All Good Things Must Come To An End

Sad as it may seem, my first youth show on TV, SCQ Reload will already have its final episode this Sunday. While I have been "on leave" from the show since it changed its title to "Kilig Ako", I still feel its loss. No matter what my artsy fartsy friends say, I'm proud of my work on the show. I'm also proud of what we have achieved. We were rating 20's when we were still daily (a task that's difficult to attain these days in the 6pm timeslot). We had two threads in PEX with fans constantly debating after every episode. We were the first youth show that's multi-character but whose characters are not part of one big happy barkada and whose storytelling is not episodic (well I'd like to be proud of that. Heh. :D) We beat Love to Love for four months since we began the weekend timeslot. (No previous ABS-CBN show had beaten the GMA drama after Tabing Ilog left Sunday afternoon. We started losing when Sandy abruptly left us and we had to do major revisions with the story arch). The show is not ending because of the ratings though. It's just that...well, there are things that's better left unsaid. Heh! :)

Heck, how can I forget this show? The show gave me the opportunity to headwrite a drama series. The show gave me the chance to travel to Korea (lame, I know but still! :D) But more than these, the show introduced me to the staff and crew, the friendships of whom I'm going to cherish forever. Thank you Direk Lauren, Direk Joyce, Direk Bea, Direk Jillmer, Direk Retchie, Miss Maru, Miss Mavic, Miss Mercy, Michiko, Emman, Chris, Ritchie, Kuya Henry, Nelson, Jon Moll, Ros, Piem, Judith, Homer, Ms Nancy and Olive. We shall be working together again.:)

Let me end this entry by reposting what our director posted in PEX.

I personally would like to thank everyone who, in one way or another, supported SCQ Reload till the very end. Especially those who stood by us during our daily show and as we transitioned to the weekly schedule, also when we eventually changed the title of the show to "Kilig Ako".

I have seen how active this thread has been. Your suggestions, comments, rants & raves , and heated discussions with one another have made this show a success and has helped sustain it for 1 whole year.

Together, we laughed, cried, and loved as we watched our favorite characters take on life's challenges head-on.

But as they all say: "Every good thing must come to an end". And so it has for this wonderful show.

For most of you, the program's abrupt end may come as a surprise. For some, you may not have total closure. I only wish it could have ended more smoothly, but due to the circumstances, it would be terribly hard to do so.

I hope everyone would have the time to watch our final episode this Sunday, June 12, 2005.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you very much for everything. Till next time.

Reload lives on.

Awwww. As the character of Melissa would say, this is so sadness...

Yoboseyo, Seoul!

I miss this blog!

I know I should have written about my Korea trip sooner but work has been taking up most of my time lately. I would have wanted to write a more detailed entry but my mind’s just too “drained” from work. Nothing’s coming out of it anymore if you allow me to exaggerate. (Am I even making sense?) Which is not to say that the trip was forgettable because it was definitely not! In fact, even if I was multi-tasking during the whole shoot (I was the location manager, co-producer, assistant director, and writer all in one), I actually had fun. Direk also didn’t throw any tantrums, which made it easier for all of us. Thanks to the very cold weather I guess, because I think it literally and figuratively cooled us down.

Before I embarrass myself with more awkward sentence structure and wrong word usage, let me proceed to tell you about my trip to Korea. Heh.

SATURDAY
Ritchie (our associate producer) and I arrived ahead of everyone. It was a disaster in the making. If we hadn’t called our Korean coordinator that day, he wouldn’t have known that the shoot would push through. I also thought that everything had been planned out already but only found out when we arrived that we still don’t have a hotel to stay in. But, I don’t know, I wasn’t nervous because I savored more the feeling of being in Korea for the first time. It was really very cold when we went out of the airport. There’s “smoke” coming out of our mouths every time we talk. So I talked and talked because it was so “cinematic”. Heh! While waiting for the bus that would bring us to Seoul, we chanced upon some camera crew following a certain celebrity. Honestly, I didn’t know who she was but since she seemed famous, I requested to have my picture taken with her. Later on, I found out she’s Gail Kim, a very famous Korean-American WWE wrestler and she’s having her homecoming to Korea.


