this landscape can be challenging, thankfully even within this corporate-dominated environment low-cost and free alternatives exist. it’s important to explore these less conventional options. Especially to avoid the increasing financial burden. resources are available that can help you find content without breaking the bank. ultimately, taking advantage of these options can make accessing entertainment more feasible.

[ganondoodle]

so, i have thought more about what we now know about botw2 and honestly, setting aside the smaller things i am not a fan of (like the building aspect) my biggest gripes about it are the plot looking like its gonna be very generic, especially regarding ganondorf, while i hoped it would perhaps finally give us a little more interesting take instead good vs evil; and the oh so mysterious figure you see in in the trailer very likely to be hylia, since shes mentioned constantly in the first game (among other things like her design being pretty much a carbon copy of zelda for the most boring reasons imaginable)

and no its not just bc of my stupid little fanworks (that i do bc i love the franchise, as much as i am critical of it, it comes from being very passionate about it, hence me working my fan lore around the canon so it doesnt disturb it much, its more meant to expand it on parts i think are a little lacking without me trying to sound superior, literally just as an act of love (and a little spite ill admit that) to add something to it)- BUT bc i have little hope they would do anything more than just going full blown "this monstrous beast is pure inherently evil, and this is the pure inherently good white little girl goddess whos just protecting her god given perfect and unshakable good tm monarchy" with no little to no nuance (theres also alot more to be critical of the general structure and implications like racism, orientalism, nationalism, that while i can see alot of wrong or questionable things in the games i lack the eloquence to talk about in its full range) yes i am personally biased bc i just .. hate that kind of story/worldbuilding structure, but i dont think im the only one who would think of it as boring and .. disappointing?

i dont need ganondorf to be redeemed, i dont need him to be the good himbo bf that some people think all ganondorf stans want, i just want him to be more than to shout "i will conquor this kingdom bc i am evil and want it" and send a horde of monsters after you, at the very least id want the game to just aknowledge that there must be a reason for it, why it turned out like this

the zelda series and its world has so much potential, which is probably a reason for its popularity in fanworks, but also keeps not using it, no i dont expect a company like nintendo to deliver on all my hopes, of course not, im not that delusional, but the further i think and learn about this universe and concepts they created i find myself asking "why" more and more where the games never elaborate, never question

i like a clear structure, i like when your choices dont have a big or any impact on the story bc i want to live the story, not worry about every decision like i already do every second of my life IRL, i want to partake in a movie, in a theater piece i can influence the pace of but not change the outcome, yet i feel kind of ... ignored? let down? asking why and how, how do they know this is right and this is wrong, how do they keep enacting this seeing it never works out, keep saying defeat this evil, but evil yet returns stronger than before over and over, how do they never ask "is this the right way?", they say "we need to kill it more next time"

i know they are fictional little characters made up to sell a game, with a convevient plot point to ever repeat the same structure, but it cant be wrong to say "i love this world, i want to see and know more, i want to see it grow and change, break the cycle and be better, show me characters not puppets"

theres very surely nuances and ideas i am sorely missing bc i lack the knowledge of japanese as a language, culture, and mythology, but i dont think it invalidates all that i feel for it ..

.. right?

[absolutebl]

Hello, let me begin by saying that I love your posts and I love your opinions, analysis, and point of view, I think you have a rare mind and I'm glad you're covering BL as I think it's a very complex and dynamic genre in today's industry.

I work as a middle management business consultant, related to management of PR and marketing although not for film industry, but i've had experience in handling products as a brand manager so i imagine the case with GMMTV and other TV productions are smiliar if we can replace 'product' with 'artists' in this case.

I have some questions relating to the branding of First and Khaotung as a CP by GMMTV, for the life of mine I just could not understand the business reasoning behind it for several reasons:

1. They are both versatile actor with good experiences on their belt and so far has chemistry every other actor they played with. it might be a bit of a waste for GMM to lock them both in a pair.

2. At the time it seems Gawin and First was more popular than FK, it should be easier and less risky to market and sail this pair, this pair also have the advantage of being in a more well known series (Not Me).

3. Both First and Khaotung relationship dynamic seems to not fit any existing mould that current BL pairs have (e.g. there's no clearly defined S/U between them), this seems risky and might not be well received by typical BL fans (esp. Thai Fans).

4. GMM has been trying to replicate OffGun formula a lot, all of GMM other CP seems to follow OG formula to an extent, which is not the case at all with FK.

5. All of the series that both acted as a pair in (Eclipse, Moonlight Chicken, and OnlyFans), are series that i think contain mature themes and not generally something that caters to the taste of Thai BL fans.

This question has been bugging me for awhile. The funny thing is: I am personally a SomSom, an FK stan :D I love them both very much and I absolutely love them together, but the decision to pair them together just doesn't make sense to me, I don't understand what GMM is trying to do here with both of them.

Sorry it's a bit long and thankyou so much if you decided to answer this :)

Hi! Thank you!

