An Open Letter to PAGE Jeans Co.

First of all, let me congratulate you for a good start in organizing the 2009 Search for the Next Page Star. I say good start because the screening process for potential candidates was organized well and I must say that the quality of candidates was generally good. However, I heard something that bothered me. I will discuss this later.

Secondly, thank you for having chosen our talent, John Leo Gorospe, as Male Star of the Night during your acquaintance party, an award that – modesty aside and as Mona herself said – John genuinely deserved.

Now let me express a few sentiments and observations regarding your search. I just hope that you take this in the spirit in which it is given and that it will serve as a lesson so that mistakes can be avoided in your future Next Page Star Search.

Zephorah Mayon is a pretty and stunning young lady. In fact, the first time I saw her walk into the room during the Mutya ng Pilipinas screening two years ago I said to myself “this girl is a winner!” She eventually won the title. However, stunning as she is, she shouldn’t have been taken in as a Page candidate. It is a well known fact that she is already a celebrity and her being so gave her unfair advantage over the others, most of whom are relatively new. I heard that she never attended the screenings and her sudden appearance during the acquaintance party raised many eyebrows. Many agents and parents questioned the wisdom of having her join. I myself wondered. An agent even intimated a suspicion, he figured that Zephorah’s manager wouldn’t enter her in the competition if he weren’t sure she’d win, for it would be a great embarrassment if she lost. So maybe, the agent said, there was already a deal between Zephorah’s manager and the Page owner. But then I gave the thought the benefit of a doubt. I thought he could be wrong. But was he?

Another questionable issue is why an agent who had talents in the competition was allowed to direct the show. Although I personally didn’t mind it that much, for the director wasn’t part of the panel of judges anyway, still his talent’s landing a semi-final slot certainly left a bad taste in the mouth of the other agents.

As to the choice of director, a competent one should have been hired instead. The Page owner who, I heard and by all indications, was generous and galante could have very well afforded a seasoned fashion director. A talent agent doesn’t necessarily make a good director and it showed during the actual show. A modeling search cum pageant cum fashion show with five segments that was to be held in the evening with only a few broken hours of rehearsals shouldn’t have consisted of many blockings. One or two blockings could have sufficed for the five segments. After all, it wasn’t the blockings that counted but the way the candidates projected on stage. This consequently led to the director berating the contestants a number of times for making mistakes. Who could blame the candidates for making mistakes in rehearsing for a very simple show with so many unnecessary blockings? Besides, in one instance, the director scolded the candidates but was put on a spot when it turned out that it was his own mistake. Next time hire a competent and professional director. So much for that.

The twenty-plus candidates were instructed to bring their own clothes expressing their personal style. Most of them went out of their way to look for the best clothes to wear. When the time for that segment (announcement of thirteen finalists) came, they weren’t even called on stage. Only the thirteen were given the chance to appear on stage in their fineries. One Page staff even told the director that perhaps they should have all the candidates called on stage but the latter said there was no need. This to me was the height of insensitivity on the part of the director who didn’t even think of the efforts that the other candidates exerted and the troubles they went through to produce their best attires. How inconsiderate!

Going to the format of the search itself, having female candidates thrice the number of males and eventually having four females and only one male as winner and runners-up is simply – I hate to use the term – dumb. There should have been an equal number of male and female candidates. Also, the decision to have only one winner – either male or female – is just as dumb. How could males and females compete equally for a single title? Perhaps it should just have been a “Miss Page” competition.

Finally, the goodwill that you generated among all the participating agents by giving them due importance was, sadly, lost in the ensuing outcome of the contest. You wasted an opportunity to build on that goodwill. Unless drastic changes are made in next year’s search, I doubt if it would get the same enthusiastic support from most other agents. I myself am reconsidering my options.

I maintain that Zephorah – pretty, elegant and deserving that she was – shouldn’t have been allowed to join, if only for the unfair advantage that her experience and celebrity status gave.