SUNDAY
Chang and Lee, our Korean coordinators, toured us around Korea looking for possible locations to shoot. We went to a lot places including the historic Olympic Park. Chang and Lee, hot-blooded males that they are, kept asking me how to say some “sex” terms in Filipino and I gamely taught them! Heh! I think I became a “pervert” in their eyes because they only invited me (not Ritchie) to come with them and do some hanky panky with local prostitutes. LOL! :) I politely declined, of course.


MONDAY
Ms. Nancy, our production designer and I, met my high school classmate Seong Yeon and her boyfriend Seo Koh. I felt like I was in “Lost in Translation” when the taxi driver couldn’t understand the directions we gave. Let’s just say he brought us to Seoul National Hospital when we clearly told him to bring us to Seoul Finance Center. LOL! :) Seong Yeon and Seo Koh were so accommodating and nice. They gave me gloves and lent me a winter jacket to keep myself warm. They also treated us to a Mongolian restaurant and let us “experienced” their subway system.

By nighttime we fetched Direk and our stars in the airport and from there, work officially began.

TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
It was all work, work and work but honestly, I didn’t think we were working at all! It was that fun! Also enjoyed joking around with Henry, Hero’s brother. Just some childish stuff like talking behind the backs of our non-English speaking Korean companions. Bad, I know! :)



P.S. Mali ang dubbing ng Lovers in Paris na “Adja!” which supposedly means “Let’s Go!” Dapat “Kaja!”. Hindi ko alam ang tamang spelling basta ganun ang pronunciation dapat. :)

Adja! Or That Expression They Say in Lovers in Paris!

Okay, Paul and everyone, the first exciting development in my life (well, at least for me) is that later this afternoon, I'm going to Korea! :D Yep, my second (or is it fourth since we went to three countries the first time?) trip abroad! (This is what I love about showbiz really!:D) Although thinking about it now, I don't think it will be that exciting at all. I found out two nights ago only that I'm leaving today which means I'm so unpreprepared. I also found out that it's freezing cold in Seoul and I don't like winter! Not that I already experienced one (heh!) but I'm just the summer kind of guy. These are just petty reasons of course. Really, I think that it will be unexciting because it's WORK (argh, work!) and I still have to write there what we're going to shoot. Argh! (Yes, what a way to start 2005! Being pessimistic kaagad! Hahaha :D) Please pray that I'll survive the guerilla shoot in Korea, peeps! I'm scared! (How did you know, I needed someone like you in my life... Get it?! Hehehe :D)

I hope I can meet my Korean high school clasmmate Seong Yeon there. Now, that's exciting. :)

P.S. Shout out to Chegay and Michiko for giving me advice re: winter stuff! Argh, winter! Brrrr....

Yesterday Once More

4. We arrived at the Christmas Party at 10pm. It was a large party. All the people involved in the show were there (from the utility peeps to the cast, minus Hero since he’s still recovering from an eye operation) and even if I don’t know most of them, it was still fun. I won in the raffle a coffee mug holder courtesy of Raphael of SCQ. Too bad Michiko and I didn’t win the DVD player or oven since it would have been more useful to us, new apartment dwellers. Direk Lauren asked us though what we wanted for our apartment and I unabashedly replied that we want a microwave oven. Hehe. Later, Michiko told me that we should have asked for a mini-refrigerator instead.

5. The highlight of the night for me of course was having my pictures taken with the “artistas.” Even if I’ve worked in the industry for almost 4 years already (hence, I’m not too “starstruck” anymore) I don’t think this picture taking habit would end. And guess what? :) I finally had my picture taken with 80’s wonder-kid Chuckie Dreyfuss. Yahoo!!! :) I was a bit flushed though when he told me that he has read my blog. It seems he chanced upon this blog when he googled SCQ Reload. Nakakahiya because it means he has read this entry. Hahahaha :) Good thing he is uber-nice and friendly. We even exchanged phone numbers, laban kayo?! Hahaha! (Hi Chuck! :-) ) Here are my Christmas Party pics.


