Production services in Asia for a film, OTT or commercial shoot cover the practical work during preparation, filming and the agreed production closeout: location research and recce, permit coordination, crew and equipment sourcing, studio bookings, transport, accommodation, unit logistics and production accounting. Global Producers provides these as an agreed scope, by department or as a package, working with local production partners and any provider a country’s rules require. This page sets out what each service includes, what the production receives, and where responsibility sits.
Two related pages cover different questions. Choosing a territory and appointing one office to hold budget and schedule across countries is the Asia line producer service. How a shoot moves between countries, with permissions, equipment and stand-in locations, is covered in the Asia film production corridor guide.
What Production Services in Asia Include
The departments on offer are location research and recce, permit coordination, crew contracting, equipment and studio sourcing, transport and accommodation, unit logistics, and production accounting with incentive documentation. A production can take all of them for one country, a subset for a leg it is otherwise running itself, or the whole set across several countries. The scope is written before prep so that each commitment has one party placing it and one party paying for it.
Three boundaries hold whatever the scope. Creative, casting and above-the-line decisions stay with the production. Where a country’s rules assign a role to a registered local provider, for example a Thailand Film Office-registered coordinator or a Vietnamese cinematographic service provider, that role and its legal responsibilities stay with the provider; our work is coordinated with them, not in place of them. And permissions, customs decisions and incentive approvals rest with the authorities concerned. The service prepares, files, tracks and follows up; it does not decide.
Location Research, Recce and Permit Coordination
Location research starts from the script and the dates and returns options with current photographs from proposed camera positions, the controlling party for each site, access conditions and restrictions on hours, crew numbers, vehicles and drones, the sound and light at the planned hour, load and holding areas, and alternatives where practical. Site owners and managers are contacted, and access conditions and outstanding permissions are recorded before location commitments are authorised.
Permit coordination begins from that recce. For each location the tracker records which approvals apply at national, regional and site level, what each application needs, who files it (the production, the local provider or ourselves), when it was filed and what came back. Site-level permissions from a heritage board, a national park, a port or a municipality are additional to any national filming permit and are tracked as separate items. Coordination means the applications are complete, consistent and followed up; approval, and its timing, remains with the issuing authority.
Crew, Equipment and Studio Sourcing
Crew sourcing proposes local department heads and crew against the production’s own key positions, with rates, working-hour conventions and the employment terms that apply in that country. Contracts follow the jurisdiction where the work is performed; where the production is bringing crew in, entry and work-authorisation requirements are confirmed with the local provider and the relevant authority before travel is booked.
Equipment sourcing returns quotations against the DOP’s list and the dates from rental houses in the territory, with availability confirmed for the specific period rather than assumed. Studio and stage sourcing covers availability, specifications, power, build and strike windows and the house rules. Quotations are presented for the production’s decision; the booking is placed by the party named in the scope.
Transport, Accommodation and Unit Logistics
Unit logistics covers the transfer plan for cast, crew and equipment, unit vehicles and drivers, the unit base and holding areas at each location, accommodation near the work, and movement updates as the schedule changes. For a multi-country shoot the plan includes each international leg: who travels when, what moves with them, and what is sourced again in the next territory.
Where the production brings its own equipment, the customs route must be confirmed for that equipment, its intended use and the specific border crossings, with the appointed freight or customs agent. The available routes differ by country and by what is being moved, and a film office or local provider assisting with paperwork is not the same as customs approval. The same applies to drones, radio equipment and anything carrying batteries or lithium cells, which may have their own import and operating rules. Production insurance should encompass every planned territory and activity before the schedule is fixed; our production risk and insurance page covers what to check.
Production Accounting and Incentive Documentation
Production accounting covers the cost report against the approved budget, purchase orders and vendor payments, petty cash and per diems, payroll coordination for local crew, and the records a later audit will need. On a multi-country shoot, common cost codes and reporting formats can support consolidated reporting. Each territory’s supporting records, tax requirements and any incentive documentation must still meet its own applicable requirements, so the local books are kept to local rules and consolidated above them. Reporting frequency and format are agreed in the scope rather than assumed. The production accounting and audit page describes the full service.
Incentive documentation is a service boundary, not a promise of a rebate. The work is an eligibility assessment against the programme’s current terms, a record of the qualifying spend as it is incurred, the supporting documents the programme requires, and conditional budget assumptions that show the incentive as a contingent receipt rather than a cost saving. Programmes differ in kind: the Philippines’ FLIP, for example, is a selective cash rebate for qualifying productions, not a fee concession. The India film incentives guide explains the central scheme and links to state-level guidance. Any proposed incentive is checked against the relevant programme’s current terms.
Country-Specific Providers and Responsibilities
The division of responsibility between our team, the local partner and the authorities changes with the country. The country pages set out each territory’s arrangements; the notes here cover only the points that most often affect how a scope is written.
- Thailand: a foreign production applies for its national filming permit through a Thailand Film Office-registered local coordinator; our line producer Thailand service and film fixers in Thailand work alongside that coordinator, and site permissions are additional to the national permit.
- Vietnam: the Vietnamese cinematographic service provider handles the application to use Vietnamese settings and its applicable legal responsibilities; the foreign production’s responsibilities remain separately defined. See line producer Vietnam for how budgeting and production control sit alongside that role.
- Philippines: the line producer Philippines page covers permits and locations and the cost of filming in the Philippines sets out department costs; FLIP eligibility is assessed separately for each project.
- Indonesia, including Bali, and Malaysia: national and local permissions and the local-partner arrangements are confirmed for each project against the current rules.
- China: filming in mainland China requires the applicable production partnership and approval route for the format and activity; see line producer China.
- Japan and Korea: municipal and prefectural permit processes in Japan, and the partner and programme terms in Korea, are set out under line producer Japan and line producer Korea.
For a shoot spanning several of these countries, the routing, permit sequencing and equipment movements between them are covered in the corridor guide linked above.
Agreeing the Scope, Deliverables and Exclusions
An Asia production services scope should identify each service included, its deliverables, the approving party and responsibility for payment. The table shows the deliverables most engagements agree and the boundary that goes with each.
| Service | Scope to agree | Deliverable | Responsibility boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location research and recce | Number of locations, territories, recce dates, who travels | Recce report per location with photographs, access terms, restrictions and alternatives | Site consent and conditions rest with the owner or managing body |
| Permit coordination | Which approvals, who files each, lead times to plan around | Permit tracker with status, documents filed and conditions received | Approval and timing rest with the issuing authority; statutory provider roles stay with that provider |
| Crew and equipment sourcing | Positions and list to source, dates, rate approvals, who books | Crew proposals and equipment and studio quotations with confirmed availability | Booking placed by the party named in the scope; employment terms follow local law |
| Transport and accommodation | Unit size, legs, vehicle and hotel standards, per diem policy | Transport plan, accommodation list, movement schedule and updates | Customs, entry and work authorisation confirmed with agents and authorities |
| Production accounting | Budget format, cost codes, reporting cadence, approvals, audit needs | Cost reports at the agreed frequency, PO and payment records, incentive spend record | Territory records meet local tax and programme requirements; incentive approval rests with the programme |
Typical exclusions, unless written in, are above-the-line contracts, financing and completion arrangements, insurance placement, post-production, and any department the production brings whole. Fees are quoted against the agreed scope; terms depend on the territories, the dates and the services taken.
To discuss a scope, send the format, shoot dates, countries in view, unit size, travelling crew and equipment, and the services you want covered. Email hello@celluloidpact.com.
