Manila Times column for 20 Sept 2009: "When your writing comes to life on screen"

this column was inspired by my recent directorial gig for the tv show that i am writing for (at least the first draft, i always say hehe. saka na ang kuwento nun siguro). maybe i'll also write about working as a director again, behind the scenes stuff. may mga incidents kasi akong nais i-blog, lalu na ang mga diskriminasyon sa set and all that. pero saka na nga lang.

eto muna.


original post here.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

THE SCRIBE VIBE By Libay Linsangan Cantor When your writing comes to life on screen

Scriptwriters must already be used to seeing their works on screen, whether they write for television or film, especially the veterans who have been writing for a long time. Of course this is applicable to those writers whose works actually made it to production. But then again, that’s another discourse altogether. For this writer, I am not yet used to seeing my works on screen. By “used,” I mean being just blasé about it to the point of not actually caring how the story was visualized at all. Of course it’s exciting to see because you are curious to know how the production team, especially the production designer and the director, visualized the words you just had a mental picture of before. Now that that mental picture is actually a real picture (and a moving picture at that), you sometimes wish you wrote several things differently, or wonder if the production team actually got the things you wanted to say in your script (oh, the wonderful world of subtext, semiotics and symbolisms). But being on the actual set of a world you just created is another experience altogether. I experienced this weekend when the TV show I write for called me up to ask if I can sub for their absent director. Since I have worked with this TV crew before as a director, I happily obliged and helped. This show is Happy Land, aired every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. over GMA-7. Since this children’s show began airing in June of this year, I watched it to monitor how my narrative scripts are being audio-visually translated. But visiting the set, looking at the props and meeting the characters I invented (such as the sari-sari store and its proprietor, which I named after my mother), I never thought that it would feel differently. All of a sudden, I am inside the world I created, walking around the places I merely wrote about at the comfort of my home, and scrutinized the characters from a great deal of distance. I actually felt like that writer character from the Cornelia Funke novel Inkheart (which was also turned into a film) as he reacted upon meeting his fictionally written characters in the flesh for the first time. It put a weird but satisfying smile on my face. But what put an even bigger grin on my face was seeing how the production team labored over making the material I wrote come to life. The props, the costumes and of course directing the scenarios I invented (for this episode, the children protagonists interact with a young Lam-ang who learned how to talk respectfully with elders)—they were all fun, and educational for me, too. Now that I knew how they shot the material, I became conscious of several factors that I never would have considered before just by merely writing from a distance. Well, let’s see how this episode fares, as it still has to air on October 3. Wish us luck. Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

Manila Times column for 07 June 2009: "To be read and watched by (almost) all"

original post here.

plugging. for more!

dapat last week of may column ko ito pero nagkaroon nga ng tech glitch sila sa newsroom. so...

THE SCRIBE VIBE
By Libay Linsangan Cantor
To be read and watched by (almost) all

Ideally, writers would really want their books to be read by a lot of people, their screenplays or stage plays to be made into films or plays that will be watched by many. But by “a lot,” does that mean almost everybody in the planet or the country? That might be a hard feat to achieve no matter what type of writing you do.

Creative writers usually include universal themes in their writings, such as falling in love, heartbreak, betrayal, and all those things that have been used over and over in literature, film and TV melodramas. But in essence, writers ideally have a target audience to begin with when they write; it makes crafting the plot easier, and it is also challenging to discover what kind of story development/details will excite a particular audience.

This is the reason why I chose to decline writing for a TV show before called Lovely Day, which I eventually directed when the producers decided to remake it from a plain newsmagazine type to a hybrid of narrative fantasy-newsmagazine. The executive producer (or EP) proposed that since I was already directing the show, I should also try my hand at writing the main narrative script since it might be easier for me to direct what I wrote. I mulled over it and asked who the primary target audience of the show was. Her answer startled me: anyone from age 2 to 92. Wow, that’s a large scope to please in thirty minutes, nationwide! I don’t think a single narrative storyline will captivate that wide an age range at any given time. Nothing is that universal, not even love (or Pacquiao’s boxing matches). I mean, could a 5-year-old fathom love like how a 60-year-old would? I don’t think so. So as much as I wanted to go back to writing children’s or family-oriented TV shows, I declined.

