Week 1: "GOOD MORNday ABS-CBN!"

"Call time...four o'clock a.m!" "Ooo...kay. Hmmm...."

Good Mornday! From my home in Bulacan, I arrived at 3:30 in the morning, at the ABS-CBN loop studio at ELJ building. I came in while everyone was preparing the cameras, lights, and props for the set of the ABS-CBN news and current affairs morning show, Umagang kay Ganda (UKG). I first observed and talked to the staff while waiting for my bosses.

Past 4 a.m., I met with my first boss, Mr. Jaime Haroa Bolok, the executive producer of UKG Infotainment Division. Then, past 5 a.m., I met with my immediate head, Mr. Dondie Garcia, the executive producer of UKG News Division.

During the show, I had to coordinate with the resource speakers / government officials, the executive producer, and, floor director for a segment of the show, Punto por Punto, hosted by radio and television news commentary personality, Anthony Taberna. Actually, I felt proud rubbing elbows with such high-profile officials.

After the show, I was asked to attend the meeting of the executive producers and associate producers. I was really excited and happy being with them and learning how they discuss what went wrong during the show - the technical and inevitable problems encountered. What was emphasized was the late arrival of some significant personalities, which negatively affected the flow of the show. This time, it just reminded me that being on or ahead of time is really the most important factor in the success of a production particularly in a live show like UKG. In this case, I told myself to always remain alert and proactive to help the production team.

Next, by 11:30 a.m., I was instructed to do a phone interview with Mr. Jerry Yu, a businessman, for a Wednesday segment. After lunch, I encoded all the details of my interview. I felt it was quite difficult for me to stay this long in the UKG office and assure a quality output because I was already awake for almost 12 hours. My headache was stubborn that time. Though, I know I must be the one to adjust to such environment, wherein my sleeping habit would have to suddenly change and that could affect my performance. But of course, I did not let it happen. I presented the details of my interview and my boss expressed great satisfaction.

By the end of my internship day, I was asked by Ms. Yvonne Cabrega, UKG segment producer, to scout for talents and location for a shoot of an advertisement to be aired next week. I found this exciting and challenging because I had to convince certain talents to act without talent fees and use their houses without rental fees (considering that they would have to act for a segment on ABS-CBN and then no talent fees would be given? Hmmm.... Quite embarrassing. Whoa!). Fortunately, I successfully confirmed the participation of certain talents for the shoot scheduled on Wednesday! Yeah! Whew!

Week 1: My First FRIday with Ideal Minds Corporation

FRIday. It is my first day here at the Ideal Minds Corporation. It is a production outfit at the Pacific Center building in Ortigas, Pasig City. I met with my boss, Ms. Niña de Torres, the online manager of Flippish.com, "the first online Pinoy video channel." Flippish.com is produced by the Ideal Minds Corporation.

Ms. Niña gave my first task - that was for me to study the nature of Flippish.com. So, I familiarized myself with the web site and all its shows. Then, my boss asked me to critique one of its online programs, Pinoy Parazzi Live (an entertainment talk show hosted by the radio personality and show business columnist Roberto "Tita Swarding" Espena and Faith), which airs live every Friday, from 3 to 4 PM, on Flippish.com. I liked my first task because I had to comment on its programming, production values, and, marketing and promotional strategies. I applied everything I learned in class - from marketing and promotion to production design to directing to hosting.

My second work was to make a statistical report on the viewership of Flippish.com online viewers for the month of July. I found it related to marketing and promotion / advertising because I was asked to analyze the figures and data given. I believe for a first day of internship, this job was really challenging because I had my deadline that day but I was not psyched by the assignment. I researched about Flippish.com and recalled my theories on broadcast marketing and promotion under Professor Fernando A. Austria, Jr.

Then, I was asked to write down questions for an interview with Gary Valenciano and Martin Nievera in their As One repeat concert that night. I was already quite exhausted this time but still I just thought of enjoying it while making exciting and interesting, not-the-usual-condescending type of questions - which I learned from Professor Antonio S. Santos in structuring interview questions.

Lastly, as I end my first internship FRIday, I was given a homework - that was to give a detailed critique of all Flippish.com shows - again, I had to consider their programming, production values, marketing and promotional strategies.

Actually, I realized that my boss gave me tasks with quite vague instructions particularly, in making the report and critique because what she said was pretty general in nature. Hence, I had to ask her important specific questions (e.g. which areas of the shows I had to comment on, format I had to follow, etc.). In this case, I did not mind whether she got a little irritated or not because I strongly believe that asking relevant questions properly is always a part of effective communication and learning. For this internship, I just want to always produce quality output right on time so I will do everything I can to deliver my boss's instructions efficiently.

FRIday end.