Jonathan Neri a.k.a. Boy Tulis

We first met Jonathan Neri at the CCP auditions. While waiting for his turn to audition, I gave him a monologue that he could read for us when his turn came up. He seemed polite enough, and seemed a little bit shy because he wasn’t yakking it up with his co-auditionees like the others. I gave the monolugue to a bunch of actors who were waiting their turn. Jonathan, I gave because he had the call center fashion down pat, I think he was wearing a sweater or a hoodie, I didn’t think much of it. When his turn to audition came, Onnah whispers to me that he looks like Ugly Betty’s boss. Since I hadn’t seen Pisay, I had no idea that he had acted before. When I saw him in the camera monitor and he began his audition, I knew right away that we had found our guy. He looked and spoke exactly how I envisoned the character of Eric when we were writing the script- just the right blend of charm and dorkiness. On the set, Jonathan earned the nickname “Boy Tulis” because of his uncanny ability to attract women, especially those in the 25 to 29 age range.

Casting MFAA*: Mailes Kanapi

This may just be my opinion, but Mailes Kanapi gave the single best audition in the 2-day open casting call set up by the CCP for all the Cinemalaya entries this year. As Mailes enters the audition hall, Vives Asuncion, one of the panelists jovially heckles her: “What are you doing here? You’re overqualified!” After Mailes gave her audition monologue, the whole MKP hall momentarily fell silent, and then everyone applauded. I have been a fan of Mailes ever since I saw her in the one-woman play The Return of Flor. I was happy for, like, days after seeing that play. Having seen the play gave me a natural high. I was happy not for any other reason, but just because people were stageing something that I really liked, even if I had absolutely nothing to with the staging of that play.

*(My Fake American Accent)

My Life as a Call Center Agent

My second call center job was at Convergys in Ortigas. I was expecting to stay six months on the job, but I ended up staying for nine months. I remember being very excited about it because it was a technical account and I was going to learn a lot of new things. It was gruelling, but it was also fun. I made lots of new friends. And I got paid a lot more than my previous call center job. I didn’t have much of a social life except for drinking sessions with colleagues. Sometimes I would find the time to watch the occassional movie. I boarded up my room window so that I would have total darkness during the day, which was the time for me to sleep since i worked all night. When I found it hard to sleep, I would induce drowsiness by downing a bottle of beer or two. The cool thing about this job was that I had this great panoramic view of Metro Manila, we had floor to ceiling windows and we were in one of the higher floors. On a clear day, I could see the CCP complex and some outlaying islands in Manila Bay. And everyday I would watch the sunrise. In the end I had to quit becuse I wanted to produce Endo for UFO Pictures.

Secret Origins

The idea of making My Fake American Accent came about right after I had finished screening Trabaho in Cinemanila. I got myself a job in a call center. I would tell my girlfriend about my day at the call center and she would say that this would be a good idea for a film. I was one of the older people in my batch; average trainee age was around 19 to 22, I was already 31 then. I didn’t blab to my co-trainees about my age so that it would be easier for me to get the younger people to talk to me and tell me their stories. On my second week of training, one of my batchmates got himself some national media attention by climbing up a billboard and threatening to jump. Very cinematic indeed! I worked 11-hour shifts four times a week. The job lasted three months. Our US client pulled the plug on our account- not enough calls were coming in. I got a $100 bonus. And for some fluke reason, the company forgot to make me sign their mandatory training bond, so I didn’t have to take the account that they wanted me to transfer into. I quit and took some time off. Went on a road trip through Mindoro, Romblon, Boracay and Panay Island. After that much needed rest, I plunged into my second call center job. But that’s another story.

 

 

Excuses, Excuses…

 Shooting a movie demanded so much of my attention that I barely had time or willpower to do anything else. Hence the dismal number of entries in my blog. Just to give you an idea how all-consuming making My Fake American Accent has been for me, the last film that I actually saw was Jumper, and I went to see it on it’s opening day. It’s been that long.

 

 

 

 

Oh, shoot!

my own endo at ufo

INT. UNNAMED EATERY IN MORATO- DAY 

Yes, it’s true. I’ve quit from UFO Pictures. I asked for a one-on-one meeting with Raymond Lee to tell him that I’m leaving the film company that we co-founded along with three other writers. I’m still friends with most of the guys in the group. And it was fun while it lasted. But it’s time to move on.

 

 

On Casting

INT. DIRTY KITCHEN PRODUCTION OFFICE- DAY 

Casting a movie is fun. But it’s also not easy. It’s like a chemistry experiment. You try mixing different elements to see what could work and what probably would not work. We go through dozens of actors’ names on our corkboard, trying to find the right combination. In the end, you could either end up with something wonderful to behold, or the whole experiment will just blow up in your face (which I’ve seen happen so many times onscreen, and also in some of the movies I’ve worked on).

Cloak & Dagger

 INT. CCP BOARDROOM- EVENING

Imagine finding yourself in the midst of a covert meeting that you were actually not invited to, but by virtue a bizzare series of coincidences and schedule mishandling you find yourself in that meeting. Well, that’s what happened to us. I, for one, was glad to be in that meeting. With all the mudslinging that went down, being in that meeting allowed me to defend myself. If there’s one thing I learned in all my time in the film industry it is this: People who refuse to play office politics are at the mercy of those who do; if you do not want to get your hands dirty, at least be aware that there is a game being played.

gifts from the winged goddess of victory

NIKE OFFICE, AYALA AVE- DAY

Thank you, Nike! Finally we have a sponsor. They gave us this expensive pair of sneakers that is going to be one of the central props in our movie, a black and white Nike Dunks High Premium limited edition.

And now, a word from our sponsor… 

Back to basics. Now popular with skaters, basketball players, and the fashionable alike, the first ever production of the Nike Dunk shoe was in 1985. Before the Nike Air Jordan I, the Nike Dunk, which later influenced the Jordan I, was the team basketball shoe of choice. The original Dunk is a highly sought-after collectors item and due to consumer demand, the Nike Dunk line was reissued in 1998. Technologically, the Nike Dunk line of shoes has the most basic of technologies, but its simplicity and wide variety of colors leaves this line of 80’s retro basketball shoes compatible with many styles and make them perfect for casual wear.