Globalizing Hollywood and the Philippine Entertainment Industry

The Economist hits the proverbial nail on the head, (bold highlights mine)

THE film-awards season, which reaches its tearful climax with the Oscars next week, has long been only loosely related to the film business. Hollywood is dedicated to the art of funnelling teenagers past popcorn stands, not art itself. But this year’s awards are less relevant than ever. The true worth of a film is no longer decided by the crowd that assembles in the Kodak Theatre—or, indeed, by any American. It is decided by youngsters in countries such as Russia, China and Brazil.

Hollywood has always been an international business, but it is becoming dramatically more so. In the past decade total box-office spending has risen by about one-third in North America while more than doubling elsewhere (see chart). Thanks to Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes and “Inception”, Warner Bros made $2.93 billion outside North America last year, smashing the studio’s previous record of $2.24 billion. Falling DVD sales in America, by far the world’s biggest home-entertainment market, mean Hollywood is even more dependent on foreign punters.

Read the rest here

Since I’ve learned about the importance of free markets, I have also veered from watching TV talent competitions or Film awards for the simple reason that I’ve realized that a handful of judges cannot substitute for the real voters—the consumers.

And that’s exactly the message of the Economist.

Where media contests are decided by the subjective preferences of select judges (typically represented here as ‘experts’-yes again modeled after technocratic government), they tend to get politicized, and importantly, overlook discovering talents with immense potentials.

The Philippines has two good examples:

One, our local version of the Oscar Awards, the Metro Manila Film Festival, have been repeatedly plagued by controversies.

I’d prefer to see local production outfits compete with international filmakers for international or even local migrant audiences than have second raters squabble over what I see as “mediocre” titles.

In the food industry, the dominance of Jollibee in the local market and her expansion as an international brand should serve as an example of how local outfits can achieve global competitive standards. If Jollibee can do it, so could other industries like media.

The problem is the dominant filmmakers or media outfits here appear to have either reached their comfort zones or have been operating as political enterprises.

Two, this is also why I’ve cheered for online discovered celebrities such as Ms. Charice Pempengco.

Ms. Pempegco’s early stints with the local TV contests had not borne fruit, instead it took the youtube and foreigners to discover her.

From this, it would seem that either the domestic audience did not appreciate her talents (or her type of music) or that local scouts or judges may have simply discounted her. I would suspect the latter because her overseas success has prompted the local audience to also embrace her.

I would even further my hunch: the reason she has not been recognized early on here is that there appears to be a bias for mestiza-looking with model shaped features for female celebrities (except in comedies). So mainstream talent scouts may have misjudged her from this angle.

Nevertheless the Economist shows how the US film industry has been globalizing.

And it is also likely that local entertainment industry will have to pattern along with the major trend or otherwise get consumed or overwhelmed by fast expanding international players who might likewise tap on the local audience.

As the Economist notes, (bold emphasis mine)

The success of a film outside America is not purely a marketing matter. As foreign box-office sales have become more important, the people who manage international distribution have become more influential, weighing in on “green-light” decisions about which films are made. The studios are careful to seed films with actors, locations and, occasionally, languages that are well-known in target countries.

Things are likely get done a lot differently from now on.

Celebrities of Globalization: Charice Pempengco and Journey’s Arnel Pineda

2 fantastic Filipino international music superstars Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of a pop rock band of the 80s Journey, represent as shining examples one of the miracles of globalization.

Charice Pemepengco (left) and Arnel Pineda (right)

[sorry I am not aware of the billing order for the two celebrities thus made use of family name alphabetical order. Nevertheless portraits from Wikipedia.org]

The stepping stone to newfound stardom for these Filipino artists:

Charice Pempengco, according to Wikipedia.org (bold emphasis mine)

Pempengco made minor appearances on local television shows and commercials, but essentially had fallen off the radar after her stint at Little Big Star. It was not until 2007 that she gained worldwide recognition after an avid supporter started posting a series of her performance videos on YouTube under the username FalseVoice. These videos received over 13 million hits which, according to Reyma Buan-Deveza, makes Pempengco a "YouTube singing sensation"

Arnel Pineda, lead singer of popular 80s rock band Journey, based on the accounts of the mainstay members on this interview:

______________

Arnel Pineda’s biography according to Wikipedia.org here

My observations:

-The recent career success of both Filipino artists has been founded on the crucible of technology, social mobility, and importantly in response to a global audience.

-Both artists have defied the traditional-conventional vertical (organizational) process of discovering talent for the music industry.

In the case of Ms. Pempengco, her seeming unsuccessful debut in the local TV contest (one of the orthodox way of talent scouting) had been representative of the failure of the select judges to appreciate her talents in lieu of the market.

But that didn’t deter her. The viral (word of mouth) ramifications diffused over the web apparently neutralized the rigid and discriminatory screening process that eventually launched her newfound fame.

In short, 13 million hits demolished the subjective opinions of a handpicked few who presupposed ascendancy over the market’s opinion or appreciation over her talents.

Although one might interpret that Ms. Pempengco’s genre of music appear to cater to international audience more than the local ones, which may be partly true, I would suspect more of the rigid screening ‘syndicate’ based process as responsible for missing out in identifying her talent.

After her international success, local outfit have been quick to embrace her.

Of course, her perseverance and creativity had also been instrumental to the advancement of her aspirations.

In the case of Mr. Pineda, while years of exposure may seem to have augmented his recent career glory, the orthodoxy in the artist talent scouting system surely didn’t—as Mr. Pineda’s career didn’t make any significant headway.

Of course, this was not until Journey’s direct discovery through the internet (via Journey’s guitarist Mr. Neal Schon), which serves as a testament to the technology-aided short-circuiting of the archaic agent based process.

While it may be true that Mr. Pineda or Ms. Pempengco’s case could be, for the moment considered as unique, nevertheless, such trends appear on the way to radically alter the conduct of business as manifested in the music industry.

-Lastly, the Pempengco and Pineda ‘rags to riches’ success story appear to be representative of the internationalization or the global integration of the marketplace. In particular, the expanded access to a global pool in the matching of ‘specialized’ talent-to-‘niche’ audiences.

Think of it, if one of the three variables (technology, social mobility, and a global audience) had been encumbered, then the many would not have appreciated the magnificent repertoires provided by these newly discovered highly talented Filipino artists.

In short, the democratization of information (via technology platform) and increasing social mobility appears to have played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the success story for these Filipino celebrities of globalization.

And count me in as a fan of the market elected talents.