Just call her Madame Violet

(First of two parts)

In the local entertainment scene, among the most powerful women are Mother Lily (Monteverde of Regal films), Ma’m Charo (Santos-Concio of ABS-CBN and Star Cinema) and Ms. Wilma (Galvante of GMA-7). Expected to join this exclusive list of influential women in show business soon is Madame Violet (Sevilla of Violett Films).

Madame Violet is actually Mrs. Violeta Carreon Sevilla. Her nickname is really Violy, but her good friend Lolit Solis christened her Madame Violet and now, everyone calls her that in show business.

Although she is quite new in the business, she is very active as an independent producer. A few months ago, she released her film outfit’s initial venture, Cash & Carry, and to her delight, it made quite a sum at the box-office. (The film was also bought recently by ABS-CBN for its cable network). Nearing post-production stage is Magnifico, a Maryo J. de los Reyes film set for release on Jan. 22, 2003. At the moment, she is casting Limang Bailerina, a sex drama to be directed by Jose Carreon, her first cousin.

Even if she started late in the movie business, Madame Violet had always been a fan of Filipino films. Born to a family of means in Guagua, Pampanga, Madame Violet remembers watching more than once all the Sampaguita movies shown at the old cinema in her hometown: Dalagang Ilocana, Kurdapia, Cofradia, Bakasyonista, etc. This was when she was still a little girl in the ’50s – when Gloria Romero, her all-time favorite actress, reigned as the Queen of Philippine Movies.

Later, when Susan Roces and Amalia Fuentes came into the scene, Madame Violet also made it a point to watch their movies – one of which was Amy, Susie & Tessie.

She watched even the early films of Vilma Santos in Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Pictures. Her favorite among Vilma’s movies, however, is Palimos ng Pag-ibig with Edu Manzano and Dina Bonnevie.

Sharon Cuneta is another one of her favorite actresses and she must have seen all the films of the megastar – from P.S. I Love You to Magkapatid.

Madame Violet, of course, also watches foreign movies – James Bond films (from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan) being her favorites.

When she was in her teens, she was also given the chance to become an actress in the movies. A mestiza with fine features, everyone thought back then that she looked like Marlene Dauden.

One time, she and some friends decided to watch a film shoot at the Sampaguita Studios in Gilmore, Quezon City. The movie in progress then was Colegiala with Gloria Romero, Myrna Delgado and Ric Rodrigo. In the crowd, Madame Violet was spotted by the great star-builder Dr. Jose Perez, who had a keen eye for beauty. Dr. Perez immediately approached the young Violy and asked her to return to the studio for some test shots. Although elated by the attention she got from no less than the Dr. Jose Perez, Madame Violet realized that she was too shy to become an actress on film. She was already happy with her role as a movie fan. But to be up there on the silver screen was never part of her dreams.

Instead of joining the movies, Madame Violet decided to pursue her college studies. Initially, she took up Social Work at the University of Santo Tomas. Later, she shifted to Banking and Finance, which she completed at the Far Eastern University.

After a short stint with the Social Security System where she worked as electronics data processor, she married Romy Sevilla, who was then connected with the Bureau of Customs. the Sevillas have four children: Michael, 31; Lawrence, 29; Phillip, 27 and girlie, 18, who is introduced in Magnifico. Madame Violet, incidentally, is already a lola with two grandchildren.

A math genius ("She’s a human calculator," claims daughter Girlie) and born with a keen business sense, Madame Violet eventually ventured into real estate (basically build and sell) in the posh areas of Greenhills and Valle Verde. On the side, she also went into the trucking business and provided garbage trucks for the then Metro Manila Council. She put up the trucking business not only for profit, but also to contribute in her own little way to cleaning up litter in Metro Manila streets.

To help (again, in her own little way) an ailing industry was the reason she went into the movies. In 1998, she began studying the ropes of the film business with the help of cousin Joe Carreon. Middle of this year, she put up Violett films (it’s with a double T to conform to oro, plata, mata) – with Cash & Carry as her initial production.

Actually, it was when she was doing the rounds of promo work for Cash & Carry that I first heard about her. Madame Violet immediately earned my respect because I noticed how she was giving so much importance to Gloria Romero, who was one of the stars of Cash & Carry. Although Ms. Romero was among the longest- reigning movie queens, some people do not give her the kind of treatment she deserves in this business. (And Tita Glo is not the type to complain).

Under Violett Films, however, Gloria Romero was given a royal treatment – thanks to Madame Violet.

In the case of Cash & Carry star Vhong Navarro, the comedian and Madame Violet already agreed on a certain price before they started production, but midway through the film, the producer felt she didn’t pay him enough and gave him a lot, lot more than the agreed price. Now, how many producers are there like that?

Mark Gil, who is in the cast of Magnifico, on the other hand, refused to accept extra payment (actually for two more working days) because he felt Madame Violet had paid him more than enough aside from the fact that "she had been very nice to all of us." In these hard times, another actor would have grabbed that extra payment. After all, it was being offered to him. But Mark Gil is such a good person and didn’t want to take advantage of Madame Violet’s generosity. her kindness and largesse really bring out the best in people.

Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world and some people in this business had already started to take advantage of her. Madame Violet doesn’t want to talk about it, but it is her good friends Lolit Solid and Celia Rodriguez who are hopping mad because she doesn’t even want to get angry.

The story goes that since it is a known fact that she is now in the business, some people who worked for her pulled one over her and charged her double. Yes, the people she is trying to help are the very same people who are pulling her down. No wonder, this industry is dying.

* * *

(Next: Behind the scenes of Violett Films’ Magnifico).