Sisikat Din Ako: Your Guide to Making Your Mark in Show Business

By Noel D. Ferrer

Sisikat Din Ako!: Your Guide To Making Your Mark in Show Business is a remarkable guide that will help and inspire people in their hopes to become successful stars in the complex but colorful world of Philippine show business. It features success stories of well-loved superstars Nora Aunor, Sharon Cuneta, Judy Ann Santos, Regine Velasquez, Sarah Geronimo, among others, as well as words of showbiz wisdom from industry veterans Arnel Ramos, Jerry Donato and Alwyn Ignacio with PR specialists Jet Valle and Rikka Infantado, Entertainment Press Society’s founding member Ricky Calderon and top entertainment-industry lawyer Toto Villareal. Award-winning director and writer Jose Javier Reyes wrote the book’s Foreword and an enlightening analysis of the popular “AlDub” phenomenon.

This book also features  tributes to industry movers and shakers: actor and TV host extraordinaire German “Kuya Germs” Moreno, Regal Films matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde, master negotiator and Viva magnate Boss Vic Del Rosario, “star magician” Johnny Manahan, and president of TAPE Inc., producer of Eat Bulaga!, the longest-running noontime show in the country, Antonio Tuviera.

The last pages of the book feature “A Star’s Worksheet” which one can use as a personal guide in one’s journey toward a career in showbiz. Readers can easily personalize this book by writing and doodling on the pages as well as by coloring the illustrations that adorn the pages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anvil Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9789712732607

Book preview

ABOUT NOEL FERRER AND SISIKAT DIN AKO!

In this business where most are in it, to win it so to speak, Noel is one of the few who got into it for all the right reasons. We both have the same passion of being behind the careers of some stars in our industry where we give the same amount of resilience, patience, and courage to see them all through. After years of being acquaintances through shared projects, our friendship started from the strangest of situations which only shows that it was just meant to be. Our conversations about the realities and trials behind all the fame and glamour are things that remind us why we should always work harder for our industry to prosper.

VERONIQUE DEL ROSARIO

Head, Viva Artists Agency

If you think breaking into the entertainment industry isn’t easy, imagine what it would take to stay in it. Looks. Talent. Determination. Guts. Passion. Artistry. Ask around, there are so many who can give advice about how you can play the game and win. But that’s the thing. Most of the time they are wrong. It isn’t about you alone, but you alongside many. Noel is one of the few who get that. This is why integrity, camaraderie, and respect do matter. Noel always says Kapit-bisig, Kapatid, and it is true. Because without the help of others, you don’t stand a chance staying in this industry. And if you, in turn, don’t help others, then you don’t deserve to be here in the first place.

PERCI INTALAN

Producer and Director, The Idea First Company; Former Head of TV5 Entertainment

Noel and I share the view that our colleagues and celebrities are not only partners in this industry but also treasured friends. We act on the basis of respect and professionalism in our quest for excellence in this field. This industry is not all glamour for behind it are real human beings who work very hard and are dedicated to their craft.

ANNETTE GOZON

President, GMA Films

As the song goes, There’s no business like show business! It is an industry that maybe half of the population would want to get into. A small percentage makes it and an even smaller percentage gets to actually stay. Noel and I share the same principles and values when it comes to making a lasting mark in the industry. Challenging ourselves to always Level Up! (Biruin mo, naisingit ko pa ’yun.) In lieu of controversy, we both strive for excellence and of course the constant reinvention that makes one interesting not just as an artist but as a human being. I am grateful to have this shared passion, for making good and responsible choices, with my manager. My father was right when he entrusted me to our Kapatid, Noel Ferrer. Wherever life brings me, I will always be grateful for his guidance, love and support. If only he answered his phone more often. Kapit-bisig, Kapatid!

IZA CALZADO

Actress, TV Host, and Fitness Diva

We should always approach the mantle of celebrity with caution. Those who seek it, foolishly, without a noble answer to the why and for whom, are doomed to be cruel or irrelevant. If, one day, we find ourselves in a position of influence, it should inspire and alarm us in equal measure, for it is indeed a great responsibility. Noel’s book should not be taken as manual for success, but as the notes of a man who has made keen observations from the inside, and has seen both the glory and shame of celebrity.

