Italian-Canadian actor Nico Locco, on July 6, detailed the differences in TV and movie productions between the Philippines, the United States, and South Korea.
During the media conference for Viva’s welcome for Nico, he first contrasted the TV and movie production of the Philippines and the U.S. based on the payment.
“Philippines is quite unique– kasi dito an artist is usually paid per day or per film. I think there’s less stress on time–where is as like when I’m in the U.S. I’m paid per the hour, like base rate is $150 US, per hour right.”
He then talked about the pressure on artists when they get paid by the hour versus per day or per project.
“There’s more pressure to get things done because every minute costs more money– in Filipino productions–usually you have an eight-day shoot, so you have to get things done in eight days or ten days for a film.
“That’s there pressure, but in the U.S. its much more contained in the sense like, that its per hour. So, people are working by the minute, and they don’t have time to lose. Kaya it’s usually, one or two takes lang and then move on na.”
He then recalled one of the big-budget projects he worked on in South Korea.
“That’s what I noticed in the U.S. Pero iba talaga sa Korea–I was lucky enough to be in a big box film in South Korea. I was in Seoul, Korea, for two months and kahit maliit ang role ko diyan. I was there in Korea for two months. Amazing! You will do one to two scenes per day. They will start super malayo, tapos they will get closer, closer, closer, hanggang extreme close up ‘yung shot, and that is just the same scene so they just keep on doing paulit-ulit ‘yung scene.”
Nico then highlighted the talent of Pinoy filmmakers and artists despite the lack of budget.
“So it was like, iba talaga kasi, may budget sila so they can spend a whole day or one or two scenes. Pero dito, 25 sequences hanggang 3am. I think, the main difference to conclude your question is, I think, budget constraints, dahil sa budget, the Philippines can’t do that– but we have such talented filmmakers here, and have a talented group of actors and actresses, that’s one thing I’ve noticed. Like in terms of talent, it’s very, comparable sa ibang bansa and sometimes better.”
Nico worked on productions such as Sabado, Culion, Byeonshin, and Love At The End of the World.
