On our first day, we had Gina Marissa Tagasa-Gil. Manay Gina, as everyone in the business fondly calls her, is a well-known writer for TV, stage, and film. She was the head writer of Lovingly Yours, Helen and Coney Reyes On Camera before. Now, she handles Bahay Mo Ba 'To? and Mahiwagang Baul in GMA 7. Recently, she had written Moments Of Love in film. Yes, MOL! My favorite! Hehehe. (If you have been following my writings, you'll understand my sarcasm.) Incidentally, amongst our workshop mates is the supervising producer of the said film.
Manay Gina also tried her hand on directing via Sa Kandungan ng Langit (Heaven's Cradle) which gave her the Best Film in New York Film Festival 2004.
Manay Gina emphasized the importance of good characterization. The characters should be consistent with their background and their personalities. Characterization can either make or break a good story line. It was a problem for me before when I wrote Our House. It was about a group of friends living in one house together. Technically, it was about my barkada. I wrote it when I was in college but didn't get to finish it. I lost interest. Anyway, according to Bhe-bhe, every character in the story has "me" in them. Every one seemed to be nice. Back then, I was too morally conscientious. Most of the time, I tend to judge my characters even before I write them which, of course, is wrong. Manay Gina reminded us that our characters, particularly the protagonists, shouldn't be too good or else, there wouldn't be any room for changes and growth.
The second day was headed by Direk Rahyan Carlos. He was part of Manay Gina's team in Coney Reyes On Camera. He related to us that she made it a point to tell him his mistakes in his writings before (through a letter) which he appreciated a lot. Because of it, he was able to know his weaknesses.
Direk Rahyan reiterated that, first and foremost, we should focus on our story and script. Every thing else is secondary. He admitted how he hated Pamahiin's story line, his first commercial film. But he couldn't do anything about it because they had a deadline to pursue. So, instead, he just put his best in directing it. Good thing that he admitted to not liking it. I find it contradictory before that he was saying (in interviews) that he has been a fan of the horror genre and he dreamt of making a good scary film. Yet he failed to scare the audience with his movie. Di pala niya kasi sariling kwento. I saw it with Than-than and I swear, he fell asleep! Aminado naman si direk na "talky" 'yung film niya which shouldn't be the case for horror films.
In fairness, though, he really managed to make the film look good. In contrast with typical horror films, his was in vibrant colors. The actors were glowing on screen. I guess, it also became a problem since there was a little amount of horror feel in it.
After some music-writing exercises and discussion, direk made us watch Puso3 which is the product of last year's GMA workshoppers. It consists of 3 stories: Peque Gallaga's Lost & Found, Soxie Topacio's Siklo, and Rahyan Carlos's Kulam. The last two films were written by direk and I must admit that they were written well. As compared to the first one which really borders on the absurd and not to mention the not-so-good acting in it.
Anyway, speaking of story line, direk asked us to do our own. If chosen by the group, it will be used as our short film. Two stories came into my mind when I was thinking about it. First was Buhay Pirata. It will be about the vendors of pirated DVDs in Quiapo. But I don't know how to go about it - whether I should write a sort of "day in the life of" or talk about their struggles in life. In any case, it would need a lot of research and interviews. In the end, I realized that it'd be better as a documentary piece than a film. My second had an adult-ish theme to it. It will be about a girl who asks her friends about their sexual experiences because she is a virgin and is about to have sex. Her friends are consist of a married and conservative woman, a single and sexually active woman, a gay guy, and a straight guy. All of them would give her tips aside from sharing their stories. My treatment will be comedic.
I have chosen the latter but my concern now is its theme. I have shared it with my group mates and I received some positive remarks from them. However, I'm afraid that it might not be chosen because we will have kids (those in the acting workshop) in the audience. Anyway, I don't wanna think about it yet. I'm hoping for the best but I am also preparing myself if ever things won't go my way. At least, I found some potential film in some of my group mate's works.
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