The journey officially started in 1997 when he joined a scriptwriting workshop during his junior year in college. A few lucky workshoppers which included him was invited to write for the entertainment section of a popular newspaper. Royce couldn't believe his luck and together with a writer-friend went scurrying across the city to hound celebrities and showbiz honchos, hoping to get an interview. It was torture but exhilarating at the same time. The experience gave Royce a strong foundation on which his writing career would depend: competent writing skills and the right attitude.
Not wasting precious time, Royce also trained with the creative development group of a major broadcasting company. There he learned how to effectively craft stories both for the TV and the big screen. In addition he also learned the fundamentals of TV directing from a legend in the local TV circuit. Apparently, he impressed the workshop director and he was endorsed to the TV division of the media giant. But Royce graciously declined because he wanted to finish his studies first. He was majoring in History at the country’s premier university and his thesis professor was ceaselessly harassing him to finish his piece on institutional history.
Then the gods decided to give this lad a break in the third quarter of 1998. A respected figure in the filmmaking industry opened the door of a day-time TV drama series to new blood. Soon, Royce was brainstorming with a pool of scriptwriters and taking hard-hitting criticisms from his peers. Not to be outdone, he took potshots on their concepts too. But it was all good. Every week, they produced stories that captured the audience's emotions and a lion's share of the ratings.
At the same time, Royce started writing features and news articles for a start-up publication catering to the transport industry. There he learned the ropes of publication from conceptualization to layout design and printing to the final distribution. Still itching to write more, he took part-time jobs as copywriter for local advertising firms, thanks to the network of writer-friends and contacts he has built over the years. He discovered that he had a knack for populism which played to his advantage while racking his brain coming up with witty copy for advertising campaigns. Of course, it helped that an account executive with dripping mascara kept looking over his shoulder.
It was at the beginning of this millennium when the call of working abroad came. And it came from thousands of miles away: in far-flung Saudi Arabia. Imagine that. The Filipino Creative Director of the regional affiliate of a multinational advertising network took interest and invited him to work as a Copywriter. Royce just couldn’t pass up the opportunity and later found himself in a cross-cultural creative team working for prestigious local and international brands. He never learned a single complete sentence in Arabic though, except for “mafi mooshkila” which means “no problem”—a phrase which Royce found handy when confronted by an irate client asking for concept revision.
He finished his 2-year contract and decided to return to Manila. While he had a wonderful time screaming and laughing with the Saudi team, he missed his family too much to renew his Saudi contract. This and the fact that his 75-year old father was ailing were enough reasons to pack his bags and head home.
Upon arrival, things started to pick up speed again when Royce’s former publisher hired him as the new Editor-In-Chief. True to his form, Royce implemented reforms in the publication which included a fresh format for the paper to cater to a wider metropolitan audience. A new player in the general interest genre was born with a young voice from its pool of writers and an energetic marketing team to provide sales revenue. If you ask Royce, it was the camaraderie among his co-workers that awed him to no end. Of course, this could have been just the beer talking. The small booze joint nearby provided them the much needed respite from the daily grind.
2004 marked the year of Royce’s return to TV. Opting to stay away from the warring media giants, he found a promising production house playing blocktimer for a dynamic TV network. There he worked as a writer/researcher for a telemagazine show which featured beauty queens traveling to various tourist destinations in the country. Royce had a blast creating a 1-hour show every week because this was the first time he got involved in the production aspect. Mornings were spent conceptualizing scripts. In the afternoons, he was making calls to ensure every part of the production was in synch. During the evenings, he’d be taking a cup of coffee to a rotund guy at the editing room who swears on his dog’s grave that he works better with his daily dose of caffeine. Why not on your mother’s grave, I asked once and froze. He fiercely looked at me and went back to sipping.
All the while, Royce was deep into developing concepts for the big screen which he will readily admit is his lifelong dream. He is not entirely new to this though. Back in 2002, he was one of the grand finalists of a popular scriptwriting contest sponsored by a major film outfit. His script entitled “TORETE”, in the guise of a lovestory, is a searing look at teenage life set in the shady quarters of the city. Similar stories have already been filmed but nothing comes even close to the dark yet comic voice that only Royce can provide. But this writer is not in a hurry. He is bidding his time. He is polishing his concepts. As they always say, “Patience is a virtue”—an apt antidote to his favorite cliché, “Fortune favors the bold”.
Currently, Royce is awaiting a good offer from an established media or advertising company anywhere in the Southeast or East Asia region (possibly in Europe or US too). He hopes to become a part of a team again where he can stretch his creative muscles. With his many talents, he envisions a life-time career (God-willing) in a company that rewards good teamwork and invaluable individual contribution.
And so while waiting for another chapter in his professional writing career, the idea of going freelance struck him one day. Culling from his myriad of experiences from a decade of writing, he decided to offer his talents to business establishments or individuals in need of writing solutions. In this media-frenzy world, words—turned into selling concepts—continue to affect people in their daily activities. Whether it’s a simple act of buying a soda or the complicated merging of two competing companies, the influence of the written word has its indelible mark. We are, after all, verbal animals.
