Lessons in Newscasting 101

On what should be a lazy Sunday afternoon, we are in the middle of The Alabang Town Center Plaza for Trumpets Playshop promotional shows. It could have been raining and we would still be there for the shows.

The buzz and the flurry of preparing for the Trumpets Playshop made me appreciate just how much this summer industry has grown, especially for Trumpets. Gone are the days when the entire Playshop population was 30 students. Now it is a multi-media affair where each class has a minimum of 30 students. Yet in all these classes, from basic acting to street dancing to jazz, the true spirit of the summer workshop remains a reunion with your self, a reunion with discovery, a reunion with friends.

I was witness to one such reunion when Trumpets Playshop Newscasting teacher, Kata Inocencio got together with three of her former students: Alex Pastor, then a Music Major from the UP College of Music and now an anchor for Alas Singko y Media and writer researcher for Isyu 101; Nina Corpuz, then a Broadcast Communications graduate from UP and now a news reporter for ABS-CBN, Studio 23, ANC, and Channel 21; and JC Gonzalez, then a Communication Arts graduate from Ateneo, now a host for Breakfast and Digital Tour. All three were classmates in the Newscasting Class of the Trumpets Playshop in 1999.

Over fish and chips, salad, sandwiches and plenty of laughter:

JC GONZALEZ: I remember most the exercises, because I use them to this day.

NINA CORPUZ: Yeah, how do you explain that. Tongue exercises, lip exercises.

JC: Facial contortions!

Everyone burst out into laughter while Kata explained that these "facial contortions" were a necessary part of the program. She goes into anatomy, breathing, resonance, articulation, stress, and intonation. It becomes a speech class and a modified performance class because Newscasting is a performance. The class also goes through the basics of news production from gathering, interviewing, writing, reporting and delivering the news.

Alex Pastor: Yeah, I remember then we had to interview pa this director from Trumpets.

JC: Yeah, that was what I really like about it because it offered me something that I never learned in school, in terms of the specialization of our course. We really learned the ropes.

Nina: And also we learned a lot of the attitude involved if we want a career in broadcasting. We really need to have the discipline for the job because it’s a lot of hard work.

Kata: In other words, I didn’t lie to them. All the exercises in class are done according to industry standards.

JC: Yeah, it really helped that Kata was willing to share all her experience and expertise with us.

Nina: And it was really fun!

Alex: Yeah, especially when we were preparing for our graduation already!

As in all Playshop classes, the Newscasting class also has a showcase of their own. Usually, the class is divided into different groups according to their strengths and each group is given their own assignment.

Nina: JC and I were together is this newscast program.

JC: Yeah, we were called the Sarimanok Channel and we had the works! Lights, a logo backdrop pa!

Alex: There was a lifestyle program, a news program.

Nina: We even did spoofs of current shows!

Alex: I anchored the sports section pa.

Kata: O, see, we predicted correctly! Then you became a sports anchor for Alas Singko y Media!

It seems joining the newscasting class was a turning point for all three. It helped define a lot of their goals, by their own admission, was a great stepping stone for their careers.

Alex: Can you imagine, and at first, I wasn’t even supposed to enroll. But then after class, I was able to do VTR with ABS and now I’m working in Isyu 101 already.

Nina: Yeah, me naman, I held down pa a magazine job for about three months until Kata called me about a cadetship in ABS. So, I quit my magazine job.

Kata: And now the editor is mad at me. No! It’s just that when there are openings that I know will fit some of my students, then I give them a call. It just happened that at that time there was an opportunity for another cadetship, so I gave her a call. I would have called JC too but at that time he was already in as a host for Breakfast.

Now the teacher and her students are colleagues at work and in the real world. What used to be lectures and discussions is now an exchange for stories about their day to day experiences at work.

Nina: Me, recently, I was assigned in Malacañang for two months, I was piggybacking with senior reporters. First day, there was a presscon, si Nani Perez, so we were just waiting and I really had to go to the comfort room. When I got back he was talking already. I was so nervous. The cameramen were saying, just to be in Malacañang, I was fixed, I wanted to look professional, I was wearing heels. I went in and I chose this seat beside this other reporter in the back, but my huge bag got caught on the seat of other reporter and then I nearly fell! The reporter had to catch me and the other reporters were laughing. One said pa, "Miss, are you okay?"

Kata: Well, you got their attention!

Alex: Ako, in my case naman, the first time I anchored for Alas Singko y Media they didn’t teach us how to use the ENR, the electronic news room where we write the scripts, hindi ko alam na bawal gamitin yung letter n, everytime ginagamit, bumabagsak yung prompter. It just goes to black. E, my story was about Peñalosa! So, during broadcast, it went to black. Buti na lang hawak hawak ko yung hard copy, eventually, I just read the news from that. Afterwards the producer was laughing.

Kata: I didn’t even know that about the ENR! Now you see the importance of writing your own story?

Alex: Yeah.

JC: Actually, another important thing I really remembered you saying was for us to never try to be the next Korina (Sanchez) or the next Noli (de Castro) but for us to evolve our own styles based on our strengths.

Nina: Yeah, that and that we really need to be disciplined. We have to work, and know the ins and outs of the job then the rest will follow. It’s not all glamour because the real work happens off screen.

JC: Yeah! Especially for our show, which goes on live. There was one time, and my car overheated at around 6:30 a.m. and the show starts at 7. I live in Parañaque so I was somewhere in Magallanes and that was the day I had so many interviews pa naman. So, here I am. In the show we have to wear long sleeves and a tie, I parked my car in Magallanes, then bahala na I ran to the MRT terminal in Mantrade, and I was just watching the time. I got off the terminal by GMA and I was running! I finally got to the show at 8 a.m. haggard but you can’t say that on TV. No matter what problems are going on, especially with a live show, like if you’re fighting with a producer, once the camera is on, you just have to smile and seem like nothing’s wrong.

Kata: That’s the business.

Nina: That’s why I was also glad that the newscasting class was not just a class. It was character-building and spiritual because I think in this business, if I don’t have spiritual guidance, I’d die. And I need that to stay on because I’d like to be a reporter for as long as I can.

Kata: Actually, there were a lot from your class who went into the business.

Nina: Yeah, remember Iris? She’s now writing for Business World.

Alex: Carlo Lorenzo is with Channel 7.

JC: We even had a 12-year old kid in class he was good, he was the host of our teenage point of view, Martin Sarmenta, he’s the son of Sev Sarmenta. Now he’s part of the actors guild at the Ateneo High School.

Kata: Joyce Ann Burton is also an anchor for Channel 21 now.

Alex: Do you remember the mother? Actually, they were a couple, mag-asawa yata?

Kata: Oh, yeah, they were very good! They really have what it takes for the job! Actually, I had a lot of other students who were better than you three...

There is hearty laughter once again. I’m betting this was the kind of laughter resonating through their classroom during the Trumpets Playshop in 1999 through 2001. And I’m betting, there will be more laughter in the year 2002 for the newscasting class of the Trumpets Playshop.

Trumpets Playshop is now open for enrollment. For inquiries, call 633-50-10, 636-28-42 or visit the Trumpets office on the sixth level of the Shangri-La Plaza Mall.