Realiti's Nickson: How his story came about

"Why was Nickson kicked out? To prove the point that gays can't be on reality TV? That's tragic isn't it?"

That's what Karin wrote below, as a comment to episode 8 of Realiti. And yes, I agree that if that was the point, then it would be extremely tragic. But, of course, that wasn't really the point we were trying to make.

(I was going to reply to this in a comment, but then realised that it would have taken up a little bit too much space. And everything I write below is from my vague and fuzzy memory. Ping might contradict what I have here, and if he does, I'll edit this post to accommodate his comments.)

First of all, the idea of Nickson as an effeminate character was Ping's from the very beginning. He felt that people would like watching him, and I think the original preview audience feedback supported it. People like a campish character who bitches about everything and generally acts silly.

I personally didn't like that we had to resort to that kind of humour to reach an audience. It's a cheap shot, and because we're doing it over and over again, it's a bucket-load of cheap shots. Like buckshot made of rock salt or something. Not difficult to get hold of, and leaves a funny taste in the mouth. On the other hand, there were real-life people who fitted the mould (Adam of Malaysian Idol 2, for example; or Bob from Akademi Fantasia), so it wasn't really that far of a stretch to put them in.

Never mind, I said. What's the story? What is it about them that will change throughout the series? I don't remember there being any doubt that we would be tackling Nickson's effeminity (is there such a word), one way or the other. Exactly what, we debated upon that.

One choice would be to have people insisting that he be more manly, that he stop being so soft. This is exactly what happened to Adam of MI2. Judges kept telling him to firm up, add a little masculinity to his performance. I always wondered, "Why?". The core of every performance is honesty, and if somebody feels a fake in what they do, then I don't think they do so well. So, I thought this would be an interesting dilemma.

The other choice was to actually step up and make Nickson gay. If we did that, the dilemma would be different. He would have had more to lose. Can an openly gay character win votes on a reality show? Maybe, maybe not. There certainly would be controversy, but I think there have been plenty of Malaysian artists who have that implicit lifestyle. So being gay, in itself, may not cause that many problems.

But what if his fanbase were primarily young, teenage girls? How would that play out? As I asked, what if Daniel of MI2 had told all his teeny-bopping pink-clad hyperactive female fans, "sorry girls, I'm more interested in guys". I think he would alienate his core base, and lose votes.

Of course, it doesn't have to be sexual orientation. In fact, we put Amir through a similar sort of wringer with all the accusations of him being involved with Baby. But the big difference is, Amir doesn't choose which way to go. With Nickson, we tried to put it at his feet. Make a choice: Deny your close relationship with Calvin, or lose your chance to win Malaysian Star.

(Incidentally, Karin, it is this element of choice that is important in storytelling. Remember, Raz or David said that you shouldn't have an Act of God as a key plot element? It should be a choice. And it can't be an easy choice. That's what I like about the Burn/Melody storyline in episode 7. After Mac discovers the drugs, everything that happens to them is a result of choices made. I think that the Nickson story in episode 8 lacks that build-up.)

Despite what you may read into what I've said above, I need to make one thing clear: We were NOT trying to tackle homosexuality as an issue. We were trying to tell a story, and those issues happened to be the mechanisms to tell that story. We were certainly not trying to say whether it's right or wrong.

If we had Nickson admit his relationship with Calvin, and then carry on to get the votes, then there wouldn't be a dilemma. He wouldn't have lost anything. It would have been a bad story.

(Myself, I feel that a personal lifestyle choice is... well, personal. As in, not anybody elses business.)

Labels: realiti, tv

Realiti - Episode 8 notes

We're heading to the final stretch now. My feeling is that the fan-base is growing, which is good but it's unfortunate there's only two episodes left after this. I have no idea if there will be a second season, you have to ask 8TV about that.
If you missed it on Sunday, say thanks to YouTube: YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

• When I wrote this, I mainly dealt with the Burn storyline and the broad aspects of the Nickson story. There also was a Baby story which got shunted into the next episode. Anyway, here is the script.


• I'm not entirely happy with this episode. The Burn storyline is okay, but the Nickson and the Amir stories don't feel so natural. I wish now I had spent more time on those.


• For completeness, based on the poll for episode 7 that I posted earlier in this blog, Nickson would have been kicked out, Amir would have come out top, and Carmen Soo would have had a million-dollar recording contract.


