The Tourism and Sports Ministry will seek 150 million baht from the cabinet to start an incentive programme to attract big-budget foreign movies to shoot in Thailand, hire local staff and promote tourism.
Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul will submit the proposal to the cabinet in the third week of June.
Under the incentive programme, the Tourism and Sports Ministry will offer a 20% tax rebate to foreign movie studios that shoot here.
Currently, a movie fund cannot be officially set up to provide sponsorship to foreign movie producers. It generally takes a year to undergo a legislative process.
For now, the ministry will channel money from its other projects to use as an interim movie sponsorship fund. It will discuss the plan with representatives from the Finance and Culture ministries this week.
"If the rebate is not introduced quickly, the movie production teams from Australia, China, Europe and the US, which plan their shootings early next year, will turn to other countries," Mrs Kobkarn said.
The minister wants the movie sponsorship to start on Jan 1 next year. Three foreign films begin shooting early next year.
Although movie incentives here are not the highest in the region -- Malaysia, for instance, offers a 30% tax rebate -- Thailand can compete on quality of staff such as supporting actors and actresses and shooting and editing crews, Mrs Kobkarn said.
"All of these will make Thailand an outstanding and attractive destination for movie production in Asean," she said.
For Thailand's benefit, the ministry will propose Thai stars with good English skills to take parts in foreign movies. Some tourist destinations will be recommended if Thailand wants to promote itself in the international film industry as a good location for shoots.
Initially, Mrs Kobkarn will ask movie production teams to work in the Northeast during its major festivals that reflect local lifestyles.
"We will invite foreign production teams to know several locations in the Northeast when there are important festivals that represent tourism and Buddhism such as the Ghost Festival, Buddhist Lent candle parade and the Songkran festival," the minister said.
She cited the James Bond movie Spectre, shot during the Day of the Dead Festival in Mexico, as an example.
Mrs Kobkarn hopes to persuade foreign movie producers to exclude inappropriate elements in their movies such as crime scenes that could tarnish Thailand's tourism image.
The ministry is accelerating the movie sponsorship project because its officials recently visited the Cannes Film Festival and found that world-class movie companies, especially those in Hollywood, paid special attention to its plan to offer movie sponsorship and tax incentives. Some movie companies wanted to start their shooting in Thailand early next year.
"That's why the Tourism and Sports Ministry has to speed up the movie sponsorship project to boost tourism and present Thai tourist attractions in their best light to international communities," Mrs Kobkarn said.