Nicholas Simon is a film producer with Indochina Productions, which is a Global Production Network affiliate. Indochina Productions has operations in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,The Philippines and The Maldives. The Indochina production team has been involved in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Act of Valor, Rambo IV, Stretch, Street Fighter, Pinkville, and many other global film franchises, commercials and photo shoots. Recently, Nicholas paid a visit to Edward M. Kennedy Center, Dhaka where he expressed his interest in working in Bangladesh. Star Showbiz caught up with him for a short interview.
What brings you to Bangladesh?
Bangladesh is a country of possibilities with lots of places to be discovered and presented to the world. I would like to work on few of my projects here in Bangladesh as I always do with other Asian Countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and others. In fact, I would like to hear the voices of people here.
Would you please elaborate on your perception of Bangladesh?
Um, Bangladesh has possibilities. It has a real history of cinema. I am quite impressed with some of the productions of Bangladeshi people. I need to find out the connections to expand my working areas. People are friendly here and the food here is great!
Have you selected any possible shooting locationin Bangladesh yet?
No, I have not selected the places yet. It actually depends on the project, my team and directors. I think Bangladesh is great with spectacular parliamentary building, remnants in Sonargaon, mangrove forest in the Sundarbans, Sylhet regions and Chittagong hill tracts. I need to scout for more attractive places here in Bangladesh.
Is there is a scope for local people to work with you?
We actually use local people as much as possible in our production. We take not only actors but also production crews as assistant to the director and as other types involved in the whole production. Of course, we consider the production cost in the process. If possible, we take technicians; the scope depends on our directors and production unit though. I would like to make a feature film in Bangladesh. It might include a large number of local people. Thus, it can be a cultural exchange and provide facilities for all of us.
How did you start your production career?
Well, I never planned to be a producer. In fact, I graduated from journalism and dreamt of being a journalist. Coincidentally it happened that one of my friends needed to produce three commercials within ten days and was looking for producers to begin work immediately. I convinced him that I could do the work and finding no other way out he appointed me. Thus I began my producing career. Now, I love every act and every genre of producing starting from documentary to feature films.
What is your basic philosophy as a producer?
Um, I would like to work with people all around the world. I would like to narrate their stories and include them in my productions. Besides, producing stories based on local people and giving them a chance to work with us in a greater platform is also my principle. I wish to grow my company and work on projects in different countries including Bangladesh.
More on Nicholas Simon and his company: www.indochinaproductions.com