Last month, I was offered to be the scriptwriter of a new show. Since the focus is clearer this time (with the EP clearly labeling it as a “children’s show”), I accepted. This time, the audience is clearer, as it is going to be aimed at preschool viewers, grade school students and everyone in between that age range. Of course it helps if parents and other relatives from other age ranges would watch it, but that’s just an added bonus. The show, called Happy Land, replaces Lovely Day in its Saturday morning time slot of 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at GMA7; it premiered yesterday.

The show is primarily educational in nature but with a mix of fantasy and reality narrative storylines in it. Let’s see just how wide an audience it will reach this time.

Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com. She is also at libaycantor.multiply.com.

i have a new show but i'm kinda hesitating to promote it...

...that's because i am no rene villanueva. that fact really scares me. to death. (sumalangit nawa si kuya rene. wala siyang katulad. isa siyang alamat.)

yes, after having directorial stints at the now concluded LOVELY DAY show on GMA-7, the show that's replacing it called HAPPY LAND will be aired this saturday. and i am this show's "head writer" or narrative writer. but i'll discuss that later.

read the official PR first.

--------------------------------------------

HAPPY LAND PREMIERES JUNE 6
9:30-10AM GMA-7

Locally-produced educational children’s shows are so rare these days you can count them on the fingers of one hand. The era of childhood favorites Batibot, 5 and Up or Sineskwela airing on a daily basis has long since passed, replaced by foreign anime and cartoons with entertainment rather than education as their primary goal.

This lack of edifying children’s programs compounds the shortage of public early childhood care and development institutions in the Philippines. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ‘Education for All by 2015’ report states that pre-primary education in the Philippines is available only to 41% of the total population, as most pre-schools are privately owned and concentrated in highly urbanized areas.

This overwhelming need challenged GMA’s award-winning News and Public Affairs Group to produce a definitive pre-school education program with the objective of shaping a whole new generation’s viewpoint.

The result: HAPPY LAND, a children’s program that inspires young viewers to discover happiness despite the bad things in life. In a poverty-stricken tenement, Anna and Buboy -- children of OFW parents -- discover a portal to Happy Land, a fantasy world where knowledge thrives and problems are systematically solved. The show follows the lives and exploits of Anna and Buboy as they meet the different residents of the tenement -- including a Muslim and Visayan families -- and discover a fantasy world through a magical junk shop inside the compound.

Through Anna and Buboy’s story, the show intends to present reality to child viewers -- discussing social issues with no pretense or sugarcoating. Happy Land also seeks to address the issue of OFW-ism by helping its main characters cope with OFW parents, and hopes to impart Filipino values and character education to both children and adult viewers.

Combining animation, digital technology, and live-action photography, Happy Land hopes to bring children to a new level of TV viewing. Aside from the narrative, the show will also teach basic pre-school subjects like Language and the Alphabet, Math, Science, and General Knowledge through independent segments.

Two adorable kids lead Happy Land’s cast of characters. Nine year- old Patricia Gayod plays Anna, Buboy’s loving sister who acts as a mother to Buboy while their Mama works as a domestic helper in Hongkong. Meanwhile, six-year-old Jermaine Ulgasan plays Buboy, a quick-witted kid who’s very dependent on his older sister. True to real life, Jermaine is a son of an OFW parent. His father works as an engineer in Saudi.

Public Affairs host Love Añover plays Ate Belle, the tenement’s friendly repairwoman who can mend everything from broken irons and refrigerators to broken hearts and dreams. Veteran theater and TV actress Joy Viado joins the cast as Tita Auring, Anna and Buboy’s strict but loving aunt. Completing the main cast is an animated creature: Mingming, the tenement’s resident black cat who will lead the children on their journey through Happy Land.

Kid viewers will also get the chance to meet “Bulatelino,” an intelligent, talking earthworm who will teach kids anything and everything about Science. Youngsters also get to learn more about geography as Popoy and Kokoy, Happy Land’s mice duo, bring them to all sorts of places through their segment “Mga Dagang Gala.”

