All-Filipino documentary vies for Asian award

The All-Filipino produced documentary “Pinoy Hoops: A National Obsession,” has been nominated for an Asian Television Award (ATA). It is a surprising and humbling honor for a small group of Filipino broadcasters who wanted to pioneer and share our country’s love for the game of basketball with the world. It is entered in the “Best Infotainment Programme” category. The Asian Television Awards was launched in 1996, and has grown into the continent’s most prestigious industry awards. “Pinoy Hoops” is among 239 nominees from 13 countries in 38 different categories that have made the cut for the 19th annual edition of the awards. Results were tabulated and audited by international auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The awards ceremony will be held in Singapore on Dec. 11.

The creation of the project itself was a challenge in pioneering. Internationally, cable channels are realizing the advantages of generating content from within their territories, instead of just tossing American content out here. The largest networks spend about a million dollars per hour on content, but find that what sells and rates in the United States does not necessarily fare so well in the Philippines. With the diversity of cultures in the world’s largest region, much of the programming gets mixed reactions when it is broadcast in the continent. With the mere variety of languages, it’s already a tough task to translate whatever shows are filmed out of continental America. One size definitely does not fit all when Asia is concerned.

A logical next step would be to source out relevant content from within Asia itself. And, as producers like The National Geographic Channel learned through its market research, there are infinite stories of interest in Asia, many of which, if presented in a certain way, have universal appeal to an audience outside the continent. More importantly, Asian broadcasters are producing films at the same technical standards as their counterparts in other parts of the world are, at a fraction of the cost, in other words, part of the flow of the production process was reversed. Content created in Asia would now springboard to the rest of the world, aided by the constantly growing migration of Asians (led in volume by Overseas Filipino Workers) to other parts of the globe.

Almost five years ago, this writer realized that there had been no documentary which focused on the Filipino people’s unusual (some would say illogical) love for the sport of basketball. Knowing that Jude Turcuato, the head of Fox International Channels in the Philippines was a former fellow sports broadcaster, I thought it might be worth a shot. After all, if the decision maker is intimately familiar with the subject matter, then it would aid greatly in the project being given the green light to come into being. What was surprising was how challenging the process would be, but then again, it was an introduction to how things work internationally. The attention to detail is eye-opening. Nothing is left to chance. It would make an interesting experiment for The National Geographic Channel.

As an example, it took a year before the contract was framed in a form that satisfied all parties concerned. Constant consultation was done with Fox’s head office in Washington, their regional office in Singapore, and even other offices with more experience like Hong Kong. Insurance, release forms, script samples and an analysis of working conditions in the Philippines had to be done to determine which practices in the US would suit the way things are done in each territory covered by Fox in the region. There were also encouraging signs along the way. The guide given our production team was, providentially enough, a sports script. It was on the “Black Rose of Bangkok,” boxer Siriporn Taweesuk, the chronicle of her winning the first world women’s title fight in a prison, the WBC light flyweight title in 2007. Another good portent was that the referee for that fight was our dear friend Bruce McTavish, who has been a Philippine resident for half a century. These were encouraging signs.

We enlisted the help of our old friend Sally Bellosillo, who was now president of Caelestis Productions, and had been educated in the US and the United Kingdom, and had dealt with the protocols of international broadcast networks already. Caelestis has been a trailblazer in documentary film production, among their achievements were “Laban,” the 30th anniversary documentary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, and “Haiyan: After the Megastorm,” for the first anniversary of typhoon Yolanda which premiered on Discovery Channel Nov. 8. This writer and Caelestis are in the final stages of post-production for “PBA: A Nation’s Passion”, a project of the Philippine Basketball Association for its 40th anniversary which will be shown in cinemas in March.

A few more weeks were spent outlining stories that would immerse the audience in the Philippine basketball culture. Once the initial points had been laid down, NatGeo’s producers suggested that writer Rafe Bartholomew serve as the presenter, to provide an outsider’s perspective and bridge the majority of the audience with the country’s hoops culture. They felt that the larger audience would relate to an outsider talking about the peculiarities of this unrequited love for the game. It was at this point that Bartholomew’s book, “Pacific Rims” had just been released. It went on to be the third-best selling book in the Philippines in 2010. Bartholomew would be the only non-Filipino on the team.

The bulk of principal photography was done, remarkably, in just three weeks, as Bartholomew, who had by this time returned to New York, only had that window to fly back to the Philippines and shoot before taking on a new job as a senior editor for Grantland.com. But fortunately, this coincided with a PBA Finals series between Talk N Text and Ginebra San Miguel, thanks to the all-out support of the PBA, the two teams’ managements and head coaches Chot Reyes and Jong Uichico, respectively, our cameras were even allowed in the locker rooms and practices even at the height of the championship.

Even the personalities asked for interviews with were all very gracious, open and selfless with their time and their memories. Some provided leads that were surprising even to those of us who had been covering basketball for a long time. Rapper and producer Mike Swift led us to an entire community that had grown on the rooftop of a burned out, dilapidated hotel in Caloocan. You literally have to go through open windows and fire escapes to get there. In the center of the entire community was, of course, a basketball court. It gave us even more insight into why we just can’t get enough of the game, and how it binds us together. Photographer Tony Lu allowed us into his humble home just a few kilometers away, which is blanketed almost wall to wall with over three decades worth of sports photographs and decaying negatives. 

The entire production process of “Pinoy Hoops,” from conception to production and post-production to airing took three and a half years, and so much had happened in between. But when the three hour-long episodes aired out of Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines and other countries in October of 2013, the response was heart-warming. The program’s premiere racked up over 12.9 million hits online, 97 percent of which were mentions on Twitter alone. Since then NatGeo has been periodically replaying the films, to even more positive responses.

Pinoy Hoops has a formidable roster of fellow nominees, including three from Singapore, one from Taiwan and one from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong entry, “I Wouldn’t Go In There – Philippines: Haunted Hospital” was the only other entry in the category filmed in the Philippines. The subject matters are diverse, so determining who would be the front-runner is next to impossible, what is important is that all six nominees got through the tough screening process which included entries from all over Asia. But it proves that, with the right story and the will to do things at international standards, Filipino broadcasters can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the region.

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This writer would like to thank Toyota Motor Philippines for the relaxing and heart-warming reception at their test drive from Manila to Poro Point to Baguio City. It was a singularly exquisite experience.