THE PHILIPPINES, DECEMBER 7, 2011: A new company officially launching tonight at M Cafe is bent on shaking up the production scene. The seasoned professionals behind it – creative minds, producers, and directors – are all committed not on just giving the best work but on giving back and attracting more projects to the country.
Welcome the gung ho team of !Gung Ho Films (not to be confused with China’s Gung-Ho Films), backed by years of experience and driven to put the Philippines back on the map for creative talent, shooting locations, and technology.
“We are trying to be more streamlined, to do things better,” said one of !Gung Ho’s in-house directors, Paolo Dy, about the goals of the newly formed company. “We all start out bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, wanting to make changes,” added Lizanne Padilla-Alcazaren, managing director of !Gung Ho. “We’ve been there, done that, and we know what’s missing. And we’re committed to fill that void.”
One of their priorities is to bring the spark back to the country. “There was a time when Hong Kong and Japan and Indonesia, everybody, came here to shoot. And now they’re all leaving. Why?” asked Padilla-Alcazaren.
“What I think is, we did not improve production wise and we don’t know how to please regional clients and sell ourselves to them,” Cholo Laurel put in. But !Gung Ho is out to change all that. “If we sell ourselves to the region, they will probably bite because we are very competitive. Magaling tayo eh (We’re very good). We just got complacent.”
!Gung Ho also operates on a “Clean, Lean, Mean, and Green” philosophy, as they bat for transparency, a simplified process, a team that is passionate in all endeavors, and a hundred tree saplings for every million they make. That is a promise.
It may sound cheesy and “Miss Universe”-like, as Padilla-Alcazaren put it, but it’s all for the country. And the !Gung Ho team is ready and gung ho for the realization of these goals.
