How Philippines creative sector can flourish amid the Korean wave
MANILA, Philippines — Experts in the creative industries have pinpointed the primary challenges plaguing the local sector and offered insights on how to better address these issues.
Suzette Doctolero, the speaker for the screenwriting category at the recently-held Young Creatives Challenge (YC2) Grand Launch — an event in support of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act or Republic Act (RA) 11904 — mentioned the impact of the Korean wave, among others, on local content creators.
She detailed to The STAR how difficult it is for television people to create content that will capture the younger generation amid their preference for Korean and other Asian shows.
“That’s our problem because the young ones now like to watch Korean, Japanese or Thai dramas or anything but Filipino. So, it’s a challenge for us,” lamented Doctolero. “It’s really tough, especially ang television na halos pakonti-konti ang audience.”
She further raised the concern that if the younger generation continues to patronize international shows, this might affect the future of Filipino content creation.
“The problem that I see now is because of the younger (generation’s) addiction or preference to watch K-dramas, ang laking problem na mawala yung Filipino dramas,” she said, suggesting that future script writers might also lose interest in creating Filipino soap operas and other content.
“For example bata siya, will he have the (interest) to write? Or ayaw niyang magsulat ng (Filipino) soap dahil nababaduyan siguro siya so he will watch (other content).”
The Encantadia creator reiterated the challenge faced by the writers, especially for the newbies, to come up with scripts that will attract the attention of the younger audiences.
In visually-driven medium, she questioned how they will reinvent Philippine entertainment in such a way na “makukuha nila ang kabataang ang hilig ay K-dramas.”
Even for the experienced head writer responsible for numerous successful GMA shows, including the fantasy-portal series Maria Clara at Ibarra, it remains a persistent “struggle” to persuade audiences that homegrown content creators are capable of producing content on par with international makers.
They have embarked on “risky projects” in the hope that audiences will recognize that “hindi lang pala yung K-dramas ang magaling” but Filipino-made series as well.
“But it’s a struggle to convince (them). Although there are viewers who said that… like, for example, with Maria Clara at Ibarra, sinasabi nila na comparable. Although mas mababa pa rin talaga ang budget ng Filipino (productions) so hindi siya nasu-sustain.”
Comparing how Koreans support their locally-produced content to the viewing preferences of Filipinos, Doctolero pointed out, “But the Filipinos would watch other (content) pero hindi manood ng sarili. Sad and tragic siya na pangyayari.”
She believes it also has something to do with the Filipino’s “identity crisis” although she didn’t elaborate.
Meanwhile, veteran singer Noel Cabangon, who was also part of the YC2 for the songwriting category, acknowledged that the younger generation is into K-pop and K-drama. While it is a “challenge” for the local industry, Filipinos can also look at it as a “model” which a local artist can get “ideas” or inspiration from, he said.
“Of course, kahati natin sa market because many young Filipinos are into K-pop and K-drama, especially now with the advent of various music platforms, internet, online access and the competition is really or has become stiff. That’s why it’s a challenge and that’s really part of the challenge,” he told this paper.
According to the award-winning songwriter, the challenge there is “how to encourage the young creatives and young Filipino artists to be conscious in creating a Filipino work na… Actually, ako, it’s not really more of if it sells or not. It’s really more of encouraging the creative minds to create.
“Then I think ‘pag nakagawa naman sila, ‘pag nagtuloy-tuloy, the passion will follow. Yun kumbaga yung reward. What’s important is that they will be encouraged and become conscious to create their own ‘obra’ na Filipino, sa Filipino and about the stories of us, Filipinos.”
“It’s not a bad thing if we get ideas because lahat naman ng mga nagsimulang magsulat, nakakuha sila ng (inspiration)… Like me, I was also inspired by other artists, not only local but also international artists because of their expertise. That’s one positive effect of (K-pop),” he added.
‘Collective effort, additional support from the government
Doctolero and Cabangon said that collective effort and more support from the Philippine government would be a huge help for the creative industry to flourish.
“It’s really a big challenge for us and even myself don’t really know the solution because I am also struggling. So I hope with the launch of this kind of event (YC2), which will help the young artists to push and develop their talents, sana magkaroon din ng mga pagkilos para ma-preserve at matulungan yung industry,” said Doctolero.
Citing how the Korean government has shown their support for their artists, she also expressed her hopes that the Philippine government will also do the same.
“It’s not only the budget (from the government) but also the conscious effort na kumawala sa kahon because most of the young audiences don’t like to watch the (local) series dahil paulit-ulit yung kwento,” she opined.
“So, I think it’s a collective effort to let go of that kind of mentality, kumawala tayo sa kahon, at gumawa ng kasing level ng storytelling or directing or kung paano i-edit ng mga Koreans ang kanilang ginagawa at pantayan,” she stated and added that Filipinos can accomplish this with the support from the industry, government, and a shift in mindset.
Also citing how the Korean government has invested in their creative industry, Cabangon remarked about the need for the Philippine industry to receive similar support from the government. He stressed the importance of investing in the creative sector, particularly the arts, to enable it to become a substantial contributor to the nation’s economy.
“We need to invest if we really believe in our creative industry, especially the arts like to become players in contributing to the country’s economy. Then the government should invest. That’s what we also encouraged before like the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) summit we did before,” he shared.
Young Creatives Challenge launched
The recently-launched Young Creatives Challenge (YC2) by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is a way to encourage young Filipinos to produce competitive art creations, according to DTI Secretary Alfredo “Fred” Pascual.
The YC2 aims to inspire, recognize, and showcase creative talents in the fields of songwriting, screenwriting, playwriting, graphic novel, animation, and game development. The grand winner can win up to P1 million pesos, will be granted copyright and other intellectual property rights, and receive assistance in the promotion of the winning work.
The semi-finalists will be announced this month and the awarding ceremony will be held next month. For more details, one can visit the YC2 website at www.youngcreativeschallenge.com/
The competition was organized in support of the RA 11904.
“Through this, we are promoting our own culture and bringing it to a stage where it can be commercialized,” said Pascual.
“So that commercialization will help the artists and at the same time support the economy with contributions to RGDP (real gross domestic product) even if the creative work is sold in the domestic market, it’s also an added value in the economy. Export mas maganda (even better) here in foreign exchange.”
When asked for his opinion on the widespread consumption of Korean content by Filipinos and its effects on the local creative industry, he expressed, “K-pop has become our benchmark. If they did it, dapat kaya rin nating gawin (or) pwede pang higitan.”
He emphasized that we can surpass what the Koreans had done because “we are also proud of our culture and we are proud of our talented young Filipinos, especially in digitally-driven creative works.”
Sen. Imee Marcos, a proponent of the Young Creatives Challenge initiative, said that the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese have opened their doors in the international stage and she believed that it’s the Filipinos’ turn to also shine in the global scene, just like the achievements of Freddie Aguilar’s Anak, Hajji Alejandro’s Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika (composed by National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab) and Ishmael Bernal’s Himala.
The YC2 is a way for young Filipinos to get discovered as the country needs a new breed of artists, talents and creators, she said. “Ang mahalaga kasi sa creatives sa palagay ko yung mga nagtitipon-tipon (at) bigyan ng platform at higit sa lahat ikalat sa buong mundo (creative works).”
Meanwhile, Pangasinan 4th District Representative and principal author of the RA 11904 Christopher “Toff” de Venecia hoped that the Philippines will be the No. 1 creative economy in ASEAN by 2030.
“The sooner we realize this secret, not just for theater but all creative fields, the better for all of us and that (secret) is, ‘To be global, we must be hyperlocal,’” he conveyed through a video message during the YC2 launch.
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