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BL: Wayufilm Production, the little studio that could [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-01
Whenever I watch a Boys’ Love series or movie by Wayufilm Production, I imagine the cast and crew earnestly affirming to themselves: “We think we can, we think we can!”
And indeed they can. This small production company is still chugging along more than a decade after they helped found the BL genre. They consistently turn out several creative works per year and have a devoted following among BL aficionados. Their productions are low-budget but high-enthusiasm, at times creating gems and at other times creating odd-but-always-interesting pieces.
If you have never seen a Wayufilm BL, you’ve been missing out. Even with their shoestring budgets, they can grab your attention and keep you riveted. Wayufilm will surprise you by managing to tug your heartstrings even when it’s clear that if they had just another few hundred bucks to work with, they could have composed a much finer piece. You’ll wonder why much bigger studios with plenty of cash often can’t inject the same authenticity, cleverness, and inspiration into their projects.
The little studio that could might have some insights that their bigger, richer cousins should contemplate.
Let’s dive into Wayufilm below the break.
Our mission statement This regime wants to erase LGBQT people from public life and eliminate access to information, resources, and cultural heritage for our youth. Most LGBQT adolescents never see stories about people like themselves enjoying love and romance. In our current reality, watching a Boys’ Love or Girls’ Love series or movie might be the only means for young people to see models of how their own relationships could start, develop, and successfully grow. It’s also an act of subversion … so watch an episode, share it with others, and resist!
Wayufilm and the origins of Boys’ Love live-action dramas
Many BL fans know our holy catechism:
“In the beginning was Japanese manga which begat yaoi novels which begat Thai Boys’ Love novels which begat Love Sick: The Series and our sacred and sometimes steamy genre was born. The BL fandom saw that it was good. Blessed be our ships, may they always sail!”
Love Sick: The Series (2014)
Love Sick was released in July of 2014. My Bromance, Wayufilm’s joint venture with Navaraj Studio, was released in February of 2014, five months prior to Love Sick.
Not only can My Bromance make the earlier claim, it also gets credit for launching the career of Fluke Natouch, giving him his first starring role; Fluke would go on to star in arguably the greatest BL series ever filmed, the 17-episode epic drama Until We Meet Again, plus a string of subsequent BL hits. Today, Fluke is one of BL’s true global superstars.
So why is Love Sick considered the progenitor of BL live-action dramas rather than My Bromance?
The truth is … who knows? One possibility is that Love Sick was originally a BL novel whereas My Bromance was an original screenplay that featured male-male romance but wasn’t an adaptation of a known BL work.
My Bromance (2014)
My opinion is that Love Sick gets the top billing in BL because it had much more impact, both in terms of the breadth of its audience and in its demonstration that our genre could be very profitable.
Love Sick, broadcast as a series of 48 episodes, captivated Thai audiences of millions week after week on their televisions at home; My Bromance reached far, far fewer people via one-off viewing as a movie.
Love Sick was soon exported and brought millions more viewers into the world of BL; again, My Bromance wasn’t able to compete equally.
Love Sick was quickly licensed to third-parties for release as streamed episodes, generating steady ad revenues and licensing fees; as a single movie, My Bromance’s secondary releases couldn’t match that revenue stream.
Love Sick was based on a hugely popular novel, guaranteeing enormous interest when the filmed drama premiered; My Bromance was an original work and had no built-in base of fans.
Takumi-kun Series 1: And The Spring Breeze Whispers (2007)
My list explains why an even stronger and earlier contender was skipped over. The Japanese Takumi-kun series of 28 yaoi (Boys’ Love) novels and 8 mangas was adapted into six live-action films. The movies were released theatrically beginning in 2007, a full seven years before My Bromance and Love Sick.
In other words, maybe it all comes down to proving there was money to be made in live-action dramas of the BL genre … and Love Sick is the clear winner there by far.
Even if My Bromance doesn’t get the same reverence as Love Sick, it’s important to acknowledge that Wayufilm was in on the ground floor of the BL industry; we can say that it laid part of its foundation, at the least.
Wayufilm is way out there
The Thai BL industry is firmly centered in Bangkok. That’s unsurprising since Bangkok is also the center of Thailand’s film and television industries. It’s the same in the US, where Hollywood’s famed film and TV industries cohabit with the San Fernando valley’s porn industry. They all have similar requirements: performers, makeup artists, lighting experts, film editors, sound engineers, and so on … and that kind of a gig work means many of those professionals in both countries hop from job to job among the related industries.