• A lot of stories got moved around between episodes 8 and 9 (and maybe 7 too). Not enough time, and because I wrote too much anyway. This is why there might be some scenes in the script that you don't see on the screen.


• The opening scene, where Burn gets recognised by a VCD seller, was initially meant to be my humourous take on how Burn's life can never be the same now he's been on TV. Imagine getting sold a VCD on Petaling Street by Daniel. Then, somehow, the idea that grew into Burn betting on himself. I thought that Burn would have too much pride to want to rejoin this dumb competition. But when there's money on the table...


• The ringtone that interrupts Joe's work in the beginning wasn't as cheesy as I had imagined it. I wanted a monotone version 'All By Myself' (matching Melody's original song in the last showdown). Like this one. And then that song changed. Not that it was my idea to do so.


• Not once, not twice, but... many, many times, Chelsia has accused me of purposely putting her in a coma so that I didn't have to write dialogue for her to act to. "You made me lie in a hospital bed, what kind of acting can I do with that?!!". Hey, don't blame the writer, I go where the story flows, babe. (Now I'm going to get killed for calling her 'babe'...)


• I hope I didn't go too overboard with Jay in this episode. He really comes across as being a bad guy, even though Naz puts sincerity in the role.






• The bit where Mac tells Burn that David has problem paying the bills is pretty clumsy exposition. Sometimes you just want to get the facts out, so you write straight dialogue that says "He's got problems paying the bills". The only reason you might have noticed this is because you get focussed on Mac and Burn arguing on Burn rejoining the competition.


• How do I write scenes in Hokkien? I don't. I write in English, somebody else translates. (Not sure who, Douglas Lim maybe.)


• Ping regretted not having more interaction scenes between the students. In one way I agree, because those scenes can be a lot of fun - a lot of one-liners, very fast. But if the stories are good enough on their own...?


• The whole Amir/Baby-buys-Harry Potter-for-Fazrina came from Ping. It's meant to bring Amir and Baby closer together. And for a chance for Dayang to get jealous. Because Lydia playing jealous looks scarily natural. Which I like, of course.


• "Cakap dari hati". I didn't remember I put this in originally, but it's one of the things I say a lot: "Act from the heart". Now I think about it, I realise it's something that permeates all three storylines in this episode - I didn't even mean it to be this way. Sometimes the story tells you more about the writer than the story itself.


• If you go back throughout my history with Popiah Pictures, you'll notice that the shows never have good fathers in them. It's mostly either fathers who cheat or fathers who are abusive. At best, it's fathers who abandon their families. However, there was a script I did for him for an abandoned series, where a father and a daughter learned to reconcile with one another. Probably why that series was abandoned, neh?


• There's a quick bit on TV when Juliana is wearing a red dress. Mmm.


• Baby gives Amir a guitar pick. Hopefully you all with long memories will think back to when Dayang gave Amir guitar strings (back in episode 1) to show him how much she cared for him.


• I screwed up somewhere on the Baby dialogue when she's confronted by the press about her relationship with Baby. As it is, it's not clear whether she's talking about Amir or whether she thinks the idea of her having a relationship during the competition is just silly. She should avoided all doubt and said: "You ingat aku dengan Amir? Please-lah - aku pun ada standard, tahu."


• And then just before Baby goes up to perform, she can talk to Amir. "Aku nervouslah" "Baby jangan gementar. Baby boleh beri persembahan yang hebat." "Thanks." "Baby ada standard, kan?"





• The songs sung on tonight's episode: Meant to Be by Douglas Lim and Angel Wong (Baby); Khayalan by VE (Burn); Venusia by OAG (Amir); Katakan Saja by Ferhad (Nickson).


• Amir sings exactly the same song he did in the last showdown (in fact, he sings the first verse EXACTLY the same - like it's recorded or something...). I think this wouldn't have been allowed. I wonder if it's because Ping and I weren't sure exactly when he was going to get eliminated, that Azizan didn't have enough songs prepared.


• That intro to Burn's song - pretty cool cinematography. In fact, pretty cool performance all throughout.


• Don't like the laughing and booing for Nickson's and Amir's performance. A bit too loud and too much.


