Think Tank Manila is getting around

On a recent night in Kuala Lumpur, a rather interesting mix of people found themselves at a barbecue.

The setting was a cool mansion hidden inside one of the city’s upscale neighborhoods, complete with a swimming pool, inflatable flamingos and life-size Pokémon figures. The mansion, after all, is home to Directors Think Tank Malaysia.

On the table: freshly grilled Japanese wagyu, Malaysian lobster and other special dishes, Filipino chichiria and Japanese beer.

Around the pool were the Think Tank Manila and Directors Think Tank Malaysia teams and directors, joined by DTT staff from Singapore and Nusantara. The Manila team had flown in with Philippine agency GIGIL for a shoot with DTT and director Kiran Koshy, who came in from the US. AOI Pro Japan was visiting DTT too.

And somewhere in the mix were some of Argentina’s top professional padel players, fresh from a game at DTT’s own sprawling padel courts nearby. Because apparently, why not? It was all surprisingly casual. You wouldn’t have guessed how many award-winning directors, producers and creatives were hanging around that pool.

On the surface, it sounds like a fun night in production land – people from seemingly everywhere, somehow all in the same place. But step back a little and the scene starts to say something else.

Somehow, while we weren’t really looking, Think Tank Manila has been getting around.

Not in the loud, new-office-in-every-city sense of “going regional.” There haven’t been grand declarations about conquering Asia.

They’ve just been doing it.

One project, one director, one plane ticket at a time.

And interestingly, it started from the very beginning.

Think Tank Manila’s first-ever job was already an international one.

FP7 McCann Dubai flew to Manila to work with Think Tank Manila CEO and Director Cris Bilbao on a project for Nestlé China.

^{Cris Bilbao with KL crew}

That first project would turn out to be an early sign of things to come.

Malaysian agency Muma followed, working with Bilbao on a manifesto film for Singaporean brand Nature’s Wonders, with clients from Singapore, Malaysia and China.

Hidra Production from Shanghai and Dylan Films from Thailand also flew in to shoot in the Philippines, with Think Tank Manila as their local production partner.

And it wasn’t just agencies and production companies making the trip. Think Tank was bringing international directors into the country too.

Belgian director Guy Goossens was brought in to work with Ogilvy and Tang Philippines. Japanese director Yuichiro Sato flew in through Think Tank for San Miguel Premium Beer with McCann. Thai director Tul Nutdanai and, on another occasion, Thailand-based director James Teh also flew in for Manila shoots, with Think Tank handling the local production.

Then came a Malaysian-Filipino collaboration between award-winning director Rajay Singh and Think Tank Manila director Jorel Lising, brought together for Publicis and AXA Philippines – work that would go on to receive several award nominations.

Behind all those plane tickets were Think Tank Manila EPs Bianca Lim and Mela Valdez, managing the complexity of country-to-country production – directors crossing borders, agencies shooting in unfamiliar markets, crews and resources moving between countries, and all the logistics required to make the whole thing feel surprisingly seamless.

But the planes were flying in both directions.

One of Think Tank Manila director MV Isip’s first trips to Malaysia saw her collaborating with Rajay Singh and Aiman Aliff on a Malaysia Airlines project shot across different parts of the country. She later returned to direct a commercial for Connor’s Beer with Grey Group Malaysia. The Malaysian agency and client enjoyed working with the Filipina director so much, they brought her back for a second, then a third, and eventually a fourth shoot.

It wasn’t long before Jorel Lising was boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur too. After collaborating with Rajay Singh in Manila for Publicis and AXA Philippines, Lising flew in to direct a CelcomDigi commercial for M+C Saatchi KARSA, working with the Malaysian team on the ground.

Cris Bilbao and BLKJ Havas Singapore have also shot OldTown Coffee in Kuala Lumpur, with clients from Singapore, Malaysia and China. And Isip is now back shooting for Vinda with the KL team.

All the while, Think Tank Manila has continued its regular slate of productions for Philippine agencies and clients.

At this point, you begin to wonder whether anyone at Think Tank bothers unpacking their suitcase.

Taking a bit of Manila with you

Anyone who has produced outside their home market knows the uncertainties: different crews, suppliers, rhythms and ways of working. Things can easily get lost in translation, simply because every production culture has its own shorthand.

This is where the structure behind Think Tank starts to make sense.

Think Tank Manila has close working ties with Directors Think Tank Malaysia, Directors Think Tank Singapore, Directors Think Tank Nusantara and AOI Pro Japan.

And the relationships aren’t just between company names. The directors naturally end up spending time together whenever they’re in the same city. EPs Lim and Valdez – now joined by new Think Tank EP Ginny Vizcarra – are regularly in touch with their producer counterparts, working on bids and shoots together. And those relationships extend beyond the work – the directors and EPs have even holidayed together in Langkawi.

That familiarity makes a difference when a Philippine agency lands somewhere new. It doesn’t simply arrive and get handed over to a production company it has never worked with before.

The Filipino team travels with them.

^{Rajay Singh and Jorel Lising}

There is still someone beside you who understands how the agency works, how the client works and all those little pieces of Philippine production shorthand that don’t necessarily survive an email, a Zoom call or a translation.

Meanwhile, the local production team knows the territory – the crews, locations, suppliers, rules and possibilities of their own country.

One side knows the place. The other knows you.

And that’s probably the part that’s hardest to replicate.

Because this isn’t really a network that gets switched on when there’s a job. It’s a culture built through shooting, travelling, collaborating – and apparently, barbecuing – together.

And quietly, a distinctly multicultural – and genuinely cool – production culture has been taking shape.

You can build a network. You can’t manufacture history.

Think Tank Manila isn’t simply connected to this production family.

It’s part of one.

Which brings us back to that barbecue in Kuala Lumpur.

What looked like a delightfully random collection of people around a swimming pool suddenly doesn’t seem quite so random after all.

Maybe we should have been paying attention

There is a bigger Philippine story hiding underneath all of this.

Through Think Tank Manila, Filipino directors and production teams are working with filmmakers in other markets – and bringing Philippine agencies along with them.

There was never one big moment when the company announced that it had “gone regional.”

It just kept going.

And there is something quietly cool – and quietly Filipino – about seeing a Manila production company turn up in all these different places. Maybe we just haven’t been paying attention.

Think Tank Manila is still very much Manila.

Manila just isn’t the boundary anymore.

And if there’s another barbecue in Kuala Lumpur – count us in.

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