By Karen Frost

In the last three years, there’s been a wave of lesbian content coming out of East and Southeast Asia. Both independent of and prompted by the popularity of gay male content called BL (boy love) in Asia, producers in South Korea, China, and Thailand, in particular, have taken advantage of the zeitgeist to release dozens of web series, most of which start or eventually make their way to YouTube, where they can be watched by viewers around the world for free (you can find a full list here). This sudden rise on screen of what’s called GL (girl love) has been particularly evident in Thailand, where a few producers have been able to leverage lower production costs to create the kind of web series that the West can only dream of full, 10-episode seasons of 45-60 minute episodes with high production values at what to the West would be a bargain basement cost.

This trend of independent, high-quality Thai web series started with “GAP: The Series,” released by the Idol Factory on YouTube in late 2022. GAP was groundbreaking in how effectively it leveraged the chemistry of its leads, the social media engagement of its cast and crew, and its embrace of physical intimacy between its female protagonists. In only six months, it has racked up millions of YouTube views and triggered production on a new GL series. “GAP” was quickly followed by GrandTV’s “Show Me Love,” a novel experiment that leveraged the Miss Grand organization’s beauty pageant infrastructure in Thailand to tell a love story about…two beauty queens.

The newest entrant into this up and coming Thai field is “Be Mine: The Series,” which recently released its “Prologue” on YouTube in an effort to raise awareness of the series and generate interest among viewers and sponsors. It’s an exciting episode that promises viewers all sorts of goodies in the eventual full series: a workplace romance, friends-to-lovers storyline, love at first sight, fake dating, and possibly some of the highest production values yet. “Be Mine” is structured like the classic movie “Love Actually,” with four couples whose storylines overlap. With an intended 16 episodes, each couple’s story will be told over four episodes, giving viewers enough time to enjoy the stories without the series having to resort to melodrama to fill time.

To find out more about this exciting series, we talked with “Namhom” Atchareeya Taengjui, the CEO of IS Entertainment and the driving force behind the series.

WAD: Please tell us the story of how “Be Mine” went from being a best-selling four-book series to a web series.

Namhom: First of all, I'm a businesswoman who has known at an early age that GL has the

potential to become popular. There are always many viewers whenever I open YouTube

and find a video relating to girl love. I therefore always assumed that this community

would expand eventually. But I couldn't have imagined that one day I would work in this

field. When I was asked by a friend to recommend girl love series, at that time

none of the girl love ones had yet been released. So I made the decision to try this business and

started looking for a book that made me feel good. That is how we got the project

started.

WAD: Is there any reluctance among Thai actresses to take GL roles? What is the reaction in Thailand to GL content?

Namhom: It is ok for Thai actresses to accept GL roles, which is also challenge their talent

since its very new here. And also I think now LGBTQ+ has become a normal thing for

everyone.

WAD: The Thai entertainment industry seems to be different from the American/English entertainment industry in that there’s a lot more social media engagement by the cast and crew before the release of a project. In the case of “Be Mine,” this includes promo stills, promo videos like the “One Day With Us” for each of the pairings, behind the scenes, and Instagram live events. In Asia, fanservice is also much more common, and being an actress has more of an “idol”/singing component. What other things are unique to the Thai or Asian culture that affect the entertainment industry that outsiders might not know about?

Namhom: The Thai entertainment industry differs from the American/English

entertainment industry in that we must do a pilot or prologue in order to evaluate our

market and to introduce a major streaming platform or major corporation in order to

attract sponsors. The idea of having a queer female as a main character is still quite new

in the Thai entertainment industry. I started “Be Mine: The Series” in the hope that it would be a

representation, to help people see GL as a norm, which is normal just like heterosexual love.

“One Day With Us” isn’t fanservice or a promotional video. We created content

to keep fans in touch. I know that fans are waiting to see their beloved actresses, and I empathized with that.

