I am certain that actors will agree with me if I say that doing films and television series is fulfilling. (siyempre may talent fee!) Most of them have made acting their career and source of income for so many years. (yung iba nga mga 100 years na!) But the new normal brought by the pandemic posed a big challenge in the industry. Some colleagues lost their jobs due to limited production of shows and movies while others decided to change careers because they are not comfortable with the new set-up. (sila yung mga ibang mapagkukunan ng budget!)

I asked some friends from TV production of the things to expect if an actor accepts a project. (may balak ba akong mag-artista?!)

One of the current set-ups is the lock-in taping where actors and the production crew are housed in one big compound. (so, change angle lang ng camera para magmukhang ibang lugar para sa ibang eksena!)  During the start of the pandemic, they would stay in the lock-in for two weeks. After that, they would take a rest in their respective homes for another two weeks, then they would resume the lock-in to finish the remaining scenes. (pabalik balik ganyan!) But since, they would still get COVID-19 cases with this set-up, they opted to have longer lock-in tapings. In can be one month or more to finish all the scenes. No more rest, no more extensions. They just have to strictly follow what is written in the script, unlike before that story lines depend on ratings and commercial load! (lakas maka-K drama nung follow the script no matter what!)

Actors also have pay-cuts. (kailangan talaga magtipid ngayon!) They cannot demand for their usual rate. (or else kukuha talaga sila ng mas murang artista!)

But they will only be paid for their number of scenes. If he only has 15 days taping for the whole 1 month lock-in, his fee will only be for those days. The remaining days will be his “vacation” in the lock-in. (bilang free food and accommodation naman daw!) The Management team used to provide honorarium for no taping days but they scrapped it from the production cost. (so isipin nalang talaga na work and vacation ito!)

With a scenario that an actor decides to leave the lock-in taping, (either nag-inarte  or di na kinaya!), he won’t be replaced by any actor. (unless may mahatak silang umarte mula sa production staff!) Writers will just kill the actor’s character in the story. (dito lang sila mag-eeffort na di sundin ang script!)

This new normal set-up, of course, requires all talents to have negative swab results and follow health protocols. (na may kasamang oa levels na sanitation! Na dapat naman talaga!)

These are just some of the changes that actors and production staff will need to accept for now. It is definitely more expensive and more tedious but necessary in this time of crisis. (laban lang! matatapos din ito! Kakampi natin ang universe!)

(MR.FU hosts on 91.5 Win Radio, 9pm-12mn, Mondays to Fridays. Twitter/IG: @mrfu_mayganon. FB: Mr. FU the Star DJ. Youtube/Patreon: WTFu)