Chedis (shrines) in Chiang Mai province atop Thailand’s highest mountain. Click here to embiggen
Wayufilm, however, is located far off the beaten track. Its offices and filming locations are in Chiang Mai, a province in Thailand’s far north, bordering Myanmar (Burma). It is a region of staggering beauty with soaring mountains, whitewater rivers, elegant temples, fifteen national parks, and abundant wildlife, including animals in Chiang Mai’s four protected sanctuaries.
Although many of Wayufilm’s works are filmed in the urban setting of Chiang Mai city, in some of them the company makes good use of the surrounding stunning natural resources. Other Thai companies often put some kind of “field trip” in their series and bring main cast members to Chiang Mai’s gorgeous scenery as part of the plot; Wayufilm clearly has a hometown advantage in this trope.
Its distance from the capital means that Wayufilm has access to fewer trained available people in all the sundry trades of filmmaking. The company, of necessity, is tightly knit, utilizing the same talent pool again and again.
Small budgets = small projects
We usually don’t find the typical lengthy BL series of 8-12 episodes with Wayufilm. Instead, we get short movies (15-40 minutes) or short series (2-3 episodes of 12-20 minutes each). That means Wayufilm writers, directors, and actors have to keep a tight focus on their storytelling, to quickly develop the characters enough for us to feel emotionally involved and to keep the story moving along at a good pace.
They manage to do it most of the time. We quickly feel connections with the principal characters and the story’s emotional message resonates with us, whether it leads us to tears or to smiles.
Small budgets also mean making the most of what’s available
Watch a few Wayufilm works and you will soon come to know their business office. If you don’t have money to rent locations, using your own office is a practical solution. So we see part of it outfitted with a bed, dresser, and bedside table and it’s the main character’s bedroom. In another scene, they set up a high table, like a countertop, put a couple of filled glasses on it and a dish of peanuts, and the main couple now sits on stools at a bar. You get the idea, a bit of stage-dressing and tight camera angles means one room can double for all kinds of locations.
Mr Nice Guy (right) & the Lonely Man (left) have a drink at the insta-bar set in WP’s office
It might surprise you that this sleight-of-stagecraft is fairly effective if we let our minds and imaginations accept it. It’s really not much different from many stage plays where set dressing is fairly minimal, a reasonable solution where scenes have to be reset very, very quickly in twenty seconds while the lights are off. The realism of the environment is far less essential to our believing the story than is the authenticity of the acting and dialogue.
Wayufilm’s works are minimalistic in many ways. A Hollywood production probably spends as much to cater one day of on-set lunch as Wayufilm spends for an entire project. I understand their financial limitations and grade their BLs on a curve, so to speak. Watch them with an open mind (and an open pocketbook if you can send them a donation) and you’ll find that sometimes less is indeed more.
A sampling of BLs from Wayufilm
Time and Night in NightTime
NightTime — Night is accidentally shot in the arm by Time, a young gangbanger. Time truly regrets the incident and seeks out Night to apologize. He promises that he will stay with him and attend to all of his needs until Night has fully healed. Proximity leads to romantic interest … but who is interested in whom and can it work for both of them?
Mr. Nice Guy & the Lonely Man — a guy seems unhappy in life, blowing off his girlfriend, wandering into a bar and getting totally hammered. A kind young man takes charge of him, bringing him home safely and attending to his needs respectfully. From there, a friendship blossoms … and maybe more. Will Mr. Nice Guy break through and turn the Lonely Man into Loving Man?
Point and Toon in One Day Miracle
One Day Miracle — Toon’s relative has to go out of town on a business trip so she asks him to care for her son, Point, whose legs are paralyzed from a traffic accident. Toon has a neurological condition that causes his hand to tremble, making it very challenging to assemble a model he’s determined to see complete. Toon and Point work together, each providing the abilities that challenge the other in their respective activities. That mutual aid turns into mutual longing … and you’ll need to watch to find out how everything works out for the guys.
Make Up, Make Me Grow Up!
Let’s take an in-depth look at one of Wayufilm’s bare-budget gems. If you want to avoid spoilers, watch it right now and we’ll see you in 39 minutes.
Make Up, Make Me Grow Up! is a charming coming-of-age short film. Up (Nutto Nutdanai), a timid highschooler, gets cruelly rejected when he tells his friend that he has a crush on him. The response includes an emotional dagger: even if I were attracted to guys, I wouldn’t date one as ugly as you.
