Pop Culture

How This Twitter Account Is Helping Spread The Gospel Of Philippine TV And Film

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Your new go-to source on Twitter for all things Pinoy entertainment.
BY Rafael Bautista
03.06.2023

As their name suggests, Philippine TV & Film Updates is looking to carve out that space on Twitter that the local entertainment industry deserves.

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If you frequent the hallowed halls of Twitter, then you’ve probably come across tweets from popular accounts like Pop Crave, Pop Base, Discussing Film, and more. Like modern day pop culture newspapers on the app, they function to share the latest on celebrities, film, TV, and everything in between. But more often than not, the news they report is Western-centric.

Proper Filipino Twitter accounts dedicated to starting a discourse and talking about local movies, shows, and entertainment are few and far between. It’s this space that Philippine TV & Film Updates looks to help fill. It’s a name that leaves little to the imagination. But aside from just tweeting updates, it has become increasingly clear that the account and the people who run it have nothing but love for the local industry and are using the moment to give it its proper respect.

FOR THE LOVE OF LOCAL

Philippine TV & Films Updates is not the first Twitter account to revolve around Filipino entertainment. But the account stands out for being one of the first to serve as a straight-up update account on all things local film, TV, and entertainment. Think DiscussingFilm, but the Pinoy version. “A reliable source for Filipinos to stay up to date on every Filipino TV Show and Film. A place or social media hub for everyone to gather around to talk about the greatness, darkness, or anything related to Philippine pop culture, tv, film, and entertainment industry,” is how the account’s admins would describe their creation.

In an interview with NYLON Manila, the admins, who requested to remain anonymous, revealed that they were looking to start a Filipino version of accounts like Pop Crave, Film Updates, and DiscussingFilm. As avid fans of local movies and shows, they felt that there was a lack of discussion on the goings-on in the local entertainment industry. “We thought, why isn’t there a Filipino update account on films and television when a lot is going on and Filipinos love to stay updated on things?” They started the account in 2020 and initially began as Teleserye Updates before rebranding to what we know today. Running an account like this takes serious dedication, which is no wonder then that the creators consider themselves fans of local TV and films.

“When good to decent and quality works are made by our filmmakers, we feel the need and want to support and love them more. To brag or be proud that given the circumstances, they were able to pull through and make something great out of it. It doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it is joyous for us to see.”

Nearly anything related and relevant to Philippine film, TV, and pop culture is worth a tweet on the account. Trailer reveals, announcements, interview quotes, poster drops; you name it, they’ve tweeted about it. But it’s not just mainstream fair that gets their attention as they emphasized how they also want to help promote indie films. “We want to give the spotlight to those films in our way so that more people can be aware of them and support the film. We want more Filipino films and television shows to be given the chance to be known more by the Filipino people as much as possible.”

With that being said, the admins also have an internal system to help them determine what’s worth tweeting. “We have a group chat for all of us admins, and we just basically send info, articles, and anything in there that could be a source. Then, we decide if that information is worth tweeting. That’s our process, we don’t know if we should be sharing it but that is our inside scoop on how we run this update account. We are also not the most formal when it comes to tweeting, sometimes we like to have fun. We are not that uptight.”

GET PEOPLE TALKING

If there was any doubt about how legitimate the account is or if Pinoy Twitter needed an updates account, that was washed away by its popularity over the past few months. While the account may have been active for three years, it was only in the past year that it started to blow up. Already, Philippine Film & TV Updates has nearly 10,000 followers, scored a handful of viral tweets, started their own awards, and started viral trends such as the best performances of Filipino actresses screaming which spawned even more viral tweets of its own. Even celebrities and creatives in the industry such as David Licauco, Julie Anne San Jose, James Reid, Donny Pangilinan, Mikhail Red, Elijah Canlas, and Pokwang have all noticed, replied, liked, or quote-tweeted the account.

“We actually unanimously felt a lot of pressure, which meant it is now serious or official,” shares the admins on their reaction to the account’s popularity. And while this bigger attention comes with its stress, they also feel humbled by the support and larger platform. “We are now being taken more seriously as an update account. It wasn’t easy the first months, because there wasn’t that much traction. Nobody really was interacting with our tweets. Until, slowly and slowly, people started following, and celebrities started quoting, retweeting, or liking our tweets, and even following our account. This is still the start, and we hope to continue to be servicing in our own way to Filipinos on social media to know updates on Philippine TV and Film in the coming years.”

