Despite his exotic first name, Ratakorn Carpenter, president/owner of Thai Twink Productions, is a born-and-bred Los Angeles Anglo. His boyhood filmmaking ambitions thwarted when he was unable to gain admission to the only two film schools L.A. then boasted, he instead took a business major from Cal State Northridge, becoming “an entrepreneur starting, developing, and selling businesses of all kinds (for instance, one that made solar-powered toys).”
His creative-side partner, Tim Woodh, had quite a different youth. Temporarily orphaned as a child, he managed to graduate from one of Thailand’s top universities. After a career in his homeland directing “how to” television shows, he made his way to California to study computer graphics.
The two met as friends in 2000, in Hollywood’s Asian-oriented Red Dragon bar. Both agreed that available gay Asian porn “was not technically and artistically at the same level as mainstream porn. Further, in some instances Asian models were depicted giving the impression that Asian men are not well built. Our goal was to dispel the myth. Finally one day we realized, With our combined business and artistic skills and experience, we could make gay Asian porn, and do it better than it’s being done.”
Cautiously the partners researched the field and “did the numbers, deciding that there was an opportunity here.” They also interviewed “many porn producers and directors who were generous with expertise and advice. Of course, partly that was because they didn’t do Asian movies and we were no competition for them. But also, I’ve learned that people enjoy being asked to share their knowledge and experience.”
In 2002 Carpenter incorporated Thai Twink Productions “to produce high-quality movies representing Thai youths in contemporary lifestyles.” Woodh in Thailand directed five scenes for their first, Spring Break Thailand, but judged one scene not up to their quality standards. The four remaining scenes were brought back to the U.S. for editing and graphics. Carpenter and Woodh then met with numerous distributors, and agreed to be represented by Marina Pacific Distribution exclusively.
“People said distributors wouldn’t possibly take us on with only one movie to offer. Usually, they are not interested unless a company has considerable product to promote. But we showed Marina Pacific our research, explained our set-up, and told them we meant to become the number-one gay Asian porn producers.
"I think they thought, These two guys are crazy, but they just might do what they say, because they’ve done their homework. Anyway, they took us on, to our mutual benefit.”
Thai Twink has since made seven more movies, Sweet Adventure, Scouting Secrets, Splash (“which broke the market for us and made people take notice”), Swim Club ("a take-off on a popular Japanese television show”), Happy Trail, Housemates, and Hush.
Woodh now has a staff in Thailand, and sends Carpenter completed masters. That’s possible partly because “we train any models who have a strong desire to learn and improve in the basic skills associated with video production. Our models are mostly college students curious about porn. For the most part, the opportunity for a Thai kid to enter film school is limited unless he has the right connections. As a rule we try not to use a model in more than two titles unless they are very special. We do this to keep our movies fresh. But many of our models will continue to participate behind the camera helping out and learning new skills."
Carpenter believes that "because we show respect for the models, treat them well, and fully compensate them for their time, we have a very positive image in the community. They often recommend their friends to us. In Thailand, sexuality is sexuality, typically there is no big emphasis on being straight, gay, or bi. But just like the States, in some circles there can be a stigma attached with participating in gay porn. So we always make sure the models understand exactly what they are getting into.”
Asked about the sometimes very rough fucking in his features, Carpenter explains, “Our movies each have a theme. Tim storyboards the movies, then selects models that match his concepts. He tries to pair off those who are naturally attracted to each other. He’ll select the setting, tell them what he is looking for and what position they must be in for the cum-shots, and then more-or-less let them take over from there. Sometimes that produces what looks like very rough stuff. Some scenes might be called ‘rough,’ others ‘sweet.’ Most of our titles are mixed in that respect.” Carpenter stresses, “Of course, we would never consider making bareback movies. We’re proud that our movies make safe sex look exciting and attractive.”
Typically a Thai Twink movie has four or five scenes of couples or trios. The last scene is often a group. “At first we had eight or ten models in the group scenes, but groups that size are very difficult to manage and shoot with the image quality we like, so those scenes have gotten smaller. The main thing is to relax the models so that their joy of sex and mutual attraction comes out on the screen.”
Asked about the future, Carpenter says, “We seem to be doing something right. The Latino field has broken through, the ethnic field has broken through, and now here we come with the Asians. If I’ve learned anything in business, it’s that the secret of success is not the idea, but the people, the teams you build — and that a good product will keep selling forever.”
Ordering info: ThaiTwink.com, 661-510-5011; wholesale distribution is by Marina Pacific: 800-999-5530; MarinaPacific.com.