It seems to be nearly universal that teenagers are self-conscious and Up is no exception. He’s so devastated that he intends to throw himself off the nearest bridge … but a handsome boy tackles him and talks him out of it. Up runs off and persuades his dad to move him to a new school.
Before starting at the new school, Up finds beauty videos online and starts to transform himself with an array of lotions, powders, liners, pluckers, and whatnot. On his first day at the new campus, everyone admires him, wanting to sit with him or take a selfie with him.
Wouldn’t you know it? One of new kids he meets happens to be his erstwhile rescuer, Mek (Jo Ronaporn), who recognizes him and befriends him. He compliments Up but rather than hiding behind his makeup secrets, Up confesses the truth to Mek: he tells him it’s all illusion and that he’s not attractive. He tells him about being bullied in the past for being gay and ugly.
Mek (left) and Up (right)
In turn, Mek tells Up that he used to have a girlfriend who was very beautiful … but she cheated on him. Now he’s decided to love the person inside, boy or girl, because that is what truly matters. He asks Up to be his boyfriend. Up is over the moon, smitten with charming and sincere Mek.
Mek tells him he will never be bullied again because he will always protect him against anyone who is unkind. Mek is not only a tall, strong lad, he’s also the popular boy on campus. Up is happily in love with his protective and caring boyfriend.
But one day, while walking to school with a friend, Up intervenes when he sees another boy being bullied. As he does, the bully spills a drink and it splashes across Up’s face. Disaster: his makeup runs and washes off and his “ugly” true face is exposed.
Other kids rush to see the commotion and then crowd around taking photos and videos of the “monster.” Mek arrives at the scene a tad too late but shields Up, drives off the other students, and takes Up home.
The social media feeds are soon filled with vicious comments, a cesspool of cruelty we all are familiar with. Mek wisely encourages Up to ignore it all, saying that it doesn’t matter a bit to him. He loves Up because he’s Up, not because he sometimes has a face that is prettier than usual.
Up takes his words to heart. He clears off his dressing table, one by one throwing the makeup items into the trash. From now on, he will be just plain Up … a person worthy in his own right and the proud boyfriend of the best guy he has ever known.
The next morning, the two boys walk into school, hand in hand. When the kids see Up — quietly but firmly self-confident and happy — and BMOC Mek together, they’re friendly and complimentary again.
Did you notice the hiding-in-plain-sight Easter egg? The main characters of Make Up are Mek + Up, or MekUp
It’s a touching work and has a few important messages, as Wayufilm’s stories always do.
Physical beauty may not last forever but a beautiful character endures
Social media is a cesspit, turning even normally kind people into cruel monsters
Believing in oneself leads others to believe in one also
An act of kindness to a stranger may have a huge effect that you may never even know about
The director said that the crowd’s frenzy is exaggerated purposefully to reflect the real horror of online frenzies, which are notoriously manic and pitiless in their efforts to destroy their victims’ lives. It’s hard to know which is the greater motivator: wanton cruelty or the pathetic desire to up social status through more clicks and likes, no matter the cost to their targets.
The youthful stars who portray Mek and Up are quite good in their roles. If you’re unfamiliar with Wayufilm, you might be surprised because their home base obviously doesn’t have the broad and deep pool of trained actors that Bangkok has, especially those willing to perform roles where they might need to kiss another guy. If you are familiar with Wayufilm, it’s just another day ending in “y” because you have seen their young actors give heartfelt performances time and time again.
Behind the scenes at Wayufilm shoots
One cool feature of most productions from Wayufilm is that they include a video or two about the making of the movie or series. These “behind the scenes” presentations will let you see how Wayufilm operates with small crews and everyone pitches in to help: you can see Nutto Nutdanai (Up) doing the makeup of his fellow actors.
Whenever you watch a BL from this company, check to see if there is some kind of accompanying BTS video.
And that’s a wrap
Wayufilm Production is truly independent media. They are a minnow in an ocean with some big sharks, like GMMTV of Thailand. Nevertheless, they manage to hold their own, giving us some original dramas that aren’t polished but still move us.
Please take a chance on them and watch a few of their BLs. I think you will find that a simple but sincere tale can linger in your mind far longer than the short time that you spent viewing it.
Start watching the series listed below so you can give us your opinion in our Vampire vs Vampire showdown next week. Who is the scariest? Who is the sexiest? What would you do if either of them said “I vant to drink your blood!”?
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