So I’ve been working on this new music video right, since we got back last Sunday. It’s a promotional spot for GMA’s new kuwela-novela Marinara. Predictably, the title is a concatenation of the three main characters’ names, i.e., Marie, Ira and Dolfina, all of which are played by the most well-known pair of boobs in the country, Rufa Mae Quinto. Yes, she plays triplets. Or sextuplets, if you want to be really technical about it.
I’ve been watching the rushes for the first couple of episodes and the only thing notable is Rufa Mae Quinto’s bushy eyebrow makeup. Man, it looks like she’s glued toasted caterpillars on there.
The show is sorta like a parody of that other mermaid series Marina, although GMA seems to be going for more of a potpourri of soap cliches here. The spoiled rich girl, the poor girl with the golden heart, the evil aunt/stepmother, the flambouyantly gay sidekick … it’s all here, folks, jump in any time.
I have nothing but disdain for this show and the people who produced it. But here I am working on it anyway (I’ve got a pretty hefty credit card bill coming in a few weeks that’s been keeping me up nights). I hate working for these people, because they pollute the airwaves with copious amounts of candy-coated feces, but if I don’t work for them, I won’t eat. If you don’t sell out, you don’t eat. The freelance life is full of conundrums.
Why is the world like this? Why can’t we choose the projects we want to lend our support to, instead of being forced to accept every job we’re offered because we’re constantly in fear of not getting anything else? Why is selling out the only to make a decent living?
I guess ultimately, the extent by which you sell out is directly equivalent to how much money you can potentially make. So it’s not really a conundrum, it’s more of a, uh, reciprocity I guess.
I don’t hate my job, generally, but I do hate my clients.