Tonyo's first ABS-CBN Audition

Life is one major sitcom. And that's how the Pacuanderers like to live it, for the sake of experiencing things! Last Saturday, we took Tonyo to an ABS-CBN call for new kid talents for a new show. The TV ad said 5-9 years old, but our talent agency contact (yes, we have gone that far to finding opportunities for Tonyo, more on that later!) told us that 4 year-olds can also try.

Why not? We decided to go for it to prevent our "what ifs" in the future.

Overall, the experience gave us a taste of what it is to be like a stage-parent (stagemom, to be more specific! We were just lucky that Daddy was free that day and was "game" enough to accompany us :-) I now know what to expect, what to bring, what to wear, during situations like these, and will share that in another blog entry.

Call time at agency: 8:00 AM

Not too early, but with an unpredictable 4 year old,  preparations could be a pain. During weekends, we strive to be on our own (no yaya), so I had to wake up at 5 am to prepare breakfast, clean up breakfast, shower, and then prepare everyone else. Since we did not know Quezon City well (plus, Sam's car was acting up..) , we aimed to leave at 6:30 AM from Fort.

(of course we left past 7am...)

Arrival at agency: 7:50 am

Travel time was not so bad, so we were able to afford the wrong turn along EDSA, as well as the wrong turns along Sgt Esguerra Ave. There were a couple of kids in the agency already, all looking like "seasoned" auditioners! One talent manager asked Tonyo... "May lines ka na ba kuya?"

Clueless mom thought bubble: What lines?? "Well, kumakanta and sumasayaw naman sya pag may music. And magaling sya mag memorize."

"Naku mommy pag wala pang lines yan doon, baka kainin lang yan ng ibang bata!"

Lol. So we just practiced Tonyo's usual "VTR" lines:::

"My name is Samuel Antonio Pacua, but you can call me Tonyo. I am 4 years old" -- and agreed for him to sing a few lines from a school song (A Song of Peace) or a Frozen song. I told the talent manager, we don't need to drill him just yet, since we just wanted him to get used to the concept of "auditioning" :)

Of course, we couldn't help but feel intimidated by all the kids around us who were really practicing monologues! Namamalimos, nag-babaliw-baliwan, at bumibirit ng mga kantang pang-matanda!

We'll get there, anak.

Walk to ABS-CBN: 8:40 am

Sen. Miriam Santiago, Ramon Bautista, Alex Gonzaga and Tito Boy standees with our future star!

I've always been a Kapamilya fan so just being inside the ELJ building was enough to get me excited. Tonyo was equally thrilled to see the "people standees" - I didn't even notice that he was imitating the poses until I was making this picture collage !

We got to the registration line and received our number. 118! Grabe, sa daming gustong mag artista, I think it's really a highly competitive culture, and one should have the guts for it. After our number, lo and behold - we were handed a 2-page script, and were told that this was the audition script! Sam and I just looked at it and laughed, okay let's have fun now.

CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words pa lang ang nababasa ni Tonyo ... so I just read the script to him as I would read him a story (with feelings, some kids were looking at me funny... lol). He repeated some of the lines, jumped around, and immediately asked to play with the iPad.

All around us were (mostly) moms and kids, rehearsing their lines profusely. I also heard snippets of arguments along the lines of, "Sayang lang ang pinunta natin dito kung hindi mo aayusin ang pag-arte!"


Tonyo's Batch: 11:15ish

While in line, we made friends with Tim and his mom (number 158), who were from Los Banos, Laguna and were also first timers.

The long line, a new friend (good luck, we hope you made it!)

Finally, our "batch" was called (something like #115 - 125) and were asked to fall in line. At that point, all kids will enter the studio, without companions! I handed Tonyo his application form and pictures and told him to "wow" them! To which he immediately replied, referring to his application form, "Mommy, pag binenta ko ito, anong sasabihin ng mga tao sa audition?"

And off he went, confidently, to the sea of kids inside the studio waiting area. I had doubts whether he could last on his own there , just waiting and doing nothing!


Security Guard call: 11:30ish

There he goes...  (in yellow)

"Mommy ni 118 ! Mommy ni 118!"  the megaphone crackled, -- and there was my Tonyo, all smiles escorted by a security guard. Sabi ko, "Yes?"

"Mommy, hindi daw po nya memorize ang script. Kung gusto po ninyo, practice muna kayo , and then isisingit at ipapasok na lang siya ulit."

Knowing that this attempt will be futile, I just told the guard to just let him in for the sake of facing the panel. "Mommy, sige, kayo po bahala!"

At the back of my mind, I would like to believe that they liked how my child looked and wanted to make sure he knew his lines so he can have a fighting chance? Ganun ba yun? 

Baby Out: 12:10

And one by one, the kids from our batch started coming out of the back door. They were mostly older kids, and most looked disappointed. Pina-intro lang ng pangalan, pinalabas na. Yung iba naman, after just a few lines from the script, pinalabas na. I have no idea what they did when they "like" someone.

With eager anticipation, we waited for my baby to come out. Tonyo came out of that back door, all triumphant, as if he just won something!

"Mommy tapos na ang audition! Madali lang pala eh!" Oh, the age of innocence!

The security guard said, "Mommy sayang okay daw sana siya kaso hindi nya memorize ang script." (I didn't know how he meant by okay.. nagustuhan ang itsura kaso hindi makamemorize? Or did Tonyo tell him that story? I can only wonder... ) I snapped a photo and Tonyo went on with his kwento....

"I said, 'TONYO' , tapos ask nila how old, sabi ko FOUR. Then pina-sing ako."

"O, what did you sing?"

"Happy Birthday!"

(Lol, mommy and daddy #facepalm. My son, who can sing 4 Frozen songs, give a cute rendition of a Song of Peace, and can also do some "Baby, It's Cold Outside" just sang Happy Birthday for his audition!)

"And then?"

"Tapos hindi ko na kasi alam yung recite eh, so, tapos na." 

 Ha ha! Kaya pala madali ;) 

Also had a souvenir pic with the Dreamscape staff at the registration table.

He looked so happy, so we were happy. We walked to the nearby McDonalds and got him a Happy Meal. We had a few more celebrity sightings there, and most of the kids from the audition were also there to have lunch. Observing the celebrities and the other kids, perhaps like every parent, we felt like our child has what it takes to be a star. 

With Mutya and some of the Goin' Bulilit Kids.

That evening, when I asked him to draw a picture about our day, this is what he came up with:

That's Tonyo (in Yellow), Mommy, and Daddy. Yung ibang tao, hindi ko kilala.

Will we try to audition again? Probably :) Hangga't kaya ni mommy pumila and hangga't okay lang si Tonyo (and si daddy...)


Do you have an audition experience? Please share it with us! :-)


PS: Thanks ABS-CBN and Dreamscape and the Kuya Guards for the very organized audition. Everyone was nice and accommodating.