The Strange, Cruel World of Pinoy Showbiz

I’ve heard of extras being called “props that eat”.

But, I didn’t know that they’re subjected to degrading working conditions for an entire day for what seems like a pittance. One story has it that at an outdoor shoot in the middle of a field, extras either had a choice of waiting under the hot sun or stand in whatever shade they could find. Another story that I heard was that of an old lady extra who was subjected to severe verbal abuse by the production’s wardrobe manager for some vague fault.

Then, there are stories of so called “talent managers” who take as much as 70% of an extra’s talent fees as “commission” or to defray “expenses” connected to securing a part in a movie or teleserye for their talent. And if you can believe me, that’s actually better than what seems to be a prevalent practice of not paying the talent at all and pocketing what should have been his/her fee.

The talents find it hard to complain about this because the talent manager is “well connected” within the “showbiz” industry and a word from him/her/it could end a talent’s career.

It’s a dirty world, apparently, filled with low-life leeches and thugs.

But of course, in this showbiz celebrity addled Pinoy universe, people wanting to become part of the showbiz world to get a chance at shooting up to Pinoy showbiz stardom would probably put up with abuse.

And let’s not even talk about the drugs, sexual “favors”, and other forms of debauchery that goes around in showbiz.  That’s a given already and the only time it becomes news is during the rare occasion that someone big enough in showbiz does something scandalous enough to land in jail.

I can’t even remember the names of major and minor celebrities who’ve been on prime time crime news.

Thing is, if Pinoy Showbiz is cruel to extras, it also abuses the environment. Remember my story about Forevermore?

Over the past few days, there has been a bit of a shake-up after the Supreme Court granted a Temporary Environmental Protection Order for the shooting location of the Forevermore Teleserye IN A PROTECTED WATERSHED AREA.

Funny thing is that ABS-CBN has even come out with a “news item” in its own website proudly claiming that Forevermore revived tourism in the PROTECTED WATERSHED AREA, completely OBLIVIOUS TO THE FACT THAT IT IS PRECISELY TOURISM THAT IS KILLING THE PROTECTED AREA.

Yes, guys… This is what you get from the network where one of the owners doesn’t own a kaldero. And if you want to know what that is all about, watch this youtube video here.

P. Farol

Writer.