• The way Nickson reveals his love for Calvin on national TV was debated between me and Ping. I wanted Nickson to pull Calvin up on stage. And then just pull him. Ping showed his quiet disagreement by saying, "You're joking, right?!! Tell me you're just playing with me". Sometimes I know when to stop arguing.


• Incidentally, Ahmad Izham Omar co-wrote Katakan Saja. (Izham is Chief Operating Officer/Big Boss for 8TV.)


• My original version of Nickson's confrontation with his dad was a lot harsher. I much prefer my version over what eventually was shown.

Realiti. 10pm Sundays on 8TV, starring Azizan Nin, Ashraf Sinclair, Melissa Maureen, Alvin Wong, Chelsia Ng, Radhi Khalid. With Nazrudin Rahman, Juliana Ibrahim, Kee Thuan Chye, Gambit, Reefa, Ian Ng, Wong Yok Kim, Lydia Ibtisam, Nell Ng, Cheyenne Stutzriem, Aishah Sinclair. Special appearances by Fat Fabes, Carmen Soo and Fly Guy. What would you do to become a star?

Labels: realiti, tv

New and good stuff on TV these days

That time of the year again when I talk about new television shows. What's interesting is that every year, the way I source these shows gets a little more sophisticated. At this point in time, practically all the television I watch (including Malaysian shows) comes across the Internet.

What's changed this year is that it's even easier than before to do this. It's now possible to set up your PC to automagically download shows as soon as they are available, and you can watch it at your leisure, whenever you want, (and if you're using a laptop) wherever you want. It's kind of like Astro Max except... better.

Even if you don't want to do this, you can pretty much watch everything directly off the net. The first three shows listed below have the latest episodes available on the official websites, Battlestar Galactica can be bought off iTunes (if you can get a bloomin' account with them!), and the last one has episodes on YouTube.

Let's face it, TV won't be TV anymore. It'll be anytime, anywhere via the 'net.

Anyway, what's on that's new and good these days?

• Heroes: Best US show debuting this year. In my Humble Opinion (tm), of course. If I say that it's about a disprate group of people who each discover they have special abilities and that they try to come to grips with newfound talents while saving the world... you might think, ho-hum. So what. But it's good. Great story-telling, good characters, a true ensemble piece. Each episode has seven disprate storylines to follow, and yet it doesn't confuse. Tremendously engaging. You've got to watch it to get what I mean.


• Friday Night Lights: Based on the book and the film of the same name, it focusses on a head coach of a high school American football team and his problems in trying to mould them into a team of winners. The thing is, this team is all that the town has, and everybody invests a great deal of hope and emotion in it. It's shot in a really nice shaky-cam, docu-style way, and the acting and dialogue sound completely natural and unforced. Even if you don't like American Football (I don't), it's worth a look.


• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Aaron Sorkin's back, baby, and he's still on form. The creator of the West Wing has returned to network television which so cruelly spurned him three years ago with a show about - wait for it - network television. It's based around a live comedy show, something like Saturday Night Live, except that it runs on Friday nights, and stars Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry (better here than in Friends, I reckon). Only unfortunate thing in real life, the ratings aren't so hot, and it may not be around past December.


• Battlestar Galactica: Yeah, baby. Season three is back with a bang. It starts off with the humans taking the battle to the cylons the only way they can - using hit-and-run tactics, inflicting maximum damage and carnage to high profile targets. Like terrorists. The cylons, on the other hand, impose martial law and use torture and severe punishment to try and keep order. Like certain present-day governments I can think of. Edgy and brave, this science fiction show debates present-day issues more effectively than any other drama on television. I've just watched episode 2, and my jaw is still hanging from what I saw happen in the end. (Also, Grace Park in a flight suit is... erm... nice.)


• Veronica Mars: Neptune's favourite chirpy-yet-noirish amateur detective is back for a third season, and she's still pretty chirpy and noirish, if a little more grown up. As if having your best friend murdered and then later, thinking your dad got blown up isn't enough to prematurely age most people. The creators are trying to move the show to a more adult level by placing Veronica in college, and tackling student rape as a storyline. And you know what? It kinda still works. Veronica may be Mars to you, but she Rocks for me.


• Realiti: Of course I had to mention this. I think it's the best locally produced thing on television this year. If anyone has seen better, tell me. But if you say Gol & Gincu - I don't think so. And I'm not just being biased - I wrote an episode for that too, you know.