Happy Land is directed by acclaimed film and television director, Bb. Joyce Bernal.

Discover happiness, learn new things, and have fun all at the same time as the newest addition to GMA News and Public Affairs’ roster of award-winning programs airs this June!

Happy Land's pilot episode airs Saturday, June 6, from 9:30 – 10:00AM. A week before this, on May 30 at the same timeslot, catch “The Way To Happy Land,” a primer on the conceptualization and production of Happy Land.

-------------------------------------------------------------

so yan. di ba it looks promising, exciting and fun? siyempre it has to be that, kasi nga happy land siya e.

but the source of my hesitation is the show's referencing of BATIBOT. when the GMA peeps talked to me and asked if i am willing to be the head writer, i thought i was just going to head some writers nga. kaya lang iba kasi ang sistema ng ganitong klaseng show, na hindi na halos News and Public Affairs ang approach kundi may pagka-entertainment na.

let me tell you about tv first.

there are always 2 divisions at work there: the News and Public Affairs (or Current Affairs sa ABSCBN ito) and the Entertainment Division (sa ABSCBN, dati ang tawag dito ay Production pero ewan na ngayon kung yun pa rin ang tawag). we film majors always end up working at the production/entertainment side kasi nga we are more of narrative-oriented filmmakers, and we are not news-oriented. public affairs division is a halfway road for us between prod/entertainment and news. we also populate that sometimes.

when i was in the writing pool of ABSCBN Foundation's children's shows about a decade ago, the execs handling the shows were not exactly from current affairs or entertainment. they were a totally different batch of people (they're nicer than the usual abs peeps hahahaha!) so iba ang atake sa shows. shows like the one mentioned sa pr above, SINESKWELA. i was part of the pool of HIRAYAMANAWARI (where i trained in writing for children's tv shows) and EPOL/APPLE (where i opted to write because it taught english to viewers, mas trip ko kesa math o science hehe, at wala pa yung philippine lit show kasi nun na PAHINA). as writers, we had a head writer giving us guidelines on what lessons to include, the sequence of the storylines etc. there was also a creative panel making chukchak to each and every draft of each and every script coming out of each and every writer. kaya tag-gutom din ang writers doon dati actually, dahil sa tagal ng panahong ma-approve ang script mo at ang actual date ng pag-ere, hindi regular ang kita ng pera. like in print publications, writers are only paid when the episodes we wrote were actualy filmed and aired na. of course wala nang panibagong bayad kapag nag-replay ang show, but that's another issue. kaya minsan, sa isang buwan, isang script mo lang ang eere, at yun lang ang bayad sa iyo.

pero with HAPPY LAND, it is both nerve-wracking and exciting for me at the same time. there's no creative panel to please with nth drafts of scripts, only the main execs (two to be exact) to please with the weekly storyline. there are no definitive lessons to write in because those are taken cared of by segment producers who have their own lesson segments to write (think SESAME STREET where there are separate segments that feature other character mainstays that teach actual lessons e.g. the spanish word lessons, the math calculations, stuff like that). remember the main storyline where the people in the neighborhood of sesame street are? parang sa batibot, kung nasaan lagi sina ate sienna at kuya bodjie. that's the one i write. it's basically like 2/3 of the show. kinda like LOVELY DAY before, where i direct the narrative storyline there, which is also 2/3 of the show. ngayon, i write that 2/3 every week. it's scary. but in fairness, there show's execs and i sat down before beginning this and brainstormed on how the show will run around certain themes presented per ep, what social issues to tackle and all. and we started from there. pero walang monitoring masyado sa main narrative, although there is another UP prof from family and child dev't dept something sa College of Home Econ na consultant sa segment lessons, but i don't think she could comment heavily on the lessons sa narratives only after she has seen it. iba kasi ang training niya e. but iher comments would be/are helpful nonetheless.

