If you said that ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ risk-averse media giant known for formulaic rom-coms and comedies, now had its own auteur-driven production company, you’d probably be laughed out of the building. But here we are, in an era when the success of small-budget romantic independent films such as That Thing Called Fate (That Thing Called Tadhana) and I See You (Kita Kita) have created enough waves in Philippine cinema to enable a production studio like Black Sheep to function. It’s ABS-CBN’s bid to find the middle ground between sophisticated auteurist work and mass appeal. Think of it as their answer to Fox Searchlight or the now defunct Paramount Vantage.
Black Sheep’s creative director Kriz Gazmen has been working at Star Cinema for several years. He has produced a range of films, from box office giants such as No Other Woman, the film that started a new wave of “love-affair” cinema, and the box office juggernaut The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin, and spearheaded some of the studio’s more “experimental” outings, such as Love You to the Stars and Back and Last Night.
The word “experimental” isn’t used the same way as it is in the avant-garde movement in this context – if you’re looking for that type of experimental fare, the films of Cinema One Originals, which is also under the wing of ABS-CBN films, might better suit your tastes. Here, “experimental” describes a certain degree of risk in terms of style and storytelling, and applies to films which include elements that audiences don’t expect to see in the formula-driven films of Star Cinema. Black Sheep films might be dramas with less earth-shattering confrontations, or rom-coms with no comedy relief, and they might feature scenes with just two people talking throughout the film, something which has become a trend in local cinema. Sometimes the films even have a not-so-happily-ever-after ending.
As a factory of family-friendly fare and celebrity vehicles, there are certain expectations for each Star Cinema film, particularly if there’s a large production budget involved. But as a new market emerged – a market more vocal in its disdain of the usual formula – the studio opted to be a little more adventurous and venture outside of its comfort zone. This resulted in films such as Antoinette Jadaone’s Love You to the Stars and Back, Dan Villegas’ How to Be Yours, or Prime Cruz’s Can We Still Be Friends. The reception was mixed. The new takes on rom-coms are refreshing, but the films were generally distrusted by both Star Cinema’s new audience and its dedicated followers.
Then came the success of small-budget films such as That Thing Called Fate (That Thing Called Tadhana), Antoinette Jadaone’s little rom-com-that-could, and Sigrid Andrea Bernardo’s I See You (Kita Kita), an unlikely rom-com buoyed by the pairing of Alessandra De Rossi, a character actress, and Empoy, who’s usually a comedic sidekick. That Thing Called Fate earned a ₱120 million (US$2.4 million) gross against a ₱2 million budget while I See You earned a ₱320 million (US$6.4 million) gross against a ₱10 million (US$1.9 million) budget. These small victories proved that there is indeed a middle ground for “maindie” (mainstream indie) films with auteurist sensibilities. This is where Black Sheep come in.
The studio is just over a year old, but it already has produced 13 films, three of which have been box office hits: Exes Baggage (₱360 million), Alone/Together (₱380 million), and the transgender comedy The Panti Sisters (₱213 million).
It might seem, so far, that Black Sheep is just a producer of charming rom-coms, and Gazmen says that’s because the rom-coms are made so quickly that they’re the films that get released right away. But Black Sheep has also produced Ode to Nothing (Oda Sa Wala) which is probably the best Filipino film of 2018. The film’s black humour, and the stunning performance of its lead actress (Pokwang, or Marietta Sumbong, as she was credited in the movie), as a lonely undertaker looking for love, makes for a killer combination. It was one of the most confounding yet intensely enjoyable films in recent memory. Recently released films include the international co-production Motel Acacia by Bradley Liew, about a motel bed that kills immigrants, and the Berlinale 2020 entry Death of Nintendo by Raya Martin, a ‘90s coming of age tale.
It’s arguable that a Black Sheep release is an opportunity to shake the zeitgeist of local cinema from the inside of a giant media company. Much of what Star Cinema has deemed “experimental” in terms of storytelling is still marred by a third act that is forced to deliver a pleasant ending. Imagine Alone/Together if it were made under Star Cinema. Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil would each have got a sidekick or a boisterous gaggle of friends (staples in Filipino rom-coms). There would have been more quotable quotes, higher stakes, and, perhaps, less of the undercurrent of activism that ran throughout the whole film.
It’s too early to tell if Black Sheep is just Star Cinema in disguise, although some already argue that it is. But there are encouraging signs it wants to change the way familiar stories are being told, and that even rom-coms are more than just vehicles for celebrity pairings. In Alone/Together, a man is just fodder for a woman’s emancipation. In The Chances of Becoming Us (Sakaling Maging Tayo) a brief encounter is a remembrance of how liberating it feels to experience innocent love. And in Between Maybes, the language of love and longing is telegraphed in the landscape and small glances.
In this interview, Gazmen talked about birthing pains, quiet victories, and Black Sheep’s quest to diversify mid-budget offerings in mainstream theatres. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.
– It’s been almost two years since Black Sheep started producing films. How has the experience been?
We didn’t expect that, after launching Black Sheep in 2018, we’d be producing more films than we had initially targeted. So the experience has been quite tiring, but very fulfilling at the same time. Years ago, there was always a distinction between mainstream and indie, but we have been very grateful that Black Sheep has been given the opportunity to somehow break that barrier. We have always welcomed all kinds of stories, and we have given prime importance to the director’s vision. This paved the way for us to work with a lot of the country’s established directors, and as well as discover a new breed of filmmaker.
