The business of show business vastly improved in 2021 compared to the previous year when the world didn’t know yet how to deal with COVID-19.
Producers began investing on films again and uploaded the finished products on Netflix and in other streaming services. And since movie theaters didn’t open until the last quarter of 2021, local movies did quite well in those platforms.
Erik Matti’s A Girl and a Guy, for example, was well-received by the public on Upstream – what with all those nude scenes. On Netflix, among the popular local titles were Alessandra de Rossi’s My Amanda and Paolo Contis’ A Faraway Land.
But the one streaming outlet that actually thrived and made a killing during the pandemic was Vivamax, which now reportedly has 2M subscribers. After Paglaki Ko, Gusto Kong Maging Porn Star, Vivamax had hit after hit, including Revirginized, which saw the otherwise wholesome Sharon Cuneta cussing and swearing.
Vivamax became so successful, it premiered three movies during the holiday season: Mang Jose with Janno Gibbs, Manilyn Reynes and Bing Loyzaga; Eva with new stars like Angeli Khang, Saab Aggabao, Marco Gomez, and Ivan Padilla; and Sanggano, Sanggago’t Sanggwapo: Aussie Aussie O Sige with top comedians Andrew E., Dennis Padilla and Janno Gibbs. It was like having three entries in the annual Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).
Oh, the Metro Filmfest. Last year, the entries were streamed online and proved to be a failed financial venture for the movie producers. Fan Girl, at least, was saved from complete financial disaster when it was later uploaded on Netflix.
For 2021, the film festival entries returned to the cinemas, but still got a frosty reception from the movie-going public. As of this writing, some of the entries are supposedly starting to make money, but not much to approximate the MMFF earnings of pre-pandemic days.
It is easy to understand why the MMFF bombed again. We can cite at least four reasons:
1) Most people still think it is a huge health risk to be spending two hours inside an enclosed venue.
2) Ticket prices have become too expensive.
3) People discovered the comfort and convenience of watching movies on Netflix, Upstream, Viu and Vivamax. No need to dress up and go to the mall.
4) Film aficionados would rather wait for the huge blockbusters from Hollywood rather than spend their money on a local movie with a formulaic story. Spider-man may just prove that when it opens on January 8, 2022.
Now, let’s go to television.
Twenty twenty-one was still a better year for ABS-CBN compared to 2020, the year it was hit by tragedy that came double whammy. First was the pandemic and then, the unkindest cut of all: the cancellation of its franchise to operate on free TV.
Operational losses were actually less in 2021 for ABS-CBN. But it is still in the red. Cutbacks therefore are still in place.
But unlike in 2020, salaries are no longer at 50% off. The network, however, still asks for discounts when negotiating with the talent fee of the stars and the crew. In the news department, most talents are now back to their pre-pandemic rates.
The production budget of each project though is carefully streamlined to the barest minimum. The network cannot afford to be totally generous – definitely not at this point when it is still in bad financial shape. But it is the aim of management to distribute jobs to as many people as possible.
In stark contrast, GMA hit it big in the second year of the pandemic. The network’s pronouncements about how much it earned in 2021 baffles its people though – both on-cam and those who work behind the scenes.
If the network really earned that much, then how come the production people feel the crunch? Mounting a show is like doing a slasher film, except that it is the budget that gets slashed.
There are two scenarios in place in the network: In the first one, talent fees get slashed almost in half. In setup No. 2, the production people get their pay in full, but their workload is doubled, if not tripled, since they operate with less staff members. But in general, like ABS-CBN, GMA still tries to give employment to as many talents the network could accommodate.
Hardest hit are the makeup artists. For a while, they had to make do with a 50% markdown on their talent fee. But now, they are hardly utilized since on-cam talents are already required to show up on the set made up.
In some cases, the actors/singers are allowed to bring their own makeup artists; but they have to shoulder the cost. And so, they have to spend not only for the services of the makeup artist, but also for their swab test.
To be fair to GMA, this is now standard practice in the local television industry. Actors are now encouraged to fix themselves up and this has something to do more with health and safety protocols than budgetary restrictions.
For a face to be made up, masks have to be removed and the make up artist has no choice but to breath down on you. And then there’s the matter of sharing sponges and brushes – unless you bring your own, which is a hassle especially for the men who are not used to owning their own makeup kits.
The workers at GMA may feel the pinch, but they have to understand that a huge chunk of the production budget now has to be diverted to pay for swab tests – an additional expense that is necessary to make sure that everyone on the set is COVID-free.
And so, even if GMA earned a tidy sum in 2021, it still has to enforce pay cuts and budgetary measures to be able to enjoy its profits. Is this greed? No, it’s business.
Perhaps, GMA should just stop going to town about how much money it made in the past year. It pains the workers, whose paychecks are currently being deducted to pay back for the loan previously given to them by the network.
GMA actually sent financial aid to its people during the early phase of the lock-down in 2020. But that has to be returned – in installment though – once the talent is given a project.
Here’s also hoping that GMA would stop proclaiming to the world how the network is now No. 1. Sure, they got a fraction of the ABS-CBN viewers starting in 2021. But what’s the point of being No. 1 when it doesn’t even have competition?
TV5 had hoped it would take the place of the disenfranchised ABS-CBN. Surely, that was the mindset of the politician Albee Benitez when he decided to produce shows for the Kapatid network in 2020.
One of those programs bankrolled by Benitez was Lunch Out Loud – or LOL. It limped its way through. Everyone in the show was just relieved that they somehow managed to celebrate their first anniversary. This was last October.
But when the ratings of Showtime started to dip, some of the cast members of Lunch Out Loud began posting on Facebook how their program had become the No. 2 noontime show on television.
Sure, they became No. 2. But they didn’t bother to point out what a poor No. 2 they are to Eat Bulaga, which continues to gallop away even at the height of the pandemic.
The karmic result of such bragging made by the LOL stars immediately came back to bite them in the ass. It didn’t take long before management decided to cut corners and limit the appearances of some of its mainstays to save on talent fee. It’s tempting to put LOL here, but that would be unchristian.
However, it must hurt the producer’s pocket so much to shell out money for a losing business like Lunch Ouch! Loud. Sorry, that was supposed to be Lunch Out Loud.
Let’s hope and pray Lunch Out Loud stays longer on the air. Even if it doesn’t add anything new to lunchtime viewing, it’s still best to have more options in the wasteland that is television.
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The Butcher | The TV/Film business in 2021 (pikapika 2021 overview)
Source: Pinoy Ako News
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