Ni: Reggee Bonoan

SINA Direk Erik Matti at Dondon Monteverde na ang bagong manager para sa movie career ni Khalil Ramos.

Sa TV shows, commercials at singing career ay co-management naman ang Star Magic at ang Cornerstone Entertainment, Inc.

Ang katwiran ni Direk Erik Matti, pinasok nila ang pagma-manage para may sarili silang talents na anytime ay puwede nilang kunin para sa pelikulang ipo-produce ng kanilang Reality Entertainment.

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“We’re doing a build-up contract for Khalil, what does that say? We’re actually keeping him as exclusive as we can with us for number of years and number of projects and the build-up contract promises to both him and us to Reality that we will make sure that we will look up to his career as an actor,” paliwanag ni Direk Erik.

“Of course we have specific kind of movies we’re looking at him doing. I think Khalil is one of the few actors in the industry now that’s been serious into making sure that he concentrates on the craft of performing and acting in general.

“And we’re tracking his career ever since, actually, we casted him in Honor Thy Father and then, we saw him grow over the years. He especially now with his Urian nomination, so nakikita namin na he could be a kind of actor for us, for the kind of branded films that we do.”

Siyempre, tinanong din ang business partner ni Direk Erik na si Dondon Monteverde kung bakit ngayon lang sila magma-manage ng artista.

“Actually, our journey started with Honor Thy Father na maraming young (artists) and we saw all the potentials niya sa movie na ‘yan.

“So nakita lang namin na puwede palang ipagpatuloy ‘yung journey na ‘yun kasi nakita namin na he can be very versatile as an actor. So parang hindi lang isang klaseng Khalil lang na parang nakikita n’yo when he portrays role with us, he will be doing multiple roles we see him fit to do in our projects kaya perfect. Eh, nakita namin ‘yung potential ng versatility niya and I think that really matter a lot you know that Erik and I to decide to really get our first contract star for Reality,” paliwanag ng producer.

Nabanggit din ni Direk Erik na bibigyan nila ng tailored-made project si Khalil sa Reality Entertainment.

“Actually, of course we cannot name the project. And actually, the first time we thought of getting Khalil was when early this year, right after Metro Manila Film Festival.

“We we’re planning of our roster of films in the next two years and there is a project and we’ve been writing this project ever since MMFF finished 2016, he knows about it and we we’re thinking he would be perfect for it.

“And then when we sent out words sa Cornerstone and Star Magic, they were interested, eventually, naisip namin ‘why not get Khalil’ in several projects.

“Aminin natin, cute si Khalil, di ba? Pero hindi naman siya naga-appear sa amin na cute lang, may konting tapang, may konting seriousness, di ba?

“And in the past projects that we had, hirap na hirap kaming maghanap ng artista because it’s either it contracted by major network and they’re trying to drive the actor to be a certain type of character all throughout their careers so naisip na namin na let’s invest on Khalil in several years, build him-up for the kind of movies that we have and even with that one movie and right now we are already thinking of another movie that may even coming in earlier. And it’s a lead role, hindi lang siya ‘yung parang nagsimula lang bit role nagla-lines-lines ng dalawang beses. We really thinking as lead actor.

Samantala, five-picture contract ang nakasaad sa kontrata ni Khalil pero walang binanggit kung ilang taong mananatili ang aktor/singer sa Reality Entertainment.

Ayon kay Direk Erik, depende raw sa project pero mas okey kung kayang tapusin ni Khalil ang limang pelikula sa loob ng tatlong taon. May himig pagbibirong sinabi ng direktor na bago tumuntong ng 30 years old ang binata, na 21 ngayon, ay tapos na nito ang commitment sa Reality Entertainment. 

Klinaro nina Direk Erik at Dondon na puwede pa ring gumawa ng pelikula sa ibang outfit si Khalil, pero depende sa role o character na gagampanan dahil kung second best lang ay hindi nila papayagan.

“Gagawin naming bida sa Reality ‘tapos sa ibang movie outfit, support lang siya or bit role lang? We get to see if it’s good for him. Of course mutually agreed with Khalil kasi kung may project na gustung-gusto niya, of course, we would gladly allowed him to do it.”

Samantala, nalaman namin sa handler ni Khalil sa Cornerstone na si Mac Merla na hindi pa man nagagawa ang unang pelikula sa lima ay may downpayment nang kalahati sa talent fee para sa kabuuang five-movie contract.

Walang say sina Direk Erik at Dondon sa TV project ni Khalil na turf naman ng Star Magic.

Tinanong kasi namin kung okay lang sa kanila na support lang ang karakter ni Khalil sa La Luna Sangre.

“Hindi naman kami ang may say diyan, si Lulu(Romero) ang tanungin n’yo siya ang may hawak kay Khalil for Star Magic,” tumatawang sagot ng direktor.

Nalaman naming mahaba ang exposure ni Khalil bilang bampira sa La Luna Sangre, pero hindi pa klaro sa amin kung kanino siya kakampi, kina Malia (Kathryn Bernardo) at Tristan (Daniel Padilla) o kay Sandrino (Richard Gutierrez).