NEW GOLDEN AGE OF PHILIPPINE ENTERTAINMENT

It feels quite fitting that a Twitter account called Philippine Film & TV Updates is blowing up at a time when the local entertainment industry seems to be entering a new renaissance. Projects like Maria Clara at Ibarra, Dirty Linen, and Ten Little Mistresses have charmed netizens with their quality and straight-up good production, a noticeable step up from past teleseryes and movies. The account’s creators see this as well and share a litany of things these projects have been doing right, from great storylines, cinematography, color grading, production design, moral lessons, direction, and more.

“Essentially, the Filipino audience has been hungry for a quality mainstream television series in the Philippines, and [Maria Clara at Ibarra and Dirty Linen] delivered what we have been wanting to see.” They add, “[T]he industry has finally and hopefully realized what the audience wants is quality over quantity. Filipinos are tired of recycled plots, affairs, and poor-quality television shows. Now, they are delivering, and hopefully, it will continue and become the status quo of what a Filipino television series should be like in the coming years.”

As for what the local industry can do to continue this new golden period, the admins point out that a different release schedule could greatly help local teleseryes. “If they could transition to weekly episodic releases, it will be better for them in the long run. Although we understand that it is hard for them to take risks and change the entire system right now. But we hope they are considering changing this way of releasing five episodes a week.”

When it comes to the local film industry, they hope producers and creators will allow more room for different and quality stories to be told. “For films, especially mainstream studios, we are hoping that they will listen and see the change in the taste of Filipino audiences. They are tired of rom-com and comedies that are poorly made. Not that they shouldn’t make those anymore, but if they would, at least put in an effort. We also hope they won’t be afraid to make out of the box stories to life, support those indie filmmakers, make those crazy expensive films, take more risks, and produce those original scripts. If they continue creating and producing quality work, this era deserves and will be given the merit of the “new golden age of Philippine cinema and television” because the quality of Filipino films and television shows will speak for themselves.”

Needless to say, they aren’t fans of hearing the often-stated criticism that Filipino movies and shows aren’t worth watching. Not only do they outright reject the notion, but they see it as a matter of watching more local productions. “There is a lot there that hasn’t had the public recognition. Broaden and diversify what you watch and try to look more other than the mainstream offering. We get that criticisms are valid and that Filipinos should still do that, but if you are telling us that you don’t think that local films and tv shows aren’t worth watching, we just disagree. There is so much more the Philippine film and television industry has to offer other than the popular loveteam, rom-com, comedy, or action films and shows that we often see.”

MORE TO LOVE OUT THERE

For now, the admins of Philippine Film & TV Updates hope to continue to use the account to give the local entertainment industry the discourse it needs. “We hope it contributes to insightful, constructive, pragmatic, and positive discourse. We see a lot of network and stan wars in our mentions, which we hope will change someday.” More importantly, some of their tweets have started positive or needed discourse towards local movies and films, something they aspire to continue to do more of.

“[Our tweets] unintentionally reminded the Filipinos that we have several outstanding and excellent works of our own and that we should support, talk about, and conversate about them more. There are a lot of great works in Film and TV in the Philippines that sometimes don’t translate to general appeal. Hopefully, our impact can help Filipinos love and appreciate Philippine cinema and television more, and it contributes to fair and insightful discourse that will birth solutions and real change, not more problems and arguments.”

Philippine films and television may just be entering a new golden age, and it’s a deserving moment given the talent that Filipinos have to offer. And documenting it all will be Philippine Film & TV Updates. If all this talk has gotten itching to show some love to the local entertainment industry, the admins have a curated list of local titles that should be on your watchlist. On the movies front, they recommend Whether The Weather Is Fine, Leonor Will Never Die, Midnight In A Perfect World, Cleaners, Oda Sa Wala, John Denver Trending, Aswang, Waiting For Sunset, Pan de Salawal, Big Night!, On The Job: The Missing 8, and When The Waves Are Gone.

As for series, they share praises for Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 3: The Real Untold Story Of Josephine Bracken, The Tapes, I Am U, Bagman, Sleep With Me, Suntok Sa Buwan, Widows’ Web, Unconditional, Flower of Evil, The Lost Recipe, as well as upcoming shows Cattleya Killer, Call My Agent!‘s Philippine Adaptation, and Voltes V: Legacy.

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