Labels: tv

Comments on comments

Wow, didn't expect there to be so many comments to Episode 7. Of course I'm pleased (my baby, my pleasure, naturally), but as you can see, I haven't designed the website to cater to that much feedback. Gets a little messy, like graffitti. Anyway, here are some thoughts:

• Before episode 7 aired, everybody (well, 36% of you) thought Baby was going to get the least votes. It could have been because of Ping's cunning editing of the 'Minggu Depan...' segment which showed Baby not performing in the Showdown. Or it could have been because y'all thought she couldn't sing. After the show aired, I put up another poll, and found out that 16% of you would have voted for her anyway and that she would have still stayed in the competition. This all proves one thing: Microskirts mean votes.


• Nickson, on the other hand, has pulled in no votes in the poll. NO VOTES. Tu lah. Go make up your own lines some more. We now know two things: He isn't as pretty as Melissa Maureen, and songs by VE aren't that popular.


• Okay, Melissa, I get it. Dzof's website not a trendy place to hang out and chat with people. We can't all have pretty blogs with neato features like message boards, and pretty pictures of oneself, you know. (Actually, I will be watching Ping shooting Juliana next Thursday [erm... hari ketiga Raya, if the anak bulan behaves himself]. Pick up the phone, call one of the three of us, and bring kuih raya banyak-banyak. You too Alvin, but since you have no kuih raya, you're lower on the priority list.)


• Alvin, believe or not, I happen to have a photo of that whiteboard. Look there -->


• Just say this one more time, Baby's story so far: A long time ago, Baby had a secret affair with one of the current sponsors, which produced a love child. Now somebody's blackmailing her for money. When the police tried to trap the blackmailer, he outwitted them, knocked Baby on the noggin and left her to decompose in a trunk of a car. Mac shouted at her from the outside and patiently waited for police to bring a crowbar to open the trunk. The thought of breaking the car window and reaching over to the boot latch under the steering wheel eluded Malaysia's Finest imaginations, of course. Baby naturally is extremely stressed about this, but she wants to carry on with the show, and now sees Amir as a friend in need and indeed - something that Amir's girlfriend/fiance, Dayang, is not happy about. Can't figure out why.


• Just to make this clear: From now to episode 10, we will have showdowns, and the one with the lowest votes will be eliminated. Of course, those who saw "Minggu Depan..." know that Burn will be back, so 'eliminated' obviously has a rubber-bandy, stretchy quality to it. I hope this doesn't get people too upset. Watch and be entertained.


• I promise (promise!) you all that if the series ever gets a VCD/DVD release, the first thing I'll be nagging Ping to do is to redo the singing, so we get top quality vocals throughout. Not that I think I'll have that much of an impact, but he'll want to redo the audio anyway (for technical reasons), so I'll be starting the argument with "since you're re-recording the sound...".

Okay. That's it. Don't know what else to write.

Realiti - Episode 7 notes

So, finally, the first elimination episode. This episode is special because I wrote it, and because it aired so close to my birthday - and because it's actually pretty good. Or at least, I think so. Of course, I am biased and am watching it with a very refracted sense of criticality, but I really do think it works as an episode. Of course, anybody out there who watched it and thought it sucked, I apologise profusely. But if any of you liked it - cool.

Missed it? Don't fret, say thanks to You Tube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

• Because it's my episode, here's the script.


• Finally, the first elimination episode. It's taken so long to get here just because we love all our characters and didn't want them to disappear so early. We actually spent a fair amount of time trying to decide who would be eliminated when, and were changing it around even during the episode 9/episode 10 drafts. And the winner? Heck, there were three names in the air up to the very end. The rule of thumb is this: if a character still has a story to tell, he/she doesn't get eliminated. Or not really eliminated anyway, as the "Next Week..." clips demonstrate this week.


• Talking about the "Next Week..." clips, I feel that it spoils the surprises. My advice is to not watch it for the next few episodes.


• Notice how Baby's wound shifts from the center of her head to the side. And then later on disappears. This indeed is the magic of television.


• There are some problems in timing. When exactly is the showdown? Baby says it's in two more days. The next day, both Juliana and Mac say that it's in two more days. What they obviously mean, because the showdown is in the evening, they have two more days to prepare. Anyway, when they say "two days", what they mean is "tomorrow".