WAD: “Be Mine” is being released at a time when many Thai GL web series are coming out, for example, “GAP: The Series” and “Show Me Love.” Why has Thailand suddenly become a major producer of these high-quality GL series?

Namhom: I believe the time is opportune for us to exert our power on the entertainment

business. As increasing numbers of girl love couples emerge on social media, much like

when BL started, the entertainment industry gradually became aware of this. And

seeing GL being loved by fans just like BL, more producers get their confidence to

create more GL series.

WAD: “Be Mine” recognizes that its audience is global. It has English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Filipino subtitles on some videos. Was this a lesson the production team learned from watching the success of other web series? What other lessons did you learn from other GL projects?

Namhom: I want to appreciate all the fans who have sent me subtitles so that we can

communicate with fans who don't speak Thai or English. On this topic, I'm not going to

compare myself to other GL projects because I know how difficult it must have been for

them to start as well. For me, I learned for myself how challenging it is to stay in this

field and frequently talk with and collect comments from all of my fans, which is quite

helpful.

WAD: “Be Mine” has extremely, impressively high production values. For fans who aren’t familiar with the industry, high production values means quality cameras, a soundtrack/music, strong post-production, and a large cast—all things that are expensive. Since there doesn’t appear to have been a crowdfunding campaign for “Be Mine,” where did the financing for the series come from?

Namhom: It all comes from IS Entertainment Company. As I mentioned before, in

Thailand we have to make a pilot or prologue in order to find sponsors or investors. If

we don’t get any, we will produce it on our own.

WAD: Speaking of production cost, the cost for most Thai series on mainstream television is about $USD 20,000-43,000 (700,000-1.5 million baht) per episode. We’re seeing the GL Thai web series on YouTube, either viewable for free—meaning the creators are hoping to make money back through ad revenue—or by subscription. One of the things fans probably don’t know is that YouTube pays creators based on different criteria. So for example, how many subscribers a channel has or whether viewers watch the full ad embedded in the video or skip past it. What is something fans can do to make sure the people behind “Be Mine” make as much money as possible in order to make more GL series?

Namhom: It is true that the cost of production can reach 1.5 million baht per episode. For

Me, I want to make it possible for everyone to watch this series for free, though I'm

working on a solution right now. I am confident that even with some delay, we can

recover our production costs.

WAD: You are the CEO of IS Entertainment, but you also own Karn-wela De Florist and you get to play the barista Peak in the series (the centerpiece around which the four couples’ storylines revolve). You’re ALSO a co-director and executive producer of the series! Please tell us a bit about how you got to where you are.

Namhom: Wow! This is very long story of myself. I used to be just a regular girl who

enjoyed drinking, having fun, and wasting money. I used to work for a corporation, and I

utilized my entire salary for living expenses. I had a critical incident happen to me one

day, so I made the decision to work hard on my own business and

I worked every day to help myself succeed. Karn-wela is just a part of my business.

I enjoy learning new things and experimenting with ways to grow my business.

WAD: What is your favorite experience from shooting “Be Mine”?

Namhom: I recently finished filming the prologue, so I don't have much experience. I

think learning about production has since become one of my favorite experiences.

WAD: What is one thing about “Be Mine” that makes it so special everyone should watch it?

Namhom: First of all, despite my relative inexperience in this field, I am a very hard

worker and an excellent listener. I will use all comments to enhance my series.

Secondly, I identify as LGTBQ+. As a result, I can somewhat relate to the viewpoint of the girls,

and I also work with many members of our community, including the production crew.

Lastly, my entire crew, including the actresses, put in a lot of extra effort and processing time

because we want everyone to love our series.

WAD: Finally, what is something you would say to fans about the show?

Namhom: All the answers above already demonstrate the effort we put into this series, so

please support us. We want you guys to be part of our success!

Be Mine: Official Prologue

The Creator of “Be Mine” Namhom Taengjui Talks about the Rise of GL Content in Asia

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