so again, why is this scary? because the burden of the lesson-molding incorporated in the narrative is mostly on my shoulders. the execs just tinker with it here and there, but basically, since they are more public affairs-oriented and not narrative/entertainment-oriented, kaunti lang din ang naibibigay na feedback regarding storylines. but you know, this is actually okay because less pressure for the writer ito, unlike before sa foundation where there was a person in the panel checking the production feasibility of our scripts (what's doable and not according to budget), a person monitoring the show's narrative logic, and the head writer who makes sure each ep ties with the others, kasi nga each writer is given a separate ep to write, and only the head writer sees all eps. kebs naming writers sa sinusulat ng others.

so there, bago umere ang ep mo, katakut-takot na pinagdaanan na. dito sa HAPPY LAND, konti lang ang pinagdadaanan, pero pag may sumablay lang ng kaunti, siyempre hind naman si direk joyce bernal ang titignang may "mali" doon (for so many reasons, of course, you know how it is in showbiz), kundi ang writer. e ako yun. kaya ngyarrrrr.

hindi naman sa takot ako sa "responsibilidad." in fact, i see this as a challenge, like i always do sa lahat ng endeavors na ginagawa ko sa life. naninibago lang siguro ako sa bilis ng mga bagay-bagay ngayon, unlike before na uber-bagal. ngayon, pagkasulat ko ng first draft, minsan di na babalik sa akin for revisions dahil ang exec producer (EP) na lang mismo ang kakalikot (mag-e-edit) dahil ishu-shoot na ito agad-agad. exciting siya kasi unlike film, nakikita mo agad ang results ng sinulat mo. like umeere na agad at may visualizations na agad ang mga ideya lang sa kompyuter ko dati. nabuhay baga. when i first saw the snippets of the first 2 eps, natuwa ako dahil they actually shot/followed what i wrote! (well, at least 70-85% of what i wrote, but that's already big ha!) and that's something worth treasuring. kasi ang maganda dito sa set-up ngayon, unlike eons ago, ay may respeto ang production team sa sinusulat ng writer. maybe it's also joyce's training as a mainstream filmmaker, and sana may tinge of training niya as a film major like me. hindi tulad dati na sasabihin nung creative panel na "sabi ni direk, dapat sulat niyo na rin dito ang chenes, chenes chenes..." na para bang wala nang gagawin si direk kundi i-execute na lang ang sinulat namin para di na siya gaanong nag-iisip. labo.

it also helps that the head honcho in-charge of the show is another film major, si sir tops brugada. like joyce, he knows the scheme of things needed at may respeto sa materyal. bibihira kasi akong makakilala ng mainstream people who listen to us "lowly scriptwriters" but i think the proliferation of film majors in the networks today, especially sa siyete, is changing that landscape. like with sina neil gumban before, na briefly naging head honcho (program manager or PM) ng lovely day, ay film major, ka-batch ni roehl jamon na colleague ko sa upfi. tapos si tops nga, na ka-batch pala ni patrick campos na colleague din sa upfi. and it also helps that there's another cmc alumnus sa grupo, ang EP na si ate shao masula, na broadcomm major naman (super-younger batch nga lang sa amin nina tops) na malaki rin ang tiwala sa writer, dahil siya dati ang writer ng lovely day narratives na dapat din e ako ang susulat noon-noon pa, but that's another story...

so there's my two cent's worth about the show. i guess what i'm just saying is that i'm afraid people would invoke batibot when they see happy land, and will then invoke rene villanueva alongside of it, and then scrutinize na "sinech ba itey na writerlalu ng happy land at feelingera echos na rene-like daw?" well, i wasn't the one who said this show was like reminiscent of batibot anyway, pero siyempre, people will compare and contrast, always.

but i see this as another show, of course, as this is another time, another place, another kind of creativity. what clinched the show for me is the fact i highlighted sa pr above, yung no sugarcoating of real issues sa isang children's show. kumbaga, this is so in line with what i've been learning in my MA classes na writing for children and writing for young adults, na you do not gloss over "serious issues" when dealing with children. that was the deal-maker for me, that's why i took on the challenge. the advocate in me wanted this to happen!

and now, it is.

