THE PHILIPPINES, APRIL 27, 2012: Madonna Tarrayo, known as the general manager of Straight Shooters Media, Inc. has been named Unitel Productions Inc.’s new president, following the heels of visionary and former Unitel president Tony Gloria.
“I thought long and hard about it for two months,” says Tarrayo about her decision to accept the post of president. She adds that Gloria did not directly ask her to be his successor, so to speak, but that she finally got the “hint” when the subject kept cropping up in their numerous talks.
Tarrayo adds that stepping up as Unitel president entails a lot of challenges. “Tony is a visionary,” she says of the former Unitel president. “I admire his versatility, his passion for reading, and I am honored to have shared those passions while working with him for 18 years.”
“My management style is collaborative,” she shares. “That’s why, during the first few weeks when I was president, I was busy meeting with the various departments so I could learn about their thoughts and concerns.”
For now, one of the immediate challenges for Unitel is to up the ante of Philippine production and create awareness that Philippine production will soon be at par with others in the region, especially when it comes to branded entertainment and viral. “The difficulty is fitting everything in a budget, which Thailand does very well,” Tarrayo says. But Tarrayo believes that it can be done, given the Pinoy’s inherent creativity. “We have so much talent here,” she shares. “We’ve done branded entertainment for Nestlé’s 100 years/centennial campaign, and virals for Nike—through O&M—where we featured the basketball players from ADMU and DLSU. We did the same for Alaska, too.”
Taking up even more space in Tarrayo’s already full plate of responsibilities is the revival of the Commercial Production Houses Group (CPHG), which has been “absent for six years”, and the ongoing production of Unitel’s first romantic musical comedy, I Do Bidoo Bidoo, which Tarrayo likens to the hit romantic musical comedy flick Mamma Mia. “We’re featuring 17 songs of the APO Hiking Society,” she proudly beams, “and we have Gary V, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Sam Concepcion, and other singers/actors starring in it.” The film, directed by Chris Martinez is slated for an August release.
“We also have Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang (The Tales of Grandmother Basyang) in the pipeline,” adds Tarrayo. “Unitel’s aim is to release two to three films a year.”
