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A start-up with big ambitions

Inspired by its Thai roots, a new productionshop believes the local scene is ripe for change
 
Few start-ups would themselves the near impossible challenge of tinkering with a market’s tradition, even if it only involves a business culture.
 
Bullet Manila, the newly launched Philippine outpost of Bangkok-based Bullet Production, clearly has other ideas. No task is too big, no challenge insurmountable for the start-up.
 
Its founders, two Philippine directors who have spent years working overseas, are bent on instilling new beliefs and work ethics starting with their new boutique outfit and are hopeful the change they seed will spread further to undo ingrained habits.
 
People investment
Bullet Manila really started over a sushi lunch in Bangkok, then home to directors Robbie Dinglasan and Martin Arnaldo.
 
Dinglasan had lived and worked in Thailand for a time, but was plotting his return to the Philippines, with nothing more concrete than his plans to freelance. Arnaldo, who worked on short films and TVCs in France and the Philippines, was in the meantime cooking up plans to take the Thai production to Manila. As serendipity would have it, the pair lived in the same Bangkok apartment complex, making it easier to drive Bullet’s Philippine debut forward.
 
Over sushi one day, Arnaldo asked Dinglasan: “What can I say to make you move back to Manila?” The latter listened patiently and was struck by one setence: “I want to invest in my people.”
 
As Dinglasan sees it, the country has missed out by not capitalizing on the talent available through investment in HR. “People eventually lose interest and they leave. And there’s nothing wrong with that; I mean, you can always train someone else, but what if that person never left? Can you imagine how good that person could have been?”It’s an argument that resonates with executive producer Angel Ilumin: “I love that (Arnaldo is) an arbiter of change. He’s not afraid to try new things, he is always challenging me,” she said. “It‘s (like working on a) thesis every time. It’s more personal development for me than career advancement.”
 

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Stills from the ‘Righteous Toasted Ginger and Sesame Dressing’ TVC

 
Changing the ‘just’ mentality
One of the reasons Arnaldo signed up with Bullet Thailand was because the country boasts arguably one of the best production qualities in the region. “Not that the Thais are gods, let’s not kid ourselves. For now, nothing beats Thailand.”
 
“For now” being the operative phrase because Arnaldo firmly believes the Philippines can complement, if not challenge, Thailand’s production supremacy in time to come. Doing so starts with one word: pride. The pride Thais have in their work have earned the country an outsized reputation for quality production. 
 
“With the Thais, even the lowest element (in the production process) will give you a feedback and problems are solved very quickly. So shoots finish at 5pm but you do as many frames (as other productions) and you can go have a drink, have dinner, and then go back to work the next day.” 
 
It’s a work ethic all too evident not just in Thailand but much of the region as well. “They never say I’m just a film clapper/loader. They say I AM a film clapper loader,” Dinglasan, noted before he segued into a short tale.
 
“I have a friend from Australia and then this other friend told me, ‘Dude, Iñaki is just a film loader/clapper in Australia.’ So I said, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s the most expensive film loader/clapper in Australia!’ I want that to happen here,” said Dinglasan. “I want people to say, ‘I am good. I am this good, and I want to be better.’”
 
Manila as a production hub
Reflecting Arnaldo’s reasons for returning home, Bullet Manila is all about bringing things back, about drawing more projects to the country. “We want to make Manila the next production hub.”
 
The fledgling production company is open to collaborating with the rest of the market, if not the world to broaden its horizons and create a potentially global market for Philippine production services. It’s first official TVC project is a full-fledged collaborative effort. The spot was fully shot in Manila, color-graded in Paris, and will be aired in the UK. 
 
Arnaldo and Dinglasan, as directors who have been exposed to both local and international projects, know that there is much to learn from overseas but that is not to say the Philippines is lagging in terms of skill level.
 
Ilumin, who Dinglasan has dubbed Bullet Manila’s ‘Alfred’ to Arnaldo’s Batman, takes care of the business end of the company in this crucial start-up period. “Everything is new to us,” Arnaldo admits. As with every start-up, the devil is in the details and the founders are finding themselves absorbed by the minutiae that goes well beyond the usual budgetary concerns that are the lot of most directors.
 
“It’s scary,” Dinglasan admits about the “other side” of the business. But, as collaborations go, they’ve already received sound advice from fellow director Sid Maderazo, managing partner of local production house 88Storey Fims. 
 
Fresh approach
Arnaldo wants to develop and position Bullet as a boutique production house that offers bespoke services based on clients’ needs “We listen to each and every individual. No project will be the same as the other,” he said. Working to this end, Arnaldo believes he can also lift work standards as the founders share their experience, ideas and viewpoints with the future Bullet Manila crew.
 
“Martin is more international, and I’m more regional,” said Dinglasan. He believes their different outlook combined with a desire to share the latest information and techniques will provide a wider perspective in analyzing work, which can only produce a better result at the end of the day. It‘s an approach based on personal experience. 
 
“I always saw my work in a certain way. When I went there (Bangkok), I realized, wow, my work was suddenly so myopic,” Dinglasan candidly admitted.
 
As he sees it, it’s boils down to having a fresh pair of eyes, taking a fresh approach to challenges, Dinglasan used the analogy of tourists taking pictures of local sites with a fresh, different perspective.
 
One critical area he hopes his fresh pair of eyes can spur change is in the working week. He believes local production staff work far too long and should reduce working hours in line with the rest of the region.
 
Shaking up established norms is never easy. But Bullet is hopeful that the combination of Filipino talent and overseas experience can serve as a catalyst of change, a spark that will eventually become a wildfire to ultimately transform the industry.

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