Ricky Lee: On rule-breaking, ugly first drafts, and the creative life

A trip to the Writer’s Studio

Photo by Praise Ungson

Writing in the deep

• Scriptwriting is not surface writing. As a writer, you must have empathy for your characters; you must learn to be inside them.

• Ricky explained that before, you can only see the characters being projected on the screen, and from there, you are free to use your imagination to explore other depths behind what you are seeing – surface 2, 3, 4, 5 or so on. Now, you have to deal with multiple scenes being flashed on the screen, and because you are trying to absorb them all, you don’t get to dig deeper with your mind.

• For him, Facebook is 90% trash, 10% gem. You have to wade through the 90% before you get to the 10%. (He also mentioned he don’t usually read the news or watch TV anymore – he prefers FB.)

• You become impatient because you are afraid to miss out. "Noon, hindi kami nagmamadali bago magka-break." The danger right now is that writers can lose their empathy. He clarifies though that he relates with the multi-tasking generation of today, pointing to his habit of being gala. Unlike some of his friends who prefer to concentrate on one project at a time, he works on two or three pieces simultaneously. On a positive note, he doesn’t consider this multi-tasking/tech-saviness as a disadvantage, because though the outputs may not be as deep, they compensate by being wider in scope.

Taking the bite

• “I’m very open to criticism as long as it helps....Reviewers can be very vicious.”

• As viewers, we have the power to freely say all we want, even without the knowledge of what really went into the creation of that movie or book. We can become unfair.

• Ricky no longer reads reviews because he does not learn from them – a hard-earned lesson from years of working in the industry. He said many reviews here in the Philippines are personal attacks on the author and not criticisms on the work itself. At the same time, he values criticism from friends. When he was creating Para kay B (his first novel), he held numerous focus groups to  solicit advices and suggestions from friends. The title was even surveyed among more than a hundred people.

• Many creative juices (katas) can come from buntals (in this context – he refers to redirections he receives from directors, etc.). However, sometimes the result of these buntals can also be trash. But you must still learn to be open to them.

• Asked if he doesn’t feel compromised when something has been changed in what he wrote, he answered “You would not feel compromised if the work becomes better in the process.” (At the same time, he also maintains a level of control on his works by self-publishing his books.)

• Make mistakes so you can become better. “I’m proud to say I have done bad films and I have moved on.”

The creative life

• “Study history, anthrophology, psychology and then on the side, film-making. If you want to write about life, then study about life. The rest are just tools you can learn later on.”

• Don’t follow a formula, show your truth. But learn to vary also, since you’ll still be sticking to a formula if you can keep doing one type/genre/theme.

• There is a gestation period for ideas.

• As an artist, you have to experience full giving. Allow the first draft to be ugly.

• It’s so difficult to start to write so it helps if you have a ritual. (For him, it’s listening to music.)

• As a writer, the doubt never ends. (Yes, even for a seasoned pro like him.)

• Creative works supply the need, not the want. 2 + 2 = 95. Creative people sell emotions. (Example: On that famous "Karen Po" McDo commercial, Ricky said that instead of highlighting the premium quality of the patty, etc., McDo tapped into the Filipino’s sense of family. It emphasizes that not even Alzheimer’s can topple the strength of our relationships. Needless to say, we were in awe after Ricky’s explanation.)

• It’s not how many experiences you have gone through, it’s what you noticed, what you really experienced. You may have gone through rape, drugs and all other crazy stuff, but it would not matter if you did not notice anything. You may just a that home-school-home type of person, but you’ll still have greater leverage if you can notice the little things happening around you, like how your neighbour walks or the bruises on her body.

• The concept of writing what you only know is actually not right – that’s just our conscious brains talking. Writing mainly comes from the heart and from our subconscious.

• If you want to be a writer, cross-over. If you’re a methodical writer, cross-over to the chaotic side. Then come back, and mix your style with what you were able to get.

• Ricky's personal life is his motivation for writing. (He was an orphan who came to Manila with only the clothes and his back and a few pesos from a writing competition he won). He also has his external influences, but he emphasized that internal motivation is more important since external factors can change.

• His comment on the increasing number of people who are publishing their works, blogs, etc. over the Internet? First reaction – it’s actually good. But it’s also bad in a way that because everyone thinks they can do everything, there is no purity or originality anymore. (Ricky may again be applying a form of the Pareto principle in here – because he noted that 10% of these online works can actually be good.)

Lack of originality or colonial mentality?

• The sooner t hat we realize that MMFF is a commercial festival, the better we are.

• There is no such thing as a best film, even in terms of foreign standards. In the end, the ones who are judging are still people. They just give an opinion, but they are not the final say.

• He said other countries are so strong on selling their works that we also tend to follow them. And they can afford to create different, braver contents because they can have a wide market. Even if it’s not well-received in their country, they still have the rest of the world.

• In the Philippines, it often is a ratings game. If the ratings reflect the displeasure of the audience, something gets tweaked in the script. (Funny example: If the ratings drop was cause by John Lloyd’s character being unsympathetic, they edit the script to make him more sympathetic in the next episode. Hearing that makes me appreciate well-made foreign shows like Sherlock Holmes where all episodes for the series is shot before shown on TV.)

• But, even other countries get affected by ratings too. Ricky noted that there are many great foreign shows which are cut-off because they did not pull off enough ratings.

• Regarding our obsession with Koreanovelas? Ricky thinks the “mystery” increases the appeal, since we don’t really know much about the actors, unlike here where the personal lives of the actors can cloud our perception of their shows. "Kaya maraming gimik dito."

• He bemoans that we have great actors like Piolo Pascual, but their calibre is not really showcased since they are limited to certain roles. They just need to be given good materials like the ones given to great actors before.

• Mainstream movies or indie? Ricky said that in the end, it all boils down to whether the film is good or bad. “Kung buhay nga ng iskuwater and pinapakita pero may mga elemento naming hindi totoo. Kesa sa tunay na kuwentuhan ng mga nag-uumpukang teenager.” (Let me translate this into – don’t be such as high-browed snob.)

• Ironically, creative people nowadays have the problem of having complete freedom. Ricky said that often, it’s the struggling that produces the creative work, which is perhaps the reason why we have many great works from the 70s. Today, it’s like swimming in a big, endless ocean with no guideposts. "Mas mahirap maghanap ng boses."

The Voice Philippines

Labels: Stories of Real People, Travels and Events