• I wish I had written a rehearsal scene for them, but this episode has so much story in it, there isn't really much space left for anything else. The dialogue that Mac has just before the show was initially meant to be during rehearsals, but it's all talk and no sing.


• Early on in the episode, as they are meeting the fans, Nickson says something like, "ikan kat pasar tu kan, dia potong dengan laser, tahu", which is definitely not something I had written. That's Alvin for you. Ad-libber. Scene-stealer.


• In the original draft, Burn palms the drugs when Mac barges into the bathroom. Mac then grabs hold of Burn's wrist, not Melody's. I still prefer the original version. But because I don't have the word 'Producer' next to my name, they went with the other one.


• I'm actually quite happy with how the Nickson storyline works in this episode. It's not so direct about Nickson's gayness, but I hope that it's clear that that is one of the sticking points in his relationship with his father. Anyway, it's a lot more obvious next episode.


• I like the scene where Mac, Jay and David argue about whether Melody should stay in. First draft by me, and then lots of rewrites, and Ping had a strong hand in the final version, I think. Does David want Melody to stay in because it's what's is best for her? I tried to at least make you believe that he thinks he's doing the right thing.





• The scene on the roof: classic. I have no idea whether it was Ping or me who first came up with it, but it's the big scene I was waiting to write. I'm going to say it was my idea, and that I set it on the roof. It's a classic love scene where two people say they love each other, without actually using those words.


• It's one of those few scenes that didn't actually change very much from the first to the final draft. Ironically, Ping changed the scene because it was too long at the beginning. (And maybe he thought the dialogue sucked, but he didn't really say that, and I don't think that was the case either.) It ended up running a little longer, split up across two scenes.


• The line about the Twin Towers? Originally came from Ping. It's okay to use cheese if you point out it's very Drama Minggu Ini-ish in the dialogue. And when you can get a rooftop with the Twin Towers in the background. It has my blessings anyway, and I edited to keep it in with full gusto. And relish.


• One thing that did change for the rooftop scene was the song that Melody sings. Originally it was All By Myself, and I wrote the dialogue so that the lyrics really fit in with what Melody wanted to say ("Hard to be sure / Sometimes I feel so insecure / And love so distant and obscure / Remains the cure"). When Ping switched songs, he paid scant attention to the words. Who can blame him, he's just the director. I pointed this out to him, but he didn't feel moved enough by my impassionate plea to change it back. Gah. Producers.


• You do realise that all the songs the kids perform are by local artists? The simple reason is because the license to use is much cheaper than for foreign artists. I did a fair amount of research, trying to get just the right song to fit a scene, and all of it - all of it - got thrown down the drain.


• SMS competition time: SMS 'real' to 33838 for a chance to win Swatch watches and a Phil Collins CD.


• The Jay/Amir scene is really long, and surprisingly holds up, I think. Basically, long scenes with long dialogue is Dzof, shorter scenes are from Ping. He says the actors get angry with me because my dialogue so tough to say. I like the West Wing and am living proof that without skill, wordy dialogue comes out less clever, and more difficult.


• A lot of the stage preparation shots came from season 2 Malaysian Idol grand final in Genting.


• I think that in one of my earlier drafts, the kids have to force their way through a swathe of fans, and we have Burn and Amir fans fighting each other. This boils over to Burn and Amir actually fighting themselves. But it's out, probably because of budget and because it's not directly relevant to the story.





• "Ingat lirik, ya Burn" - I don't remember writing it, but it's in one of my early drafts, so it must have been my line. It gets confusing sometimes remembering which work Ping did and which I did. I want the credit, but TV writing so much a collaboration. Even the actors ad-lib a lot of the time. At the end of the day, it's a huge messy ramli-burger like thing that you hope is still edible despite the irritating undigestible bits in them.


• Aishah Sinclair (Ashraf's sister) is the host for the showdown. The judges are Fat Fabes, Carmen Soo and Fly Guy. I had a chance to watch the Carmen Soo shoot, but somebody forced me to go floating in the Klang harbour instead. (He obviously isn't a fan of Carmen Soo.)


• Songs this week: Baby by Douglas Lim (specially written for Baby), Detik Bersamamu by VE (Nickson), Venusia by OAG (Amir), Ratu Hati by Innuendo (Melody), Tiada Lagi Cinta by Ruffedge (Burn).


