THAI GL WEEKLY
In October last year, two of the most loved actresses in Thai GL did something the business I described in "Selling the Ship" does not plan for. They each opened a company of her own.
Manila Bulletin reported in October 2025 that Freen Sarocha Chankimha and Becky Armstrong had left their agency, and that their new companies were Solenn Entertainment and Becky Entertainment. (Manila Bulletin, 14 October 2025) Thairath reported IDOLFACTORY's own announcement that their artist contracts had ended, and that the company spoke of continuing to work with them project by project. (Thairath, 14 October 2025)
I have loved music since 1966 and worked in photography and writing since 1975. My view, after all that time, is that the dullest question in any creative business is the one that matters most. Who owns it?
In the model I described in "Selling the Ship", the answer is the agency. The company holds the pair: it casts them, books them, sells the tickets with both names on them and decides what happens when one of them stops. A company of your own changes the first word of that sentence. It does not change everything after it, and I want to be careful here.
I do not know these two companies' contracts, partners or accounts, and neither does anyone else writing about them from the outside. I cannot tell you that they are profitable, or that either founder now decides every role and every date. Owning a company is not the same as controlling an industry. What I can show you is what each company announces, in its own words.
Here is the first year in their own announcements. On 30 May 2026 Solenn Entertainment announced Freen's fan meeting in Vietnam on the company's own account. (Solenn Entertainment, 30 May 2026) On 20 May 2026 Becky Entertainment announced that Becky would attend the 2026 Global OTT Awards in Busan after her nomination for Best Newcomer. (Becky Entertainment, 20 May 2026) Small things, a fan meeting and an awards trip, but each one carries the company's name, not an agency's. I would rather you read those in the companies' own words than in mine.
None of this means the pairing has ended, and I would be misleading you if I let it sound that way. Thairath reported in May 2026 that the two star together in "The Air" (เสน่หาวาโย), the 4 Elements series from North Star, airing Saturday nights on Channel 7HD; it ran from May into July. (Thairath, 17 May 2026) Fans who love them as a pair have not been asked to stop, and nothing in this essay asks them to. That is the point I most want to make. Independence here is not a break from the model. It is a change in who sits at the table when the model is used. From the audience, a joint appearance looks the same. What can differ is who agreed to it, on whose terms, and whose company the money reaches first. That last part is my hope, not a finding. We will learn more as they choose to tell us, and only then.
The leaving did not settle everything with the old house. Thairath reported that on 10 July 2026 the Civil Court held mediation in Freen's contract claim against IDOLFACTORY, involving wages and revenue sharing of more than 8 million baht (about $237,000), and that it was not resolved that day. (Thairath, 10 July 2026) TNN reported on 5 March 2026 that Becky said she had filed a lawsuit against her former agency over 20 million baht (about $590,000) in unpaid compensation. (TNN, 5 March 2026) These are claims. I have seen no ruling in either, I make no finding here, and IDOLFACTORY is entitled to answer them on this page.
But I will say this, as opinion, and I will say it plainly. When an artist's pay ends up before a court mediator, and another artist tells a reporter she has gone to law over hers, the working relationship has failed. I hold the company to the higher standard, because in an agency relationship it is the company that writes the terms and keeps the books. It should expect to be judged by how those terms end.
That is why I find this story hopeful, and why I wanted it to close the series. "Selling the Ship" began with a ticket that had two names on it run together as one word. This one ends with two companies, each with one name on the door. The romance on screen can go on as long as audiences want it. The people who make it now own a piece of the house it is sold from.
If the rest of the industry wants to keep selling love, here is a place to start. Let the people who make it own more of what they make. Who pays, who profits, and what would a fairer model look like? Two actresses have offered one answer. The studios can offer the next.
If an actress in this genre could own only one thing outright, her image, her schedule or her choice of roles, which should it be? Tell me on X at @ThaiGLWeekly, or by email at hello@thaiglweekly.com.
We asked IDOLFACTORY for comment on 21 October, with a deadline of 27 October. No reply had arrived by our deadline. We will publish any reply in full.
Dollar figures are approximate, converted at the exchange rate of 28 October 2026 (about 33.8 baht to the dollar).
Sources (each linked once in the text): Manila Bulletin, 14 October 2025 · Thairath, 14 October 2025 · Solenn Entertainment, 30 May 2026 · Becky Entertainment, 20 May 2026 · Thairath, 17 May 2026 · Thairath, 10 July 2026 · TNN, 5 March 2026