Of course, the overall experience hasn’t always been sweet for us. Though we had our successes at the box office, we were challenged by the decline of Filipino audiences. It’s getting more and more difficult to drive them to the cinemas. On the brighter side, we have been able to introduce our content to the international market. Alone/Together and Between Maybes were big successes in Cambodian theatres. We’ve also been producing films for the festival scene, with Ode to Nothing being part of the main competition of Karlovy Vary [2019] and Death of Nintendo was part of the Berlinale [2020].
– Would you say you're on track to meeting your goals/mission?
Our goal really was to discover new Filipino filmmakers and produce content for the younger market in the Philippines. I’m happy with how we have been achieving that goal so far. But I guess what’s interesting in our journey of producing was that we realised we wanted to take our goals a step further. We want to bring Filipino talent to the world stage. We want to support our Filipino filmmakers and of course, with the help of other local producers and our film commission, we really want the Philippine film industry to be a strong player in the international film market. I guess that’s what really excites me now: the vision of people across the globe appreciating the films that we do.
– Do you think the Philippine market, or your target market specifically, are very specific about the movies that they want to spend money on?
The main challenge right now really is the decline in audiences watching films in the cinemas. Ticket prices are so high and so unaffordable in the Philippines. Traffic has worsened. There are streaming apps now that allow people to watch films without having to leave their homes. And since the concentration of our business is really in the local theatrical market, this is a cause of concern for us. We realised that people would only buy a movie ticket for an event film. And for Filipinos, an event film (most of the time) would need a strong casting combination. People reserve their hard-earned money for the top-tier loveteams or stars.
The problem is, we can’t always book these stars to make films for us. Our movie stars are also our TV stars. So we are always at the mercy of their availability because we share them with television. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have breakout hits, because we do. We have seen films that made money at the box office, even if they’re not top-billed by these stars. But these films are generally likely to be outliers. Because we don’t always have the luxury of booking these stars, a lot of film producers in the Philippines hope that we will be that outlier.
– The Philippines is unique in terms of having “love teams” (a pairing of two actors who often depict a romantic couple in films and TV shows) as a major attraction for a film. How do you think that has affected the way we produce films?
I think the preponderance of love teams has greatly influenced film producers so much that the go-to genre has always been romance. Because historically, love stories yield a higher box office gross, it’s always safer to produce a romantic film in the Philippines compared to any other genre. The effect, I guess, is that we don’t see that much variety in the local films that are booked by our theaters. The edgy fare would normally be screened in the local film festivals and not as part of a wide theatrical release.
The fact that we only have a few bankable love teams that can really make it at the box office also influences creative development. We create stories specifically for that love team, taking into consideration their past films and the present public perception of their relationship. It might be challenging for the filmmakers, knowing that they must take all of these things into consideration. But it’s always rewarding when you see audiences flocking into the cinemas, which has become a rare feat to achieve nowadays.
– Why do you think the auteur-driven kind of films will work in the market that you want to capture?
Compared to Star Cinema, we’re trying to capture a younger, more upscale market. And when you look at context, the upscale market has access to better education, and they have the choice of better entertainment because they can pay for streaming, they can pay for Netflix. So they’re exposed to different forms of content, film languages, and filmic styles. When you’re used to this kind of programming, you won’t settle for just one type of film. However, the mass market can hardly afford to go to the cinema. What kind of access does it have? It’s what’s shown for free, on TV, and on Facebook. That’s why there’s a huge difference between the two audiences.
– You were saying that the “Star Cinema audience” has expectations of a Star Cinema film. How did that brand affinity start?
Feedback. We do a lot of audience research. After every movie, there is an FGD [focus group discussion], there’s nationwide research, so there are insights. We can track how well the film did base its performance. We made Love You to the Stars and Back, which I feel is the precursor to Black Sheep’s films. It’s not exactly a typical Star Cinema film but it tried to do something new in terms of promotion and marketing. But we felt the Star Cinema audience hesitated to accept it.
In terms of Star Cinema, which is a legacy brand, where should we position ourselves? If it reinvents itself, it will produce an On the Job or Last Night but it will lose the actual Star Cinema audience. [They would say,] “What are you doing to your films?” “We’re looking for family-friendly films, where we can have a laugh,” would be the reply. But the world doesn’t work like that now.
– What are the challenges of producing a film in the streaming era?
I think the biggest challenge is to discern what films are for streaming and what films are for theatrical release. When you say it’s for a theatrical release, you automatically have to look for big actors. It’s how the entire industry is designed. You’re demanding 280 pesos from each one of your audience. Why would I pay ₱280 to watch a movie with an actor I don’t even know? Isn’t that logical? Again, these people don’t really have access to sophisticated content, so household names will draw them in. Before, we’re only competing against other films. But now we’re competing against so many shows on Netflix – and these shows aren’t local! It’s now a battle for screen time, for attention.
It’s really difficult now. Netflix always revolutionizes content. They revolutionize trends and tastes, and that’s because they have data. They can predict exactly what the audience want – and [that’s] what we don’t have. We don’t have the kind of machinery and technology that Netflix has.
So what we can offer that Netflix still cannot offer now? We can tell you about the unique Filipino experience. I feel that’s our major advantage in the market. We know the Filipino audience, we know what they’re going through, and we know what they can relate to.
Don Jaucian