As to our talent – John Leo Gorospe – who was proclaimed Male Star of the Night during the acquaintance party but surprisingly didn’t even make it to the final 13… as his discoverer and manager, of course I believe he should have been included at least in the final 13. And I know that this is not only my opinion but many other people’s view as well. So I leave it to many of those present that night and even to many of your staff to decide if he really should have been one of the finalists. Fortunately, John – the trouper and professional that he is despite his being new in modeling (as evidenced during the acquaintance party’s talent portion when the karaoke DVD we brought didn’t work and yet he performed with gusto and sang a capella) – took his losing in stride and in very sportsmanlike manner. Of course there was a tinge of disappointment but he never showed any bitterness or resentment. That certainly made me all the more proud of our talent (I can say the same for all our other talents; we must be doing a good job instilling good values in them). I know that with John’s looks, determination, professionalism and good nature he will go places in the modeling world. Perhaps Page’s loss will be another apparel company’s gain? J (In fairness, by the way, the only male runner-up was deserving).

I can only wish Page Jeans Co. good luck in next year’s search. It is just unfortunate that a very promising model/star search such as it is started off beautifully but got tainted by unwise decisions and therefore ended up on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. But then again, there is always room for corrections and improvements.

On a final note, I would like to commend the Page staff for being helpful and accommodating throughout the duration of the search.

RHOEL “CHINO” R. MENDOZA
Managing Director
The Agencie Inc. Model & Talent Management

A rejoinder to "Unscrupulous agent"

Apropos my previous blog “Unscrupulous Agent” I remember a related incident which took place in February this year. It was a TV Commercial shoot for a deodorant at the World Trade Center. One of my male talents was part of it. The moment we set foot on the shoot location I already noticed the other agents giving him the look-see type of stares.

As the shoot progressed someone told me that this she-male agent from one of the well known agencies commented that my talent was Class A, which he really is anyway. Later on, in an act very unbecoming of someone in this industry asked my co-agent, “puwede na ba ng P1000 a night yan?” referring to my talent. Fortunately for him I did not overhear him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let him get away with it just like that.

Much later, during a break in the shoot, from afar I saw this female talent of that particular agent asking for my talent’s number. Obviously, she was asked by her agent to get it so as not to raise any suspicion that he was the one who wanted my talent’s number. When I got the chance I confronted the female talent to confirm who had asked her to get my talent’s number.

At first she was obviously fabricating excuses but she kept on looking at her agent who was a few feet away from us, that all the more gave her away. I knew she was lying to her teeth and I was really getting pissed off. So I told her that if she didn’t tell me there would be trouble right there and then. Sensing perhaps the seriousness in my voice, she gave in and admitted that it was the group of her agent and two others (one was a former male talent who now works for a casting agency and the other a male talent who appears as extra in TVCs but also moonlights as agent, all three did have a reputation for pirating talents).

I then told her to erase my talent’s number from her celfone in front of me, which she did. After that confrontation, they started giving me dagger looks. And I couldn’t care less, for I know I did the right thing and that they were just among the many unprincipled, deceitful, crooked, unethical, scheming, dishonest and undesirable characters in this industry.

If these things are rampant in the industry it’s because most people do nothing to correct them. We should not let these people get away with it.

Unscrupulous agent

this is the first time i'm posting something like this. i always try to avoid negative thoughts and stuff. like, i normally just keep quiet whenever something unsettling bothers me, but enough is enough, this time i cannot just sit and keep quiet.

nothing pisses me off more than an agent who pirates other agents' talents. there is one particular agent who did that to me before and is now trying to do it again. i let him get away with it the first time. after all, the talent he pirated was super pasaway and wasn't worth my time and effort.
you better watch out. if you know what's good for you, don't you ever come near my talent again like you did this afternoon during the go-see at podium, dahil makikita mo hinahanap mo. i'm warning you!

and if i find out that you are spreading word that my talent is yours, just what one agent told me during the page search last sunday, you better stop it and now! don't rock the boat or i'll sink it... with only you in it!

this particular talent of mine that you're trying to pirate is very loyal to me as are all my other exclusive talents and i'm very confident about that. i just hate it when unscrupulous creatures get near them. shoo!!!

i'm really pissed off!

The Filipino Channel's 15th Anniversary

TFC (The Filipino Channel) commercials never fail to give me goosebumps and leave me teary eyed. Probably because I, having been an OFW once, identify so much with the characters. Not only that. The creative people tasked to do those commercials are so good that they know exactly how to make their TVCs tug at the heartstrings of the viewers. Their 15th Anniversary commercial which was shown in ASAP on April 19, 2009 was no exception. The scenes were just all too familiar, at least for overseas Filipinos and their families – the pain of leaving home, the agony of separation, the loneliness of being in a foreign land, the joy of being entertained by ABS CBN artists, the ecstasy of homecoming – all told in a few minutes of touching visuals.

