CUT-TO: 8 YEARS LATER

This month marks my 8th year in advertising, in Harrison Communications.

I’m here right now because of Taps. Yup, he’s to blame. Brandie also had something to do with all of this.

I think the ball got rolling during one of those nights at my dad’s wake eight years ago. Taps was telling the guys about this new commercial he was working on. It started a couple of upcoming talents named Diether Ocampo, Ryan Agoncillio, and Patricia Javier. Yup, it was the Sprite “Magpaka-totoo Ka” campaign. Even though Taps was just telling us the stories of those TV commercials, we were already laughing and couldn’t wait to see it on-air. (Somewhat appropriate that we were talking about TV commercials at my dad’s wake.)

I don’t know if it was on that same night or some other night we all got together when I mentioned to the group that I now had to find a more regular job; that my freelance writing gigs and minimal comic book sales were just not enough. Taps mentioned that McCann was looking for a writer and I could try out. Based on Taps’ story about the Sprite campaign, his job actually sounded like fun.

CUE: CANNED LAUGHTER

Around a month later, Brandie dragged me out of bed and we distributed our resumes to a couple of agencies in Makati. I ended up getting called in for a couple of interviews that June.

July 8, 1999, was my first official day at Harrison. They were in the process of moving to a new office, so the cubicles at Dolmar looked more like a warehouse than a place of work. The highlight of that first day was leafing through a two-inch thick file that contained all the Globe ads that they had done. Around 5pm, Dadi Santos, my Creative Director, told me to go home; that there was nothing else for me to do.

So, I came back the next day and actually got the office before 9:30am. I thought my second day was going to be a repeat of my first, when a Job Order came in at the last minute and it had to be presented the next day.

And the work hasn’t stopped ever since.

I don’t think I would’ve lasted this long if it wasn’t for the officemates that I’ve come to consider as mentors, friends, confidants, fellow soldiers brought back to another tour of duty, and participants in the same support group that happen to meet at the bar down the street.

Staying in one place for eight years results to having to say goodbye to a lot of those of the people. At least, thanks to a whole lot of texting, IMing, and blogging, it’s so easy to say “hello, how you doin’?” every now and again.

As one leaves, new people come in and a new cast is assembled. The show must go on.

I am now one of the Deputy Executive Creative Directors of Harrison Communications; but there are still days when I feel like a beginner. There will always be that project, that client, that brief that will challenge you and humble you and make you realize that you still need to learn more.

So, before we get into Season 8 of my so-called career, we gotta do this:

VO: Previously in Heroes (ahem) Harrison…

Team Harrison 1999



Globe Team 2000


Globe Team 2004



Grace's surprise birthday party



Dadi's Despedida



The Harrison Launch Party



Parties at the Red Room



The Season of Pitches



Belai's Despedida


My Team aka BAHAY NI BUDJETTE


Team Harrison 2006



We still get together when the occassion calls for it.


SPECIAL GUEST STARS THROUGH THE YEARS:

I got tagged by Wella. Since it was Wella’s first blog post (and I’m really proud that she’s started blogging) I must now tell you: 7 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME

1. I was a magician.
Well, I was an amateur magician. A very, very amateur magician. I was a big fan of David Copperfield. I used to record his TV specials, which were re-run on Channel 9 over and over again. When the local channels stopped airing his specials, my uncle in Boston would record it for me and would me packages with that video tape as well as magic books and magic tricks. So, I got as far as learn one rubber band trick and transforming a P500 bill into a P5 bill (yes, there was once a P5 bill). I also learned one routine using the Chinese Linking Rings. If you ask me to do a magic trick now, I’d probably mess it up and just make your P500 bill disappear by buying a bunch of comic books.

2. I was a ninja.
Well, I was an amateur ninja. A very, very amateur ninja. Okay, I was a very horrible ninja. I maybe the only ninja that was afraid of the dark. So, it was very, very difficult to sneak up on someone in broad daylight.

I now can’t remember why I got into the whole ninja craze. I mean, this was way before Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtles became famous. I think it was combination of reading Snake-eyes and Stormshadow in the G.I.JOE comic book and watching a whole lot of “American Ninja” and Lee Van Cleef’s “The Master” TV series. So, I asked my dad to buy me books about ninja and martial arts and one of the titles he got me was a “The Ninja Guide Book: How to be a Ninja in 9 Deadly Steps” (Okay, I made that title up. It was something like that).

Way back in Grade 6, me and my friends followed the lessons of that book. I even had my mom get me a ninja costume. (It was an all-black jumpsuit that made me look like a mummy that fell in the vat of India ink.) One of my friends, Gary Magpoc, had a metal shop in the back of his house. He used some scrap metal to make a shuriken. We went to his house and took turns practicing how to throw the shuriken and that banana tree was so sorry it ever met us that afternoon. When it was Alan Campo’s turn, he threw the shuriken so hard it missed the banana tree and ended up at the neighbor’s house. That brought it our ninja training to an end because Gary only made one shuriken.

3. I was an angel.
To be more specific, I was a Moonbeam Angel (which sounds like the name of some hippie heavenly body). Anyway, back in grade school, my school decided to stage a play called “Five Star Angel”. I auditioned for it and didn’t get in. The first round of audition involved grouping all the kids and making them come up with a play on the spot. So, not only did you have to prove that you can sing and dance and act, you also had to know how to write and direct a mini-play-- all under 10 minutes. So, I decide to stage the story who the ninja who saved General MacArthur’s life and that’s why MacArthur was able to return to the Philippines. (Yes, there was an American ninja who saved the general’s life, but it was all kept secret because no one would ever believe it if it was ever put in the history books.)

Needless to say, the teachers had no idea what the heck was happening on stage. It just involved a lot of kids attempting to do flying kicks and some guy saying, “I shall return!”

Anyway, I didn’t get chosen to be part of the cast.

Then, after some PTA meeting, my mom suddenly got voted to be producer of the play. The very next day, I got called back to audition again. I don’t remember what kind of talent I showed but I got in the play and was given the very important role of the Moonbeam Angel. I think I had a grand total of five lines. I had lines like, “But where will we go?”, “How will we get there?”, and “Oh, thank you!” (And I can’t remember my other two lines.)

I had to wear an all-white bodysuit and a headdress that looked and weighed like a Christmas parol. I’m just thankful that the video copy of that play, which was recorded on Betamax, has now become completely covered with molds and cannot be viewed in any way possible.

INTERMISSION: So, sorry. This has become a long trip down memory lane for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you already clicked to the next blog or website. Anyway, we’re near the half-way point. I’ll try to make this short as possible.

4. I am currently 210 lbs.

5. The first movie that made me cry was BENJY. For the benefit of people who’ve never seen or heard of “Benjy” (like Wella), it was a movie about a dog (somewhat like those Lassie movies) and I thought really he died in that story and that’s why I cried. Benjy was a good dog!

6. Back in grade school, I used this hair cream so I that I could properly comb my hair and that every strand of hair would be in place for the rest of the day (and made me look like I was wearing a helmet). What was the hair cream? WELLA FORM! These days, I don’t have much hair that would find any use for any cream whatsoever.

7. Wella’s my first girlfriend and I love her.


(And I tag anyone who wants to get tagged by this.)