TV5 vows to create stars: We know what the audience wants

Wilma Galvante. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

With TV5’s current artist pool still lacking much-needed depth, network executive Wilma Galvante vowed that talent development would be one of her priorities this year.

Galvante, chief entertainment content officer, pointed out that an extensive roster of actors will help the network  bolster its program lineup. “To mount shows, of course you need talents,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer recently. “Stars are created, and we will do that. We know what the audience wants.”

In the past few years, the Kapatid network has signed up big names in the biz— Sharon Cuneta, Aga Muhlach, Derek Ramsay, and Nora Aunor. Galvante said she would now focus on new blood.

“We’d like a stable of homegrown stars,” she said. “I’d like viewers to instantly identify them as TV5 talents.’” Some of the network’s in-house artists are Ritz Azul, Eula Caballero, Jasmine Curtis-Smith and the finalists of the reality search “Artista Academy.”

Star-making is no easy task, Galvante, who retired as GMA 7 senior vice president for entertainment in 2012, acknowledged. It’s a challenge that she’s ready for. “There are so many talented hopefuls, and the industry is always on the lookout for someone new,” she said.

Galvante said one of the coming offerings— a local adaptation of the hit US television series “Pretty Little Liars”— will be the launch pad for “Artista Academy” alumnae Stephanie Rowe, Chanel Morales and Sophie Albert. Also in the main cast will be Danielle Lee, sister of TV host-socialite Divine Lee.

“They’re not total unknowns—it’s just a matter of developing them and proving that they’re good,” Galvante said. “They’re all in workshops now. We have big plans for them.”

Galvante also announced plans for the network’s daily primetime block, “Every Day, All the Way!” Rival stations ABS-CBN and GMA 7 have horizontal programming (same set of shows throughout the week), TV5, Galvante declared, will mix horizontal and vertical programming (different sets each day), with some shows airing every day; and others, once a week.

Her team was considering devoting Mondays to films, she said; Wednesdays and Fridays to PBA games or other sporting events; Tuesdays and Thursdays to local entertainment shows—drama anthologies, mini-series, reality shows, game shows and local adaptations of Korean dramas.

Viewing habits

“We have varied content, and so we’re using a different structure,” she explained.

Asked if she wasn’t worried that TV5’s customized primetime blocking would render day-to-day ratings inconsistent, Galvante said: “We hope to break the audience’s viewing habits by offering a wide array of shows.”

First to air was the medical drama “Obsession,” which stars Marvin Agustin, Bianca King, Neri Naig and Mart Escudero. Programs in the works are Cuneta’s “tawaserye” “My Pirate Family” and drama anthology “Minamahal”; and Jasmine Curtis-Smith’s self-titled drama series, “Jasmine.”

Also in the lineup are three mini-series: Caballero’s “One of the Boys”; Alywn Uytingco’s “Beki Boxer”; and Derek Ramsay and Aga Muhlach’s “My Brother’s Keeper.”

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