• The thing is, I have absolutely no idea how the kids will sing when I write the script. So, I put in the judges to make comments, so you'd have a clue of how well or badly they perform. After that, it's out of my hands, baby. Pun intended.


• One thing I almost forgot: Ping and I had a loooong discussion/argument about how Burn was going to exit the studio. I originally had him storming out before the announcer finished speaking, and then he got violent in the lobby, punching out Mac, and ended up on the back of a big black motorbike driven by Joe. And then, in the next draft, I had him punching out David. And then Amir. And then Mac again (I think). And the bike turned into a car. But, all the while, Ping kept cutting all the good stuff now, so all you get is Burn pushing away the camera in disgust. I still think a good fight would have been better.


• So Melody has a stash of drugs in her diary, and a big one at that. I liked the idea that something so personal, would also be where she hid her sin. Makes you think again why she was angry when Burn read her diary in episode 5.

Realiti. 10pm Sundays on 8TV, starring Azizan Nin, Ashraf Sinclair, Melissa Maureen, Alvin Wong, Chelsia Ng, Radhi Khalid. With Nazrudin Rahman, Juliana Ibrahim, Lydia Ibtisam, Nell Ng, Kee Thuan Chye, Cheyenne Stutzriem, Aishah Sinclair. Special appearances by Fat Fabes, Carmen Soo and Fly Guy. What would you do to become a star?

Labels: realiti, tv

Malaysian Star Poll

Yes, I know it's a fictional reality television show, yes I know your votes don't really count, but the question needs to be asked:

Realiti - Episode 6 notes

Sorry this has taken some time, but I shall put the blame squarely on Raz (who had written the episode) because I only got her notes from her today.

Watch before you read, courtest of YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4

Photos courtesy of Popiah Pictures and Chelsia Ng


Notes are by Razlina Ramli. Notes in green by me.

By the way, Raz's employers, 95% Trainings, have a writing workshop this Sunday (15 October 2006) - get in touch with them if you want to know more.

• Well I enjoyed it. There were times I had to remind myself I wrote this piece. Ah… what a nice change from me cringing at the sofa and watching the show from in between my fingers.


• The pace picks up from here to the end of the season, as we're about to hit the elimination stretch of the show. The debate is still a little out I guess on whether we should have kicked out contestants earlier on, since some on the forums are saying, "Eh, how come nobody voted out yet?", but I don't want to have lost characters before we had a chance to tell their stories.


• Melody and Burn’s character have blossomed which is, yeah. When we were at pre, pre- production stages, we weren’t sure with whom Burn should have a relationship with or at least seemingly having a relationship with. A lot of hours debating in a particular coffee shop ensued, with Ping wanted him to go with Baby, Dzof was … can’t remember but I am certain he had a long commentary on who should go with whom and why. So much so, Ping decided it is not working to have all the writers in one sitting because he said we kind of sidetracked from the storylines, sometimes, …Okay so Dzof and I joked a lot because we were looking at our past experiences to see whether the story sticks or was it too incomprehensible. Anyway, I thought it would not be much fun having Burn and Baby together because I imagined Baby would have many of those kinds of friends in the past. Melody provided a much needed stress for Burn because for one, she’s kind of messed up, does not clamour for his undying attention unlike the rest of the fans and she is a chick in trouble. So, that worked out pretty well. Besides, Baby would not have given him a toss.
• Agreed. Although I thought the Melody/Amir combo had a lot of nice possibilities too.


• Speaking of Baby, I like it when she told Amir, “Get out of my sight!” that was fun to write and watch. I like writing such things for her and I like Amir to be the rough diamond type but somehow I didn’t get it out the way I had envisaged him as. Amir seemed a bit lost, which maybe I am not too sure why but maybe Dzof can fill us in as he is always at the shoot. Well, seemingly he is always at the shoot.
• Indeed. I live for the reflected glory that are Malaysian TV stars.


