From Saigon to Bangkok: ME Group Builds a Unified Southeast Asian Production Network
For decades, Thailand has held its place as Southeast Asia’s leading destination for film and commercial production.
However, a new contender has been steadily climbing the ranks-Vietnam. In recent years, the country has not only caught the attention of global brands but has also proven it can deliver to the same high industry standards as its neighbors. At the center of this transformation stands ME Group, a company that has rapidly become one of the region’s creative and technical leaders.
Established in 2020 through the merger of Echo Films (founded by Yann Williot and Lien Dang) and May Production (founded by Tony Nguyen and Phuong Tran), ME Group combined two of Vietnam’s top production companies into a single powerhouse. Both Echo Films and May Productions had deep roots in commercial production, dating back to 2007 and 2011, respectively, and had built strong reputations with clients and agencies alike.
The merger created a company agile enough to take on diverse creative needs: building and integrating specialized units, under the ME Group umbrella are Films & TVC production units, a photography studio, a talent agency, their Tabletop Studio, a livestream hub, & a Social media influencer-led content Agency.
Beyond advertising, ME Group has moved into long-format production, co-producing and financing its first Vietnamese feature film last year (“Before Sex”) and has been producing MVs and Game shows for several years, as well as developing a film fixing network also in Cambodia & Laos. The group produces up to 80 commercials per year for global brands such as Yamaha, PepsiCo, and Nestle.
Connecting Markets, Simplifying Production
Since 2023, the ME Group has served as GPN’s trusted partner in Vietnam, allowing GPN clients to shoot in one of the region’s most exciting and competitively priced production environments. With ME Pictures' recent opening in Bangkok, this collaboration now extends across two of Southeast Asia’s most film-friendly countries. GPN’s leadership sees the move as a key strategic step in ensuring its clients can shoot efficiently across borders without the usual logistical burdens of managing teams in multiple countries.
“Cross-border flexibility is the future of production,” Julia Weichinger, owner of GPN, emphasized. “Clients need consistency of service and access to the region’s best talent, without wasting time bridging communication or language gaps. That’s what partnerships like ours with ME Group deliver.”
This synergy enables clients to take advantage of both countries’ strengths - Thailand’s cash rebate incentives and seasoned crews, coupled with Vietnam’s flexible production costs and increasingly sophisticated equipment and infrastructure. The shared landscapes and similar climates make dual-country shoots easy to manage, especially when coordinated under one production company with teams fluent in English and familiar with international expectations.
For GPN, facilitating this kind of smooth production solution is central to its mission. As a global network connecting top-tier local production partners around the world, GPN acts as both matchmaker and support system, providing international clients with reliable local expertise while ensuring that creative and production standards remain consistent no matter the location.
With moves like ME Group’s Bangkok expansion, that vision becomes even more tangible.
ME Group teams have been travelling constantly between Saigon and Bangkok for years, whether for specific locations, talent access, post-production capabilities, or collaboration with specialized crews.
The Bangkok extension simply formalizes what was already happening in practice; it simplifies coordination, strengthens long-term relationships with Thai production partners, and provides clients with a smoother operational bridge between the two cities.
Innovation and Craft: The ME Group Edge
At the heart of ME Group’s growing success lies its Saigon-based Tabletop studio, Ginger Shots managed by Phuong Tran, a technically advanced production space that allows clients, many of them overseas, to shoot high-end food, liquid, and product films remotely. The studio is fully integrated, with all key functions handled in-house: food styling, special effects, motion control, production management, and post-production.
This structure not only streamlines communication and reduces costs but also ensures creative alignment throughout the process. Before the day of shooting, clients can test, adjust, and approve everything remotely, confident that what appears on camera will meet or surpass expectations. According to Yann Williot, this integrated model has become the foundation of how the ME Group delivers both consistency and value to international clients.
The Bangkok Production footprint also offers pragmatic cross-border models for Food and Liquid commercial production. In practical terms, this enables hybrid execution- live-action shooting can take place in Bangkok for location-based scenes, plus a second unit in Saigon can simultaneously handle highly technical product or liquid shots. Clients supervise both remotely through a unified workflow.
Much of its success comes from its people. The company’s local crews are fluent in English and considerably experienced in working with Western agencies and clients. Their cultural fluency and professionalism have made Vietnam an increasingly comfortable and efficient choice for international productions. GPN, which prizes this combination of craft and communication, views ME Group as one of its exemplary partners worldwide.
Collaborating Across Asia’s Creative Landscape
The ME Group’s expansion into Bangkok is about more than geographic growth; it represents a broader creative mission to unify Southeast Asia’s production markets. With only a one-hour flight separating Saigon and Bangkok, productions can easily operate between both cities while relying on a single point of contact. Several of GPN’s clients have already taken advantage of this dual-country setup, reporting smoother coordination, lower overhead, and faster production timelines.
To further strengthen regional collaboration, Yann Williot will host (with Nancy Tran, Ep for Global Markets) a producer-focused workshop at ADFEST 2026 in Pattaya, Thailand, from March 19–21. The event, one of Asia’s most respected advertising and creativity festivals, brings together agencies, production houses, and brand leaders from across the region. Following last year’s successful debut session, Yann returns this year with a one-on-one networking workshop on March 20 designed to help producers meet, share insights, and cultivate cross-border collaborations. He also serves this year as a juror for the Film Craft and New Director categories, another sign of the international recognition ME Group and its leadership now hold.
GPN supports these initiatives wholeheartedly. Events like ADFEST are essential to showcasing Asia’s film craft to international markets. What Yann and ME Group are doing is creating spaces for dialogue, talent discovery, and collaboration.
A Unified Future for Southeast Asian Production
As ME Group develops its presence in both Vietnam and Thailand, GPN sees the collaboration as a practical way to make production in the region more straightforward. The focus is on clear communication, reliable local teams, and the ability to move projects between neighboring markets without creating extra complexity for clients.
Both companies know that working across borders can be challenging, whether because of regulations, timelines, or expectations, so they aim to reduce those pressures where they can. For GPN, the partnership with ME Group is part of a wider effort to connect clients with trusted local partners who understand both international standards and local realities.
ME Group’s dual base in Vietnam and Thailand gives clients practical flexibility, access to varied locations, experienced crews, and consistent coordination across both markets. For GPN and ME Group, it is about building steady, workable collaborations that make production in Southeast Asia more cohesive and easier to manage over time.