(As usual I did this and then Tumblr ate it. I am so tired of this bullshit, why can't they fist the undo bug in the new editor? OR stop forcing us toe USE the damn thing.)

1. They are both versatile actor with good experiences on their belt and so far has chemistry every other actor they played with. it might be a bit of a waste for GMM to lock them both in a pair.

I don't think they will in the long run, I think they are just co-branding at the moment, probably because of all the sponsorship offers. And because they've been recast a few times as a pair since The Eclipse.

They seem to be having a good time with it.

I could be wrong. I picked K a while back as one of the GMMTV stable who was too versatile for them (and valuable to them because of that), and they'd never co-brand him in a big way (after the failure of Tonhon Chonlatee). Then The Eclipse happened.

But to be frank? From the actor career perspective? If they can co-brand into consistent leading roles... F & K are probubly gonna - it's better money than character work and solo or side couple gigs.

2. At the time it seems Gawin and First was more popular than FK, it should be easier and less risky to market and sail this pair, this pair also have the advantage of being in a more well known series (Not Me).

Gawin doesn't co-brand. Never has. Seems like he never will. He clearly doesn't like shipping culture or anything about it. (Doesn't like reality TV shows or variety or anything like that, either.) Which I get. Oh boy do I. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in his rider that he won't cater to performative ships. I've always suspected this is because he's half American. (And East Coast to boot.) He's... tough.... reads as a little grumpy and reserved. Won't soften his IRL image to cater to the public. It's a very individualistic attitude.

It's certainly clear he's turned down sponsorship gigs (as a co-brand), and if he took one in the future it'd have to have a dump truck of money attached. I was legitimately shocked he took on Be My Favorite.

So far as Not Me is concerned? Now it's too late, that ship has sailed. So to speak.

3. Both First and Khaotung relationship dynamic seems to not fit any existing mould that current BL pairs have (e.g. there's no clearly defined S/U between them), this seems risky and might not be well received by typical BL fans (esp. Thai Fans).

Yep, they are more like Nanon & Ohm. I'm actually pleased that GMMTV is letting them do this and not trying to force seme/uke on the brand.

It's a model set up somewhat by TayNew. I mean GMMTV tried to force that one, but as Tay said, "Just look at him, he's huge."

They always managed a very brotherly casual fun ship.

4. GMM has been trying to replicate OffGun formula a lot, all of GMM other CP seems to follow OG formula to an extent, which is not the case at all with FK.

Yes, because it's the most profitable formula. Especially in country. I would put EarthMix in as their clearest successors.

Parent houses always lack imagination.

Find a money-making formula. Repeat it until the audience gets tired or supersaturated or both. It's how market capitalization works.

To change is to impact the bottom line and that is dangerous. Generally speaking, it takes small upstart companies to truly effect change in this regard.

OffGun is an interesting case because Off was so resistant to the brand at first. He's come around, but it took a while.

5. All of the series that both acted as a pair in (Eclipse, Moonlight Chicken, and OnlyFans), are series that i think contain mature themes and not generally something that caters to the taste of Thai BL fans.

Yes, it would be interesting to chart their sponsorship gigs. My guess is it's more global brands or those with an eye to the global market that use them.

I'm thinking it's a lot more like KARD in Kpop (performing better outside of country than in-country). Or the way Ukiss was for Japan. (An expansion intended group tailored to that market).

A country with an active and intentional soft power usually has subdivisions of effectiveness in the ranks of that power's product (in Korea's case Kpop, in Thailand's case BL). Stars that do better overseas - individuals, couples, groups. Ones that do better in specific countries.

A clever product manufacturer looking to contract with one of these branding elements, tracts this (popularity figures and market reach) and picks their representatives accordingly, and in accordance with their expansion interests.

[tskumoyuuma]

it is very telling seeing whether people come out after watching "quiet on set" w the mindset of "yes drake bell was sexually abused as a minor BUT he also plead guilty to inappropriate interactions w a minor a few years ago" or "yes drake bell plead guilty to inappropriate interactions with a minor a few years ago BUT he was also sexually abused as a minor".

[reginaphalange2403]

Taylor Swift with Dear John, Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve and All too well. Demi lovato with 29. And now Olivia Rodrigo with Vampire.

Challenge: Hollywood men stop going after young women who are over a decade your junior.

Level: impossible

[me-uglypretty]

i won't recover from that lucy bronze interview where it feels so much like a date and i just- i literally have a degree in journalism. that could be me?? what am i doing with my life?? how do i get there??

[clowningaroundmars]

people shipping kendrick and drake rn in the midst of this feud......... hmmmm. don't like that!

[rawliverandgoronspice]

.

genuinely pretty disheartened that my passionate rants about marriage and conformity in the zelda series, and the risk of regression that could still be subverted since subversion is in the series' dna, became "zelda isn't here in the game and link must save her in the end :(" and saying it's what disappointed me in totk

like I get you have limited space but come on