• I kind of like the way Ping had grilled and re-grill me when I was writing this episode. Every time I am pleased with my writing and send him the copy with a glee on my face, he will undoubtedly comeback with remarks such as “..the opening not fast enough-la”or “The middle too slow,..” sometimes I get, “the juicy bits too late it’s about to end already….” That went on for several weeks. It could get quite arghhhh!! But I liked it, it was all worth the anxiety, frustration et el because the end product was fun (to me). In particular I liked the ending, it was fast, lots of going ons and a cliff hanger… although I remembered mine had a car chase…. Yeah when I wrote in Ping did look skeptical that I was turning it into a thriller. The only comment was I thought the police were slow. I mean like the car boot scene, huh? He had to wait? Why not just smash the windscreen and open the boot? Right? I missed something there.
• I was talking to Anne the other day, and she said that she thought the original chase scene was a little bit 24-ish. And out of budget too. What I always say as a writer is just write first, worry about the budget later!


• Dzof thought the ending was a bit ….blah and maybe he said cliché. Okay can’t have everything. But one thing for sure the heat is on.
• Hah. You just wait for the cliff-hanger next week.


• Dayang has more emotions in this one, so does Melody, Burn and Wahida. Amir is kind of Mr. Perfect, I didn’t see the dilemma he was suppose to be in as Ping had wanted in, so maybe that’s the writer’s shortcomings. Other wise it was fun. Okay Dzof now you can say whatever you like. Hahahaha.
• Already have, babe.


• Some thoughts on the Nickson storyline. I swear, this episode's story came out before a similar storyline on Lost (the one where the Korean girl meets that hotel manager). Complete coincidence. I thought I may have came up with it, but a quick search through email shows the first time it's mentioned to me is in script form already. Things get so confusing sometimes. I do remember saying that maybe Nickson should help the girl solve her problem, and in doing so realise that he is in a similar predicament, but it was shortened.


• Talking about short, this episode comes in at under forty minutes, which must be some sort of record for what some call a 1-hour show. As it is, anything over forty four minutes is long, so I'm trying to figure out if anything was cut. There was that bit when Amir goes and visits Baby, and the video goes all slow, six-million dollar man like, but I looked at the script, and I don't think there really was anything cut out.

Realiti. 10pm Sundays on 8TV, starring Azizan Nin, Ashraf Sinclair, Melissa Maureen, Alvin Wong, Chelsia Ng, Radhi Khalid. With Nazrudin Rahman, Juliana Ibrahim, Maria Farida, Lydia Ibtisam, Nell Ng, Reefa, Mazin Siraj. What would you do to become a star?

Labels: realiti, tv

Realiti - Episode 5 notes

A word before I begin this. Despite what some people might think, I am not a producer for Realiti, merely a humble scriptwriter. The real producers are Ping Ho and Anne Low of Popiah Pictures, who do the hard work of coming up with the original idea, figuring out the structure for the whole series, selling it to the studio, finding sponsors, casting the actors, approving locations, directing, and, yes, occasionally writing for the show.

Because I get along with Ping relatively well, we also spend hours in coffee shops throwing ideas at each other, as well as dissecting scripts. Note that he is the one who decides what stays and what goes. On the other hand, I take immense pride in having helped shape a large part of the series. This is, without doubt, the proudest piece of writing work I have ever been involved with. I'm sure it's not the best I can do, but it feels like I'm getting there.

Anyway, as usual, I have spoilers throughout this post. So, if you prefer, you can first watch it on YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

By the way, Melissa has her own Behind-the-Scenes thing for this episode on her blog. Because she doesn't believe in permalinking her posts (WHY?!!), you'll have to scroll down to the post marked 'excess baggage', and then scroll down a little more after the list. In it she talks about wiping her tears and mascara on Amir, sleazy fans and what she thinks of her singing.

• Minggu Lepas..., Azizan reminds us what happened last time round. Aiyo... looks so dramatic, lo. I tried - really tried - not to fall into the whole Drama Minggu Ini mode of storytelling, but it's easy to be melodramatic if the humour doesn't cut it the other way. Must try better next time.


• Ping had the idea of an episode where Baby gets a poison pen letter from the beginning. For Baby, image is everything, so somebody attacking her from that angle would really hurt her. Obviously, the one person who wouldn't really care is Amir, which is one reason we have them interacting later on.


• There was a contestant on Malaysian Idol who received a poison pen letter and I think the title was, "10 Reasons Why ... Should Not Be Malaysian Idol". I can't remember if I told the team this, or if it's just sheer coincidence that Kartini/Ping used practically the same words.


