‘FranSeth’ on living without social media: We can manage

Francine Diaz (left) and Seth Fedelin during the media launch of “Fractured” —DREAMSCAPEPH

For Francine Diaz and Seth Fedelin, maintaining various social media accounts is a requirement for celebrities like them, but it’s also something the two of them can definitely live without.

“If the world would reset right now and be devoid of social media, I’m pretty sure it would still be livable, that I could still manage. In fact, I didn’t have my own cell phone until I was in Grade 9,” Seth told Inquirer Entertainment during a media gathering to launch their latest iWantTFC series, “Fractured.”

Explaining the situation further, Francine added: “Social media is important to us in relation to our work. We are required to come up with content, especially for our endorsements, regularly. But personally, I can survive life without it.”

“You see, there are other more enjoyable things to do than scrolling through your phone. Since it’s something we got so used to doing, we are somehow forced by the situation to be active online,” Francine explained, adding that they shot the series on an island that had no internet signal, so they had no access to their social media accounts.

In “Fractured,” Francine and Seth lead seven others who will fight for survival on a remote island. It is a mystery-thriller series that also stars Kaori Oinuma, Jeremiah Lisbo, Daniela Stranner, Raven Rigor and Sean Tristan.

John Bedia, who cowrote the script with Lawrence Nicodemus, admitted that the original concept for “Fractured” wasn’t about getting trapped on an island, but on a plane. “After brainstorming, this eventually evolved. Also, it now has social media as a main story element. We always try to show perfection when we’re on social media, but after watching ‘Fractured,’ you will see the imperfections beneath its supposedly perfect facade,” he pointed out.

Lawrence added that the series’ concept is “very now.” He explained: “Everyone can relate to each of the characters. Influencers or not, we are all dependent on social media. Here, we will see the effects—whether good or bad, they don’t really matter—of social media in our lives.”

As to why the series was titled as such, director Thop Nazareno shared: “In reality, we’re all broken—we just don’t share this to everyone. We simply choose what we want to share, which is often our good side. In this series, every character is fractured.”

Positive content

How a social media account is handled really depends on the person who owns it, Francine said. “For me, there’s already so much negativity in the world that I now want to be a part of that small group that shares positivity. I want to help others learn how to love themselves, as well as show appreciation to their family and friends,” the actress said. “I don’t pretend to be perfect. I also feel that I don’t have to share that on social media anymore. I believe that sensitive and personal issues should no longer involve the public and should remain private.”

Seth agreed with Francine and said he is also very selective about posting online. “That’s the only way to go, really, because we’re the so-called influencers. We also need to know who our target market is, who we want to influence. We cater to today’s youth, so we’re very cautious and only share positive content,” he began. “But of course, I’m only human and I have flaws, too. I also accidentally commit mistakes. I don’t need to show these things online because I know this will affect my followers emotionally.”

Francine then gave this piece of advice to her supporters: “Try to watch ‘Fractured’ because this will give you an insight into what happens if you let social media influence how you behave. It’s true that we have no idea what others are going through, so it pays to be nice. Because of what we see online, we’ve become so quick to judge a person in terms of their looks and social status. I just wish for everyone to help in uplifting others. I wish there won’t be so much hatred anymore. It’s already 2023, we should all change our attitude when it comes to treating others.”

Ready for more challenges

Meanwhile, Francine admitted that working on “Fractured” signals that she and Seth are ready to take on more mature characters. “In the beginning, we felt nervous. We asked, ‘Can we handle a project like this?’ This is nothing like the usual ones that we were assigned to do before. But when we read the script, we got excited and agreed that we’re both ready to take on more challenges as actors,” she said.“Our characters here are different from those we’ve played before—they’re the type who say bad words,” Seth observed. “Francine and I studied the script carefully, with the guidance of Direk Thop. Whenever we had the chance, we consulted with him on what else we could add to make our characters more colorful. Working on the series was fun. It was a new experience. We reached a higher level of intensity in terms of acting.” “Fractured” will stream for free beginning Sept. 15 on the iWantTFC app or website and on iWantTFC’s YouTube channel, with new episodes dropping every Friday at 8 p.m. INQ