As TFC celebrates its decade-and-a-half of bringing overseas Filipinos closer to home, I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic for two reasons. One, it reminds me of my days as an OFW, leaving family and friends behind at the age of 23 to seek the proverbial greener pasture in Saudi Arabia, ironically the land of oil and sand dunes, and returning for good when I was 40. Certainly, the best and most productive years of my life were spent serving and working for people other than my own.

Two, the very first Filipino organization that TFC partnered with in Saudi Arabia was The Philippines to the World Entertainment Foundation, Inc. (PWEFI), the non-profit SEC-registered organization that I myself founded in 1997 (http://www.geocities.com/pwefi/intro.html).

When PWEFI was working on its Philippine Centennial projects in late 1997, TFC was in its early stage of entry into Saudi Arabia. It was perfect timing. I thought it was an excellent medium through which our Centennial activities could be promoted. So I wasted no time in writing the TFC office in Manila to explore the possibility of having them sponsor our events. Incidentally, that was my first exposure to organizing events.

Just as I was excited at the prospect of having TFC sponsor our activities, TFC seemed just as eager to lend support to PWEFI. In no time at all, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between me and TFC (as represented by its then-Marketing Manager, Milette Zamora). Right from the start, it seemed PWEFI and TFC would be a great team-up.

PWEFI's Centennial activities – namely, The Philippine Centennial Cup Team Tennis and Bowling Tournaments, and the “Proudly Filipino” and “A Flag in Every OCW Home” campaigns – were the very first Filipino community events in Saudi Arabia that were sponsored by TFC. As part of that sponsorship, TFC provided a gigantic streamer for the opening ceremonies and another for display at the venues in the entire duration of the tournaments. It also sent flyers and brochures, and promoted all Centennial activities of the Foundation through interstitials and pluggings in their programs. This PWEFI-TFC partnership undoubtedly paved the way for other Filipino community organizations to have their projects and activities promoted over TFC.

From then on, PWEFI maintained excellent relationship with the channel by providing community news and tips, suggestions to improve their programming, video footages of various Saudi scenarios for use in their plugs and interstitials, and video interviews and features of OFWs.

TFC also played a vital role during our 1999 worldwide signature campaign to urge then-President Joseph Estrada to declare 2000 as “The Year of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)” which I am proud to say is also my brainchild. In fact, even before the eventual declaration was announced in local newspapers, TFC had already announced the good news through its program The Global Filipino (TGF) which I informed immediately after confirmation with Malacanang.

When I came home for good in 2000, I maintained the friendly relations with TFC. Perhaps, subconsciously, it was my way of staying connected to the OFW sector, something that I was and always will be proud having been a part of. TFC would also ask me to occasionally guest on their programs like when I was interviewed about “The Year of OFWs” in The Global Filipino’s October 12, 2000 episode, Kumusta Kabayan’s (KK) pilot episode on October 20, 2000 where we discussed about coming home for good, KK’s December 8, 2000 episode where the topic was The OFW Year, and KK’s April 11, 2003 episode about pyramiding scams.

When I published Global Pinoy in June 2005 it was also TFC which first promoted the publication, also through Kumusta Kabayan.

Over the years I’ve made friends in TFC. Some of them have moved on either to other careers or to TFC overseas assignments like Dittie Galang, Lita Teodosio, Maribel Hernaez. I should also mention Jose Nolan, the first TFC executive I met during our Centennial projects in Riyadh. Today, whenever I go to the ABS CBN Global office I still see some old friends like Ned Legaspi, Lawrence Ledesma, Pam Lluz, Amor and a few others I know only by face..

Nine years into being an ex-OFW I still feel like one and TFC – with its occasional TVCs – certainly helps in bringing that old feeling of being an overseas Filipino. Today, my connection with TFC is not exactly OFW-related anymore but more along the line of providing talents for their commercials and interstitials. No matter what it is though, I shall always feel like a TFC kapamilya. After all, it was a significant part of my last three years as an OFW in Saudi Arabia.

The Filipino Channel - certainly what every overseas Filipino can come home to 24/7. Happy 15th Anniversary TFC and more power! (Please check out related photos in my Photos Section).