The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Followers of the ongoing Virgin Labfest (VLF) would know by now that the celebrated theater festival not only introduced a dozen new plays this year, but also its new partnership with creative-content firm The IdeaFirst Company in bringing these works to life.
Established by acclaimed filmmakers-producers Perci M. Intalan and Jun Robles Lana in 2014, The IdeaFirst Company is considered, among others, a natural progression of the married couple’s impressive personal and professional partnership.
A former executive producer at the Walt Disney Co. and the first vice president for entertainment at the TV5 network, Intalan has won prizes from such diverse award-giving bodies as the Asian Television Awards (as a producer of the lifestyle program Chef vs. Mom), the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (for the one-act play Secret Identities), the London International Advertising Awards, and the New York Film and TV Festival awards.
Two years ago he made his directorial debut with Dementia, a Batanes province-set horror feature that won him and lead star Nora Aunor the best foreign-language film and best actress in a foreign-language film awards, respectively, at the 2015 St. Tropez International Film Festival.
Like Intalan, Lana—a former creative director for drama at the GMA network—has garnered many local and international awards, including the Palanca Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 2006 at 34.
Lana began his career by writing prize-winning plays on serious subjects ranging from teenage pregnancy and marriage (June at Johnny [June and Johnny]) to the plight of indigenous peoples (Exodo [Exodus]). He then turned to screenwriting, earning accolades for penning Sa Pusod ng Dagat (In the Navel of the Sea), Jose Rizal and Muro-ami (The Reef Hunters), all helmed by his filmmaking mentor, the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya.
Several years ago, he started making independent films, all of which reaped awards: Bwakaw, which won for Eddie Garcia the best-actor prize at the Asian Film Awards and was the Philippines’s official entry to the 2013 Academy Awards; Barber’s Tales, which earned the Tokyo International Film Festival best-actress award for Eugene Domingo; and Anino sa Likod ng Buwan (Shadow Behind the Moon), which clinched four prizes, including best director for him and best actress for LJ Reyes, at 13th Pacific Meridian Film Festival in Vladivostok, Russia.
Late last month, Reyes won the Gawad Urian also for her role in the film.
The IdeaFirst Company has accomplished much since its establishment. It co-produced Dementia with TV5 and produced Anino. It produced segments for the Disney Channel’s (Southeast Asia) on-air repackaging in 2014, as well as a trade event for the long-running noontime show Eat Bulaga in 2015. It developed the TV5 programs LolaBasyang.com and #ParangNormalActivity. It also conducted intensive screenwriting workshops.
The Market Monitor recently interviewed Lana about his company’s participation in the VLF:
The Market Monitor (TMM): How did The IdeaFirst Company become involved in the VLF?
Lana: When Perci and I set up The IdeaFirst Company, our goal was to build a production group that prioritizes creativity and promotes bold ideas that otherwise would not be given the chance to be realized as films or TV shows.
It just so happens that, in the past few months, I have been working with (Writer’s Bloc head and VLF founding festival director) Rody Vera on our film project Die Beautiful. Rody then mentioned that (the Writer’s Bloc and the Cultural Center of the Philippines) were having trouble with one of their sources of funds for this year’s VLF. We decided to support the VLF because we have a common vision and goal.
TMM: What exactly is the company’s role in the festival?
Lana: Our role is mainly financial, because by the time we got involved in the VLF, all the preparations were already in full swing.
TMM: Does IdeaFirst’s involvement in the VLF represent a “homecoming” of sorts for you, since you first started out as a playwright?
Lana: It does feel good to be back in theater. I do credit the training and discipline that I got from theater in shaping the screenwriter and filmmaker that I am now.
TMM: After the VLF, would the company become more involved in theater-related endeavors?
Lana: We hope so. Our recent film, Anino sa Likod ng Buwan, started out as a play back in the mid-1990s. Two decades later, we were able to turn it into a feature-length film.
There is a growing synergy between the different platforms, such as theater, film and even television. And now there’s a growing market for Philippine theater, so I hope that our path leads us back here again soon.
TMM: What’s next for The IdeaFirst Company?
Lana: We are starting principal photography on Die Beautiful, a film about a transgender woman whose dying wish is to be dressed as a different personality each night of her wake. I’m excited to show the colorful and courageous lives of transgender individuals. Die Beautiful is topbilled by Paolo Ballesteros, Gladys Reyes, Luis Alandy, IC Mendoza, and many others. ALVIN I. DACANAY