Film takes a look behind the scenes of filmmaking

A FILM about the unsung heroes of the film industry is what the Metro Manila Film Festival entry Write About Love is about, according to a production executive. The film explores the often personal journey a writer takes to create a screenplay.

“Since this year we’re celebrating the 100 years of Philippine cinema, the film is a tribute to the writers of the industry,” Vicente “Ting” Nebrida, President of TBA Studios, told BusinessWorld during the film’s premiere on Dec. 2 at Abe Restaurant in SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.

Billed as a romantic-comedy, Write About Love tells the story of two writers — played by Miles Ocampo and Rocco Nacino — who are brought together to rework the script of Just Us, a film about a couple who struggle maintaining their relationship because of personal issues and career choices.

The film is directed by Crisanto B. Aquino who co-wrote the script with Janyx Regalo.

Ms. Ocampo plays a newbie writer who wrote the first draft of Just Us. A hopeless romantic, she writes about two people who try to make their relationship work but studio executives find that her work closely resembles another more popular writer’s work so she needs to rewrite the script with the help of a seasoned (and cynical) writer whose most recent work was a box office hit.

Write About Love is said to bring an intimate look into how scripts are made — the hours spent toiling over words with a deadline looming — and how writers deal with their personal issues while writing their scripts.

And as the writers struggle over the script, the audience also sees the end result — the film Just Us.

“By employing an imaginative movie-within-a-movie storytelling treatment in Write About Love, [Mr.] Aquino has provided a fresh take on how art imitates life or vice versa,” the movie’s press release said, as the writers themselves are living through the same traumas and issues their characters are facing.

The film also stars Yeng Constantino and Joem Bascon as the lead characters of the script in development.

Write About Love opens in cinemas nationwide on Dec. 25. — Zsarlene B. Chua