ATOM ARAULLO

Host, TV Reporter

Being on television is a privilege as I am able to influence a lot of people. I can make it useful, relevant and inspiring or I can make it inane, time-wasting, and valueless. Working with Noel as mentor and a friend taught me to treat airtime with respect and reverence. Whatever comes out of my mouth in any show should not only entertain but impart knowledge and inspiration. Mahal ang airtime, hindi dapat sinasayang! Kuya Kim would not have been Kuya Kim if not for my Kumpare Noel.

KUYA KIM ATIENZA

TV Host, Celebrity Endorser

When I first entered the industry, I have to admit that my goals were quite superficial. With Noel’s help and guidance, I was given major breaks which propelled my career. More importantly, he helped me realize that celebrities are beyond entertainers. They have a deeper mission: to propagate a culture of virtue, excellence, integrity, and service through their example. Thank you, Noel, for the friendship and for your invaluable contribution to an endangered society.

CHRIS TIU

Basketball Idol, TV Host, Entrepreneur

Each time I pick up a script written by Noel I sometimes have to read it a couple of times to myself quietly before I read it in performance level. Most of, if not all the things he writes are a valedictorian and a half away from my intellect as a host. He is beyond his years in wisdom and his loyalty as a friend goes unmatched. We have more than years together, we have tears and fears, jitters and cheers. What keeps our friendship strong is not just love, but the belief that it will last forever. This is our bond beyond show business.

MARTIN NIEVERA

Concert King, Recording Artist, TV Host

Making it in the entertainment industry is not just about having an abundance of talent. You must have a good balance of flair, passion, guts, will, and professionalism to realize your dream. You need people to discover you and believe that you have what it takes to be a star. These people prepare and mold you to live, breathe, survive, and love the maze of the business. If you want to be an actor, a director, a writer, you are only as good as the team who shapes you into the best that you can be. It is all about relationships, partnerships, and teamwork borne out of mutual respect.

Noel has spent most of his twenty-five years building the careers of creative and excellent geniuses. His secret to success is his genuine concern for the well-being of the people he works with. It does not begin and end in a project or a deal. He brings heart in it. This is why his relationships last, and he is a testament that a perfect blend of talent, heart and mind is what it takes to stay in the business of entertainment.

MADONNA TARRAYO

President and Chief Operating Officer, Unitel Productions, Inc.

Artists, by nature, are passionate people and the desire for fame is, perhaps, an expression of this passion. But the question begs an answer—fame for what? For whom? Sisikat din ako! para kanino, para saan? Noel in his reflections on a twenty-five-year journey not only asks the questions, but shares stories that are reflections on—and perhaps answers to—these questions. Beyond the desired fame is the passion for meaning and mission which Noel time and again used as his north star—and used to be a mentor, a friend, a companion, a fellow pilgrim to those who started with the desire for fame and in the process discovered their passion for meaning and mission.

FR. TITO CALUAG

Spiritual Director; ABS-CBN Board Member

Noel D. Ferrer

SISIKAT

DIN AKO!

SISIKAT DIN AKO!

by Noel D. Ferrer

with Arnel Ramos, Jerry Donato, and Alwyn Ignacio

and featuring contributions from

Jet Valle, Rikka Infantado, Ricky Calderon, Atty. Toto Villareal, and Jose

Javier Reyes

Copyright to this digital edition © 2015 by Noel D. Ferrer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without the written permission of the Publisher.

Published and exclusively distributed by

ANVIL PUBLISHING, INC.

7th Floor Quad Alpha Centrum

125 Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City 1550 Philippines

TRUNK LINES [phone], [phone] to 57

FAX [phone]

www.anvilpublishing.com

Copy editing by Jerry Gracio, Elmer Gatchalian, and Ali Figueroa

Art direction and book design by Ali Figueroa

Portraits by Clouds Lunn and Ali Figueroa

ISBN 9789712732607 (e-book)

Version 1.01

Learn the rules

so that’ you know

how to break them

properly.

THE DALAI LAMA

Table of Contents

FOREWORD    Jose Javier Reyes

So You Want to Be a Star…

I get it everywhere. And anywhere. Direk, gusto ko pong mag-artista! (Direk, I want to be an actor.)

Worse yet, I receive particularly mind-boggling questions like, Paano po ba maging artista? (Translation: How do I become an actor?)

There is no single and convincing way to answer that question. It would be easy to say that for some strange reason every young boy, girl and everything else in between wants to enter show business. As to why they want to get a taste of that Great Big Spotlight In the Sky aimed at them, the answers you get range from hoping for a better future for his or her family down to being convinced that Divine Destiny has so dictated that stardom is just for the plucking.

Truth be