Film fixers in Asia: production services from Tokyo to Dubai

Thailand is the production hub of Southeast Asia, and Bangkok has the deepest crew base, the best equipment rental houses and the most film-friendly bureaucracy in the region. The Thai cash rebate pays up to 30 percent, with a minimum spend of THB 50 million, and Thailand's locations have doubled for Vietnam, Cambodia, India and the Philippines in more films than any of those countries have hosted themselves. Our Bangkok fixers handle the Thailand Film Office application, the crew and the equipment, and run the logistics for productions that move on to the islands, the north or across the border.

Vietnam and Cambodia are the opposite case: locations that no other country can offer, from Ha Long Bay and the Mekong to Angkor, with permit systems that require a licensed local partner and lead times of weeks. Indonesia has no national rebate but Bali, Java and the outer islands remain among the most requested locations for commercials and documentaries in Asia. The Philippines pays 20 percent, 25 with a cultural bonus, and Manila's crews work in English. Malaysia and Singapore are the region's cleanest shoots: Singapore in particular is the commercial production capital of Southeast Asia for agencies, with reliable crew, strict but predictable permits and excellent post-production.

Across all of them, equipment is the practical question. The major rental houses are in Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur; for Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the smaller Indonesian islands, gear usually travels in under a carnet with a local fixer clearing it. We plan that into the schedule rather than discovering it at customs.

Our production services in Southeast Asia are built for productions that move: a reality TV format that shoots Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai in one block, a docu-series that needs a crew in Vietnam and another in Cambodia the same week, a commercial that wants the islands and the city in two days. The Asia film fixers who run them provide production support end to end, and the same team quotes every leg so that the whole shoot is one budget.

Japan opened its first serious incentive for foreign productions in 2025 and the 2026 call pays a 50 percent subsidy on domestic spend above JPY 800 million, selectively. It changes the economics of large productions, and our Tokyo office follows each round. Japanese crews are exact, locations in Tokyo and Kyoto are permit-heavy, and everything works better with a Japanese production partner on the paperwork; that is what we are.

South Korea's film industry is one of the most respected in the world, and Seoul's crews, studios and post-production are a match for anywhere. There is no national rebate for foreign shoots at present, but regional film commissions offer location support, and the cost of excellent crew remains lower than in Japan. China and Hong Kong require a licensed local co-producer for almost any commercial filming, and foreign productions face content review; our Shanghai office and Hong Kong fixers know which projects are feasible and which are not, and will say so on the first call. Taiwan and Mongolia we service from the same region.

Mumbai is the largest film production city on earth by output, and the crew, studio and equipment base is enormous and good value. The challenge for international productions in India is bureaucracy: permits from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the state film offices, with different rules for documentaries and for feature films, and lead times that reward early planning. Our fixers in Mumbai manage those applications. Sri Lanka offers tea country, coast and colonial architecture at low cost, and our fixers there handle permits, crew and logistics for documentaries and commercials.

Saudi Arabia is the most generous incentive in the world today, up to 60 percent of accepted costs with a minimum of SAR 750,000 for features, and its NEOM and AlUla regions have built production facilities to match. We have produced a large body of work in the Kingdom for NEOM, Aramco, the Ministry of Energy, ALAT and the EXPO 2030 candidacy, from explainers and brand films to launch content, and our Riyadh office runs permits, crew and logistics across the country. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the region's most established markets: Abu Dhabi pays 35 percent, up to 50 for features and high-end TV, Dubai has the region's deepest crew and equipment base, and both have permit processes designed for international productions.

Jordan, Lebanon and Israel each bring a specific look: Wadi Rum and Petra, Beirut's layered architecture and coast, and Israel's desert and Mediterranean. Our Beirut office covers the Levant. Permits in all three are manageable with the right local partner and impractical without one.

We list Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington here because productions planning an Asian schedule often add the Pacific to it. Australia's Location Offset pays 30 percent on qualifying spend above AUD 20 million, New Zealand's International Screen Production Grant pays 20 percent with a 5 percent uplift, and both countries have crews and facilities that need no introduction. Our Sydney office coordinates with the state screen agencies and with our Asian fixers for projects that cross the two.

A large share of what our Asia film fixers produce is not feature film but television and content: reality TV formats that move a cast and crew through three countries in a fortnight, docu-series for broadcasters and streamers that need access and permits in places a tourist never sees, and branded content for agencies whose clients want the region's landscapes, cities and faces. Thailand's islands and limestone cliffs, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Bali and Chiang Mai, Tokyo and Singapore have hosted all three for us, and the production support they need, from fixers and local crew to equipment, cast and logistics, is the same service we provide to film production companies.

The region's own film industry is a reason to work with local partners rather than around them. Thailand, India, South Korea and Japan each have deep production crews and directors with international credits, and movies from Eat Pray Love and The Beach to The Hangover Part II were shot here with exactly the local production companies our fixers come from. We provide the same crews and the same production support to international productions of any size.

Permits and carnets, local crew and equipment, casting, locations, translation, transport and accommodation, and a producer who stays with you from the brief to the wrap. We work for production companies, agencies and broadcasters, on commercials, documentary, TV, feature and branded content, and we quote with local costs shown as separate lines so you can see where the money goes. If you are looking for film fixers in Asia who can carry the local side of a shoot in more than one country, this is what we do, and the work below is the evidence.