MAY Production - The path of willpower and success brought by a Vietnam TVC production house debunked

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MAY Production in brief

MAY Production was founded in 2011 by Tony Nguyen and Phuong Tran, two experienced and highly respected Executive Producers in the industry. The year 2021 marks the 9th year since its establishment, MAY has now become one of the long-established and well-trusted production houses in Vietnam, specializing in TVC production.

MAY has been partnering with loads of agencies and clients in and out of Vietnam, plus from diverse categories and industries. 

In 2018, MAY established a production branch in Bangkok – an international commercial and advertising production hub of Asia, which aimed to serve clients with a need for filming in Thailand and compete with other producers in Southeast Asia.

One year later, MAY co-founded ME Group, the first production hub in Vietnam, and simultaneously launched Ginger Shots Studio (Table Top Studio) - a company specializing in shooting F&B scenes and slow-motion.

“For MAY, people are the utmost important factor.”

According to Mr. Tony Nguyen, the effort and dedication of an enthusiastic team since the very beginning has enabled MAY to thrive. The current team currently has more than 30 people working in an office 600m2 large, encompassing several functional rooms, including a production meeting room, casting room, fitting room, makeup room, recording studio, and post-production room...

Yes, there are elements of fun, but ultimately the core of MAY’s working culture is all about treating each other like a real family, thus fostering opportunities for working, learning, and growth. Two founders have also attempted to get closed with their team while providing a cohesive and supportive working environment that unleashes each individual's full potential.

The staff at MAY Production together try, learn, and develop continuously

At MAY, a company culture covers areas that are a lot more tech-savvy and knowledge-driven than just the company days out, to polish every single work. Moreover, its close-knit production team is always in full swing and willing to hit the ground running in any project. In this setting, MAY can deliver the best products and serve its clients even in urgent projects. At the end of the day, it's all about each individual's enthusiasm and passion, being brought together even more actively as a whole, which accelerates MAY's growth.

Cutting-edge technology makes the difference

In response to the fierce competition in the advertising production market and the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, two founders of MAY never stop searching for ways to improve the workflow to assure better products, not only for MAY's clients in particular but also for Vietnam advertising production industry in general.

Amid many challenges, by staying alert and keeping up with emerging trends, MAY's leaders have embraced new technology to hammer away at the production yet efficiently smooth the process and workflow.

In 2019, MAY pioneered in investing in technology equipment that helps produce TVC remotely (QTake). The acquisition of the QTake tool has enabled MAY to gain a considerable advantage amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. While filming activities in many countries were abruptly hit hard and overseas crews could not come to Vietnam, MAY could still produce plenty of huge projects both locally and abroad.



The latest TVC filming project with its Honda client has proven MAY's potential and capability. This TVC depicted a crowded street scene involving a great number of actors, incorporating an outdoor bike scene and all shot in studio, thus requiring complicated techniques. To efficiently do so, the filming process needed to be continuous, accompanied by a quick-handling in whatever situation. Obviously, there's no chance of this happening without a director present at the studio. Still, with QTake technology, he/she was enabled to monitor and direct the entire scene remotely to produce desired sets.

Another challenging project that MAY Production produced is for Diaper client - Bobby, wherein a newborn baby gets cast. For the TVC with babies, the production team usually has to sit down together to figure out how the director and the baby could interact naturally. The director will then try to convey the emotion to this special actor, with the crew's support.

In this project, the fact that the Australian director could not fly to Vietnam posed significant pressure on the producer and the assistant director. There came an urge to connect the remote director, the baby, and the crew on set altogether. With that being said, MAY's professional production team didn't shy away from this challenge but instead created a high-quality Bobby TVC that ultimately wowed its client.

Director was monitoring remotely via QTake

Consolidating the position of the Vietnam production industry, finding a place on the world stage

On the bright side, COVID-19 has seemed to be an opportunity for MAY and other production companies to demonstrate their capabilities. Back in the day, either giant filming projects were carried out abroad, or foreign directors were invited to Vietnam. When a pandemic struck, calling the shot from within became more crucial. Never had this happened, MAY would not have spotted loads of well-grounded and young talents in the industry.

Additionally, regarding the production of TVC “The Leading pioneer” for Vinfast – first Vietnam's car brand, Mr. Tony Nguyen said: "The equipment and film crews in Vietnam are fully qualified for producing any sophisticated and complex projects." For this project, MAY collaborated with a director and DOP - John in Ho Chi Minh - who has a profound experience shooting professional cars in other countries. In the end, Vinfast and its agency both felt convinced and satisfied with every single shot. Previously, ambitious vehicle TVCs were reluctantly executed abroad due to the requirements of high techniques, specialized equipment, and terrain factors to perform the scenes of downhill or running at high speed. For now, any of these strict concerns could be resolved in Vietnam.

Behind the scene of TVC “The leading pioneer” of Vinfast

The other push of COVID 19 is that there are many open doors for young domestic directors to showcase their talents and passion, namely La Dzung, Uyen Thu, Khuong Vu, Toan Huynh, Chris Vu... This is a remarkable stepping stone for the Vietnam production industry wherein a generation of young talents with creative thinking and professional working style is persistently spreading their wings and contributing to its robust development.

Behind the scene of MV “021”

With proven results, MAY Production has gained trust from more foreign clients who are willingly opting for the service from a truly Vietnamese production house with high capability and equipment as other fully-fledged production industries. It’s no wonder that MAY Production will likely expand its business to some other markets in Asia for the years to come.