so sige nga, gagawin ko na ring practical lesson-learning ang scriptwriting for this show as it airs. this might help future scriptwriters and my students also who want to learn more about this aspect of production, be it tv or film, basta narrative storytelling through audiovisual means. parang as it unfolds like a work-in-progress, i'll try to blog about it as a lesson-in-progress type of thingie.

so sige na nga, panoorin niyo na lang! pagkahaba-haba man ng sinabi ko, yun din ang ending hahahahaha! but i would really appreciate the comments regarding the show's story and all. the directing and prod part, labas na ako doon, ha?

o siya sige. sabado na. kitakits sa HAPPY LAND.

at sa mga fellow kapuso, break a leg sa ating lahat! hehe.

this makes a lot of sense

my acquaintance and facebook contact mimi nolledo, daughter of the late great writer wilfrido nolledo, posted this link sa fezbuk at may-i-read ako sa article. at winner siya ha! it makes a lot of sense!

repost ko lang dahil sa wala akong column na ire-repost today dahil nagkaroon daw ng tech problems ang substitute editor kahapon kaya di na-layout ang aking column. epic fail!!!

oh well.

the article on huffington post is here. my comments in brackets.



13 TIPS FOR ACTUALLY GETTING SOME WRITING DONE
by gretchen rubin


One of the challenges of writing is...writing. Here are some tips that I've found most useful for myself, for actually getting words onto the page:

1. Write something every work-day, and preferably, every day; don't wait for inspiration to strike. Staying inside a project keeps you engaged, keeps your mind working, and keeps ideas flowing. Also, perhaps surprisingly, it's often easier to do something almost every day than to do it three times a week. (This may be related to the abstainer/moderator split.)

[i call this "the NVM rule" because i first heard of this from the late national artist for literature nvm gonzales during the 1997 UP writer's workshop in cebu, when we were trapped in bantayan island for 7 superfun days. sabi niya, lagi daw dapat ako magsulat ng kahit ano, lalo na pagkagising sa umaga, walang edit-edit, basta kung ano ang unang sumagi sa utak ko, isulat ko. i used to have a notebook filled with such thoughts which i labeled "the nvm project notebook." i miss nv. he was like a lolo to me.

i was also reminded of this in 1999 in dumaguete naman, when i learned of poet fellow and friend allan popa really forced himself to write one poem per day. one poem! grabe sa dedication ang kuyang yun.]

with co-fellows at the 1999 dumaguete national writers workshop.
here we are in front of silliman university chenelyn. spot me.

2. Remember that if you have even just fifteen minutes, you can get something done. Don't mislead yourself, as I did for several years, with thoughts like, "If I don't have three or four hours clear, there's no point in starting."

[hm oo nga naman. in short, shorten your procrastination period hehe.]

3. Don't binge on writing. Staying up all night, not leaving your house for days, abandoning all other priorities in your life -- these habits lead to burn-out.

[hay nakoooh. kaya di ako naniniwala dun sa lock-in brainstorming sessions popularized by the abscbn/star cinema peeps early 2000s e, when writing soaps. chaka. kaya abandon ship akey. kaloka, one whole weekend pipigain kayo at nasa hotel lang kayo lahat! kaloka.]

4. If you have trouble re-entering a project, stop working in mid-thought -- even mid-sentence -- so it's easy to dive back in later.

[hm eto di ko pa nagagawa pero try ko nga.]

5. Don't get distracted by how much you are or aren't getting done. I put myself in jail.

[hindi naman distracted. sa akin e barometer yun. self-check like "wow shyeet 54 pages na ko yehey!" works for me hehe. that's how i finished my MA thesis!]

6. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that creativity descends on you at random. Creative thinking comes most easily when you're writing regularly and frequently, when you're constantly thinking about your project.

[yes. see nvm rule. that's why when, during the early stages of blogging in the philippines, i helped test the calliope platform ng i.ph dudes sa first blogging summit and got myself a new blog called "anti-rust punditry" or arparp hehe. that project was a short one to just help me write something almost everyday para di kakalawangin ang writing skills baga. at that time kasi, i wasn't doing much writing for some strange reasons... and this is why blogging helps.]

