One (dream) big happy family

Shows like Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA) and Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) are a virtual talent factory. The former has produced the current toast of the music industry, while the latter produced some of local showbiz’s most promising stars.

They include PDA alumni Yeng Constantino, Grand Star Dreamer; runners-up Jay-R Siaboc and Ronnie Liang; Chad Peralta, Irish Fullerton and Panky Trinidad from the Headmaster’s Honor List of Six. From PBB, there’s Sam Milby (Season One) and Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson (Teen Edition).

The popularity of reality shows assures us of a steady stream of talents who can sing, dance and act. But once they’re back in the real world, what happens?

That’s where Dream Big Management (Dream Big Productions’ management arm) comes in. Formed last year, Dream Big’s goal is to watch over the talents produced by reality shows and guide their careers. Headed by direk Lauren Dyogi and Jon Ilagan as managing directors with Billet Sangalang as supervising producer, the company’s name was culled from PDA and PBB hence, Dream Big Management.

The name also challenges the talents to do their best. Or, in other words, to — as the name suggests — dream big.

Dream Big has on its roster the PDA Honor List of Six, plus the band Cebalo, composed of Panky, Davey Langit, Yvan Lambatan and Eman Abatayo; Iya Ginez, Kristoff Abrenica, Miss Kita Pag Tuesday and It’s All About Your Love composer RJ Jimenez and Rosita Bareng. In about three months, they will be joined by the PBB Season Two housemates, who will receive management contracts with Dream Big as part of their prizes.

But Dream Big isn’t just an ordinary talent management company. It’s more like a family. Dyogi says, "It is the kind of company that looks out for its people. We — the staff and the talents — treat each other like family."

The "family atmosphere" has already worked wonders for its talents’ careers. Yeng has blossomed into a platinum-selling recording artist. Her debut solo album, Salamat, earned a gold record award when it sold 15,000 copies only a week after its release. A week later, it earned a platinum record award when it sold another 15,000 copies, bringing its total to 30,000 copies.

The success of Salamat was brought about by Dream Music, Dream Big Productions’ record label. This was followed by Jay-R’s self-titled debut solo album. The rest of the Honor List of Six are also working on their respective solo albums.

Next in line will be the band Cebalo, whose rock-flavored version of Pinoy Ako, theme of PBB Season Two, is enjoying heavy airplay.

The PDA alumni will soon embark on a US tour to be produced by Dream Concerts.

But this family does not end with PDA or PBB. It also includes the whole ABS-CBN family, which supports the big dreams of its members. In fact, the Pinoy Dream Academy Honor Listers are already a part of ASAP ’07, where they have their own Dream Request Live portion. Kristoff became a semi-regular on Super Inggo. Panky and Jay-R recorded two songs for the OST (Official Soundtrack) album of Sana Maulit Muli, which they are also helping to promote.

With such a close-knit (not to mention supportive) family behind them, the Dream Big artists will keep reaching for their stars.