Chuck and I


Beverly Salviejo and I


Errol and I


Melissa and I


Michelle and I


RJ and I


Our PA Nelson and I (Argh with the hip-hop hands! :) )


I, Michiko and Olive

SCQ Overload

That floor director of Star Circle Quest is a betch (to borrow Chona’s term :D)! The fag rudely told us (SCQ Reload staff) to leave the studio with his microphone ON for everyone to hear. To think we just went there because Direk told us so. (He couldn’t make it to the staff meeting because he’d be taping for the quest). I’m just so pissed off. The production values of their show are not even that good! Have you seen last Saturday’s episode?! It was badly edited, poorly scored and had no semblance of a storyline that’s essential for a reality show such as this. I regularly watch SCQ but in terms of aesthetics, yes, I think Starstruck is BETTER. Mr. Floor Director should just be thankful because the quest’s major saving graces are the jurors and their relatively good judgment, the contest’s nationwide scope, and the quality of the contestants themselves. I’m not really fond of spoilers but because of that floor director’s bitchiness, I’m going to tell you now that internet fan favorite Marvin and that Fil-Am guy from Bacolod (Mark?) are voted out of the Final 25 and they'll have a Circle of 12 (instead of 10). Grrrr. =)

***

Thank God we survived our premiere episode despite the fact that we lacked time to prepare. In fact, most of the supporting visuals of the flashbacks as suggested in our script weren’t followed because of time constraints. Kinarir ko pa naman ang pag-relyrics nung baduy na kantang yun for the Melissa-Joseph-Michelle flashback (Hahaha!). If you also noticed, some of the scenes weren’t musically scored. It’s because the latter gaps were still edited and scored while the earlier gaps were already being aired. Phew! =) All the hardships were forgotten though, once we received the feedback of the show’s viewers. The praises in the SCQ Reload thread in Pinoy Exchange are enough to inflate our egos. To the SCQ Reload fans, thank you very much and we promise we’ll do our best to deliver good episodes per week. =)

***

Prior to the show’s premiere, I had a meeting with the post-production people so they can get my inputs for editing (na hindi naman nasunod dahil sa time constraints, hay! :D ). The meeting was a surreal experience, what can I say! Seated next to me was 80’s wonder-kid Chuckie Dreyfuss. Haha! =) He’s the show’s musical scorer, would you believe?! =) I regretted not bringing my camera, though. Papa-picture pa sana ako. Hah! =) Baduy na kung baduy, but Chuckie is an 80’s icon. I still fondly remember his loveteam with Isabel Granada in those all-star Regal musical comedies.

***

Our AD JR is nasty! I was in my self-aware mode when I told him my re-lyrics of the theme song for the MJM subplot is uber-cheesy but it’s okay coz the masses love the cheese. Sabi ba naman sa akin, “Yeah right! We all tell that to ourselves!" Grrr! Atenista at mayaman ka kasi! Anyway, tinamaan ako kasi TAMA siya. HAHAHA! =)

***

At least nakapag-update ako ng blog dahil lang dun sa P.I. na floor director na yun! Hahaha! =)

Sunday Afternoon

Hello fellow Reloaders (bwehehe), SCQ Reload will now be a one-hour weekly series starting this Sunday, October 17, 3PM. Mark the date, peeps! The series will run for a limited engagement only (depending on the ratings) so episodes are not to be missed. To those who weren't able to watch the series when it was still shown daily, don't fret because we made the transition pilot (entitled The End is the Beginning is the End) with new and old viewers in mind. Man, this is so hard sell! Haha. :D

SCQ Reload

Finally, the youth show, er, soap I've been working on, SCQ RELOAD, will have its premiere this Monday already. Mark the date peeps, July 12, before TV Patrol.:) I wrote most of Week 1 (with possible spillover in Week 2) so please, please watch it. However, this is still a personal blog okay? This basically means I would really really appreciate it if you don't fill the tagboard with your violent comments about the show (if ever there are any). This blog will remain to be a space for my daily rants and whinings. :)

Again, July 12, before TV Patrol, SCQ Reload!