7. Remember that lots of good ideas and great writing come during the revision stage. I've found, for myself, that I need to get a beginning, middle, and an end in place, and then the more creative and complex ideas begin to form. So I try not to be discouraged by first drafts.

[ay korek ka jan ati. eto ang approach ko sa scriptwriting ngayon e, lalo na't i have to churn a script every week for HAPPY LAND, yung show na pumalit sa LOVELY DAY na dati e dinidirek ko. ako ang narrative scriptwriter ng new show. the first draft is the sequence treatment. second draft with revisions is the fullblown script na. it works.]

saturday mornings pa rin

9.30-10am gma7 mga kapuso. abangan!

8. Develop a method of keeping track of thoughts, ideas, articles, or anything that catches your attention. That keeps you from forgetting ideas that might turn out to be important, and also, combing through these materials helps stimulate your creativity. My catch-all document, where I store everything related to happiness that I don't have another place for, is more than five hundred pages long. Some people use inspiration boards; others keep scrapbooks. Whatever works for you.

[ay naku ang dami kong ganyan, minsan sa gimik nga e, susulat lang sa piece of tisyu and i pocket it. no idea is a bad idea, even if it's stored in your files for a decade already. who knows. sabi nga ni jun lana, siya e may baul ng scripts at huhugot lang pag kelangan. bongga ang ati no?]

9. Pay attention to your physical comfort. Do you have a decent desk and chair? Are you cramped? Is the light too dim or too bright? Make a salute--if you feel relief when your hand is shading your eyes, your desk is too brightly lit. Check your body, too: lower your shoulders, make sure your tongue isn't pressed against the top of your mouth, don't sit in a contorted way. Being physically uncomfortable tires you out and makes work seem harder.

my rainbow room where my writing nook and reading nook is.

in short, library ko teh. that's me at the height (or weight hehe,

see fatness) of my MA thesis rewriting

[ay finally! someone articulated this! some people kasi think maarte lang ako pag sinabi kong di ako makasulat kasi di na comfy ang desktop ko, o yung old laptop ko, at mainit sa bahay di ako makasulat ng tama, na kelangan ko minsan tumambay sa coffeeshop para magsulat lang, o dapat yung chair ko sa bahay pag nagsulat e maayos at perfect chuva. haaaay!

pero bago yung tongue thing ha. masubukan nga.]

10. Try to eliminate interruptions -- by other people, email, your phone, or poking around the Internet -- but don't tell yourself that you can only work with complete peace and quiet.

[haha true ito. kaya nga when i'm in fezbuk, that means i'm writing. reliever yun e hahaha! truly!

and this is where i truly appreciate goldstar. she's the one who finally understood what the temperament of a writer is actually like. she makes sure i don't get distracted and when i do, she helps me stay in focus and on track. i heart this woman. :)]

11. Over his writing desk, Franz Kafka had one word: "Wait." My brilliantly creative friend Tad Low, however, keeps a different word on his desk: "Now." Both pieces of advice are good.

[for me, that laminated postcard-like thingie from lunduyan ng sining's WHAT THESE HANDS CAN DO anthology that says "WRITE" does the trick so far. ... and that ribbon with the small card that says "47th palanca memorial awards for literature" with the red ribbon attached saying "winner" hehehe. vain na at mayabang, pero it makes me strive to top it, e. i don't rest on past laurels. i want new ones lagi hehehe.]

12. If you're stuck, try going for a walk and reading a really good book. Virginia Woolf noted to herself: "The way to rock oneself back into writing is this. First gentle exercise in the air. Second the reading of good literature. It is a mistake to think that literature can be produced from the raw."

[and this is why i heart virginia. she make a lotta sense, too.]

13. At least in my experience, the most important tip for getting writing done? Have something to say! This sounds obvious, but it's a lot easier to write when you're trying to tell a story, explain an idea, convey an impression, give a review, or whatever. If you're having trouble writing, forget about the writing and focus on what you want to communicate. For example, I remember flailing desperately as I tried to write my college and law-school application essays. It was horrible -- until in both cases I realized I had something I really wanted to say. Then the writing came easily, and those two essays are among my favorites of things I've ever written.

[well, oo naman ati. i think that goes without saying.]