Derek keeps busy at TV5

CEBU, Philippines - Not a few showbiz pundits still maintain that Derek Ramsay’s move to television network third player TV5 was career suicide. The Kapatid station may swamp its biggest recruits with programs one after the other, yet the efforts are all in vain as the network has yet to make a considerable dent in the nationwide viewership pie.

Despite the cynics, Derek remains upbeat and positive about the fate of his career.“With TV5, it’s never-ending. It’s always one project after the other,” the hunky Fil-Brit actor said.

After top-billing the series “For Love or Money” with Alice Dixson and Ritz Azul during the last quarter of 2013, Derek said he’s gearing up next for a made-for-TV movie and a second season of a reality show franchise.

This love month, TV5 presents the Studio5 Original Movies, to be aired every Tuesday of February at 8 p.m. Derek’s film, to be shown on Feb.25, is slated as the finale offering.

He stars in “Bawat Sandali,” a suspense-romance that also features Angel Aquino, Mylene Dizon, Yul Servo and Phillip Salvador. Derek and Angel’s characters are embroiled in a tragic love affair that develops into a crime mystery.

“I play a Fil-Am coming back to the Philippines to rediscover my roots. I’m shooting a documentary in Taal for my parents in the United States who are too old to travel. In the process of doing the docu, I bump into a beautiful maiden played by Angel Aquino who is married and has a child. We have an affair, and after that, I kind of feel that there’s more to it than just a one-night stand. She, on the other hand, realizes that it’s wrong. And then something happens to me which causes a lot of turmoil. Basically, the town thinks I’m dead, and then I come back,” narrated Derek of the film’s main gist.

He also noted how for a change, he’s in a project that has no two women fighting over his affections — a recurring, and tired, theme in his soaps and films after the success of his Star Cinema flick “No Other Woman.”

“This time, it’s the woman who has baggage and I’m the one after her,” he quipped.

Derek expressed pride to be part of a network that ventures outside the box. For one, TV5’s decision of airing its drama series’ once a week in an hour-long episode similar to American TV shows, is something he prefers than the weekday airings Filipinos are used to.

“TV5 has always aimed to come up with something new. ‘For Love or Money’ was also shown once a week only. What I like about that setup is, the quality of the series is better because there’s enough time to work on the production,” he said.

“You notice with most soap operas, the beginning or first few episodes are good, but then it starts to wane later on kasi naghahabol ng episodes for airing. Nagiging hand-to-mouth na yung trabaho. Parang, ‘Sige pwede na yan kasi wala ng oras.’ But in this setup, we have more time to shoot using different angles and at the same time, viewers get to see more material in one sitting. You keep the viewers hanging for a week, and it’s more thrilling to watch out what will happen on next week’s episode. I think we did a good job on that one, and I’m hoping I get more projects like that.”

Derek is also gearing up to host the second season of TV5’s “The Amazing Race Philippines.” He said the next edition will be harder, because while the first season featured only pit stops within the country, this second time around will have contestants travelling all over Asia.

When the subject of his current sports obsessions came up, Derek said previous injuries resulting to wobbly knees will force him to take it slow. But ever the athlete at heart, don’t expect him to give up sports all together.

He said, “I need to get away from Frisbee because my knees are already giving in. I always tell myself, this will be my last tournament, but I’ve always ended up playing again, especially that last November’s event was the biggest tournament in Asia. We actually won that. I don’t know if I’ll still play Frisbee this year, but I really hope to focus on other sports that are not as physical and taxing to the body, like maybe golf. My next goal actually is to become a pro-golfer.” (FREEMAN)