Lightning in a bottle
With all of the talent-discovery tilts currently running on the TV screen, it’s no surprise that some readers have asked me the P64,000 question: “What is the ‘X factor’ that talent scouts keep talking about?”
This reminds me of the time when, still a tyro in the TV-movie game, I asked my first film producer, “Miss Santos, how do you come up with a surefire hit?”
Aling Toreng Santos reacted to my naive and clueless question by laughing out loud: “Ay naku, hijo, if I knew the answer to that question, bilyonaryo na ako ngayon!”
That’s it. Like my smug and naive query, the “What is the ‘X factor?’” question makes show biz veterans laugh because it’s like asking for the key to the kingdom, the pat and convenient formula that will open up a vault of dazzling and priceless secrets, as easy as pie!
It’s like trying to catch lightning in a bottle—it’ll burn you to a crisp first. Or, you could try to do it with a hundred fireflies. But, what if they refuse to cooperate and leave you in the dark?!
Quicksilver
Having said which, I should say that, it is possible, if you humble yourself and not blithely and rudely ask for the key to the kingdom, to arrive at an approximation of what that prized “X factor” is all about:
It’s a quicksilver amalgam, a coy and devious combination of beauty, talent, personality, appeal, charisma, unique selling factor, savvy trend-spotting, psychological creation and manipulation of viewers’ needs and wants, astute career management (with the finances to back it up), industry contacts—and the “passionate” support of a wealthy or powerful sugar mommy or daddy sometimes (often?) helps!
Clueless
What doesn’t help is the smug and clueless notion that, if you come up with most or all of those attributes or plus points on our list, your stardom is assured.
Many a well-financed starlet has tried to make it on sheer financial push and pull, yet ended up as an instant has-been, or never-were!
Faulty logic
Over and above the numerical efficiency of a well-oiled star-making campaign, the talent being built up has to have “something special” that will enable him or her to “connect” with the members of the viewing public in a personal and even subliminal way. This goes beyond admiration or even empathy.
Some people think that a sad “back story” or traumatic experience helps, which is why you hear so many contestants on talent discovery tilts weeping and wailing about their sad lot in life.
The logic goes this way: Many fans are poor, so they can relate more to the similarly impoverished starlet and want to take him in their arms and comfort him with their patronage and adulation.
But this ploy can boomerang on the “poor” starlet when it’s obviously faked.
And it doesn’t explain the extremely prosperous careers of stars born with a silver spoon in their mouths, like Sharon Cuneta.
Obviously, she has another dynamic working for her—like the “princess” fantasy that many female teens and tweens dream of?
What about the male of the stellar species—what is the “X factor” working in their favor? One man’s hunk is another man’s skunk, so we’re back to square one.
To all the X’ed, vexed and hexed starlets out there, lotsa luck!
