Gaya sa Pelikula latest in a trend of web series

AFTER the success of several “boys love” series, Globe Studios is also taking a stab at a genre that is gaining popularity in the country with Gaya sa Pelikula, an eight episode web series that chronicles the love story of schoolmates turned housemates.

According to the Urban Dictionary, “Boys love is the common term used by the publishing industry to categorize works focusing on male/male relationships marketed at women.” The term and its abbreviation BL are now being used to describe a wide variety of work in all media including anime and manga, novels and fan fiction, and live-action web shows.

Gaya sa Pelikula is written by spoken word poet and writer Juan Miguel Severo who took his college experiences and turned them into a show.

“I realized that this story has been inside for such a long time, waiting to get out. I think I felt then that no one would do a story or no one would listen to a story such as this,” Mr. Severo told reporters in the vernacular during a digital press conference on Sept. 23.

Gaya sa Pelikula, directed by JP Habac, revolves around Karl (Ian Pangilinan), an introverted  19-year-old architecture student in the middle of an identity crisis, and Vlad (Paolo Pangilinan), a schoolmate on the run from his own family. Karl and Vlad meet and become housemates over the semestral break where they learn more about each other and about themselves.

The show is the prequel to the unproduced teleplays Mr. Severo has uploaded on Wattpad, a website for writers.

Gaya sa Pelikula follows several BL shows which have been shown online in the Philippines. The trend arguably took off in the country with the Thai show, 2gether The Series. In July, local production company IdeaFirst uploaded its Gameboys series, which found success not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world. Meanwhile, online streaming service iflix also took a stab at the BL genre in September with My Gear Your Gown, an original web series produced by WeTV. (Read more about Gameboy and My Gear Your Gown here: https://www.bworldonline.com/pinoy-web-series-on-gay-romance-finds-an-audience-during-the-pandemic/; https://www.bworldonline.com/iflix-banking-on-popularity-of-same-sex-love-stories-with-my-gear-your-gown/)

The current popularity of BL is widely considered a win for representation for the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender, queer, intersex, asexual, etc) community which has struggled to get their stories told properly in entertainment.

BL as an entertainment genre, though niche, was first introduced in Japan and was typically created by women for women, although it has also found popularity among LGBTQ groups for its portrayal of same-sex love stories.

Mr. Severo noted that he has heard criticism that since he is a gay man, his show isn’t BL.

“I mean no disrespect to female writers [of BL] but some people are saying that this [show] can’t be called BL because it’s written by a gay man. So I’m like, ‘if you don’t want to call it BL, then I’m going to call it a romantic comedy,’ but for me we should be open to revisions a genre may go through,” he said.

Such criticism notwithstanding, Mr. Severo said that the popularity of BL is a right move towards representation in entertainment.

“Now, representation of gays, at least prior to the surge of BLs in the Philippines, is very lacking. That’s why I guess, that’s the importance of [BL shows]. The surge of queer content right now is good because the more you see two men loving each other, the more we see more queer people out there, the less people will be prejudiced and hateful of them because they will be seen as normal,” he said.

Mr. Severo said that Mr. Habac, who was his friend since college, had been witness to some of the “cinematic moments” of his college life which made him a great fit to direct the show.

Globe Studios and Mr. Severo previously worked on Hintayan ng Langit (2018), a Cinemalaya entry directed by Dan Villegas, and Mr. Severo said that he chose to pitch the series to Globe Studios because he had a very good working experience in 2018.

The series also serves as a battlecry for the LGBTQIA+ community to “take back our stories,” said Mr. Severo.

He explained that the series isn’t only about his or Mr. Habac’s experiences growing up as gay men, but that they want their audiences, especially the younger LGBTQIA+ audience, to see that these are things they can do: they can pursue love, they can pursue the kind of life they want to live.

“If there’s a bit of sadness with me and JP [when it came to this series] it’s that there are many scenes here we wish could’ve happened or we could’ve done if only we weren’t afraid,” he said.

Gaya sa Pelikula’s first episode is now viewable on Globe Studios’ YouTube page and has had more than 340,000 views as of publication since being uploaded on Sept. 25. — Zsarlene B. Chua

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