What Ejay has learned from his Korean show

Ejay Falcon (left) with actress Chae Soo-bin

While actor Ejay Falcon said he was proud of how, even with limited resources, local production teams were able to come up with quality TV shows, he also thought we could learn a thing or two from our Korean counterparts.

Ejay was recently featured in an episode of the Korean drama series “Where Stars Land,” which premiered on the SBS network on Oct. 1. He was part of the show’s fourth episode, which aired on Oct. 9, also on VIU.

Ejay stayed in Seoul for a week and worked for a total of four shooting days.

“No one was carrying any cell phone on the set, so I felt uncomfortable holding mine,” he recalled. “Walang petiks (no procrastinating). Picture-taking wasn’t allowed. The actors on the set were always in character; and even when they weren’t seen in the shots, they still had to act just to show support to their costars.”

He admitted to feeling unsatisfied when he left Seoul. “The whole time I was there, I was thinking, ‘Maybe there are other roles here that I could audition for.’ I really liked how I was treated by that production team. They’re very professional,” he said, adding that he was pleased with how fast and efficient the Koreans were. “They’re very advanced in terms of the equipment they use. They  move fast because everything is wireless.”

When his director Shin Wu-chul (“Lovers in Paris”) asked him about the difference between making Korean and Filipino TV shows, Ejay said: “While they shoot an average of only four sequences a day, we Filipinos shoot 40 sequences. He was so amazed that he said, ‘That’s crazy!’ I guess Filipinos are indeed amazing to be able to come up with quality shows, with how we work.”

Ejay described lead actress Chae Soo-bin (“I’m Not a Robot”) as “very respectful. She would bow and greet everyone whenever she arrived on the set. She’s petite and beautiful. She would ask me questions like, ‘Are you famous in the Philippines?’ I just smiled.”

With actor Lee Je-hon

Lead actor Lee Je-hon, meanwhile, had been very gracious to Ejay. “He gave me a chair to sit on whenever he saw me standing. When I was done with my dramatic scenes, and he saw that I was still crying, he gave me tissue,” Ejay recalled.

Ejay said he was thrilled to have been part of the series, where Filipino actress Lauren Young plays his pregnant wife. “More than giving my career a boost, I learned a lot from working on the show, especially discipline.”

Ejay said what he found most difficult was changing acting techniques in order to satisfy his director. “They wanted me to scream while doing my fight scenes. I found that really awkward because we don’t do that here,” he explained. “It’s hard for me because even though my character is in Korea, he is still a Filipino. They have preconceived ideas about how things should be acted out.”

Locally, Ejay’s drama series “Blood Sisters” recently finished its run. The actor said he intended to use his free time to travel with his family. They recently visited Hong Kong, and he has plans to fly to the United States in November with his longtime girlfriend, former “StarStruck” contestant Jana Roxas.

He said that while they’re already preparing for the future, tying the knot won’t happen anytime soon.

“It’s still too early for me. I’ll turn 29 this year. I’ll know when it’s time—I will feel it. But I wish that whoever I am with right now will be the one I’ll spend forever with,” he pointed out.