• Incidentally, I find it quite incredible that people would take the time and effort to sit down and compose poison pen letters. Although those on the receiving end say it doesn't affect them, the truth is that it does. In most cases, there is some truth in the letters, albeit a truth that has been twisted into something bitter and unrecognisable. My take on them? Peoples' private lives are their own and just because they're stars, it doesn't mean you have full permission to probe and expose what they want to keep personal.

Photos couresy of Popiah Pictures and Chelsia Ng




• Ah Tak is played by Douglas Lim, who is also responsible for all the music you hear the kids sing on the show. Well, if he hasn't written it, then he's produced it or arranged it.


• Songs sung this week: Back to You by Douglas Lim (Baby); Izinkan by VE (Burn); Higher Deeper by Ferhad (Nickson); Tears and Flowers by Douglas Lim (Melody); and Amir sings a song by John's Mistress (don't know the title). (Thanks to Chelsia and Douglas for this info)


• Okay, this is what I really can't stand. The whole point is that Amir is not comfortable singing in English. So why the hell would he pick an English song to serenade Dayang with? Incidentally, in the script, it just says "Amir serenades Dayang", no song title.


• Heh. I'm pretty sure I came up with the Ramly Burger scene, although originally Joe was involved, and he was teasing Burn about getting the hots for Melody. It turned into this "So, Daddy said, huh?" scene, which is much better. Kudos to Kartini/Ping.


• The Pop TV announcer is basically a tool for exposition, so Juliana really doesn't have much opportunity to shine in this role - but I do think she looks nice in her top.


• Okay, I don't like those banner ads interupting the show, but since it's related to Realiti, I'll forgive it this one time. If you want pictures of the kids on your handphone, send an SMS to 33838, with the message 8TVRC 40609 for Amir, 8TVRC 40611 for Baby, 8TVRC 40612 for Burn, 8TVRC 40610 for Nickson and 8TVRC 40613 for Melody. And, no, I don't get a cut of this.


• In real life, people aren't so rude as to laugh at you when you're not singing well, but this is TV land. Having said that, I personally have stifled huge chuckles when watching some contestants perform. So I'm a bad person, sorry.


• Okay, for all those out there who write 'that girl who plays Baby cannot act-lah' or something similar, you can just watch Melissa's performance in this episode and eat it. I think she's pretty good, and has definitely improved since her debut in Table for Two.





• Something's that surprised me is some reaction out there on Burn and Melody kissing. I don't think it's such a big deal, really. You do know you don't actually see it happen, right? At the moment, this is what we're assuming the censors will accept. If you don't actually see it happen, then it's okay. Anyway, I prefer the anticipation of something happening than the actual seeing.


• Amir's story only works if you believe that he's singing in english because of Dayang. I think I suggested a whole scene where Amir and Dayang are working together, and they confirm their feelings for each other. This got reduced in the episode to where he asks her to help him, but you miss (I feel), Dayang's feelings for him in return.


• Okay, believe it or not, that scene where Burn and Melody play with utensils in the kitchen? I was told that in the original script, it said "Burn and Melody fool around". In my dictionary (and Ping's), "fooling around" means getting hot and heavy, with a lot of clumsy fumbling, but the director for this episode disagreed, I guess...


• "Just because dia pakai sexy, orang kena undi dia, lah". Erm... yah. But overall, I don't really like that scene. It feels too forced. How Baby's plot unfolds was a sticking point of sorts. I think I did suggest that Baby wrote the letters herself (which on hindsight doesn't look like such a bad idea after all), but in the end we went with a fan of Melody's having written it. I'm not really completely satisfied with that, but I guess it's okay.


• On the other hand, the "You read my journal?!!" scene really works.


• We did debate who the different characters would hook up with. And we had all sorts of combinations between Amir/Burn and Melody/Baby. In the end, having Burn go with Melody pretty much forced the Amir/Baby link.

Realiti. 10pm Sundays on 8TV, starring Azizan Nin, Ashraf Sinclair, Melissa Maureen, Alvin Wong, Chelsia Ng, Radhi Khalid. With Nazrudin Rahman, Juliana Ibrahim, Maria Farida, Lydia Ibtisam, Gambit, Kee Thuan Chye, Nell Ng, Cheyenne Stutzriem, Reefa, Aishah Sinclair, Mazin Siraj. Guest appearance by Douglas Lim. What would you do to become a star?

Labels: realiti, tv