Mushroom unveils new studio
Production house Mushroom Television has opened a new full-service studio in the heart of Bangkok to further its goals of being a modern “creative content” incubator.
The new studio is located at the Bangkok Post Building in Klong Toey. Mushroom Television is a subsidiary of Post Publishing Plc, the publisher of the Bangkok Post, Post Today and M2F newspapers.
Akarat Nitibhon, chief executive of Mushroom Television, said the new studio offers a full range of services for still and video photography for television, advertising and product marketing productions.
Mushroom plans to use the studio to produce its own television and advertising content as well as offer studio rental time to outside customers.
The space includes four studios, two meeting rooms, a large common area and a coffee shop. One of the studios is outfitted as a kitchen studio for food-related productions, a category in high demand in today’s TV market.
Mr Akarat said the studio space was designed for multiple uses, such as holding seminars, workshops or public announcements with an audience capacity of up to 100 people. The space also supports live broadcasts using various applications and production platforms.
He said Mushroom also wants to use the facilities to support the development of new creative content talent, with leading film and advertising directors and producers being invited to hold creative workshops.
“We hope to not only address the labour shortage faced by the Thai content industry, but also seek new talent to possibly collaborate with Mushroom in the future,” he said.
Chief operations officer ML Poryot Kalyanavongs said the central location of the new studio should prove attractive to clients.
Mushroom hopes that the studio will account for up to 10% of the 240 million baht in total revenue projected for the company this year, he said.
ML Poryot said another 10% of business revenue in 2017 should come from the company’s expansion into neighbouring markets.
Mr Akarat said Mushroom has already signed agreements in Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to form joint partnerships.
Mushroom’s leading programme, Ayu noi roi Lan, a programme about young entrepreneurs and startups, has already begun airing in Laos and Cambodia in their native languages. The programme will be broadcast in Vietnam in April. In Thailand, starting April 23, the programme will be shown on the Workpoint channel on Sundays at 10pm.
Mushroom has sold the platform rights for the programme to its partners, with localised production expected to begin in the third quarter of the year. The company is also looking at other business opportunities, such as co-hosting and organising business seminars, small business development, and business matching and consulting services.
ML Poryot said the company’s partnerships in the region will help create a new business development community that in turn will assist small business startups and develop new markets for growth.
Mr Akarat said Mushroom will help new companies build their brands and corporate identities.