#the ideafirst company

[blmpff]

IdeaFirst Company reveals Gameboys NYC, the upcoming sequel to GAMEBOYS, during its reunion.

Elijah Canlas and Kokoy de Santos are reportedly to reprise their roles. Cairo and Gavreel’s love story will take place in New York City.

15.04.24

[bengiyo]

Hi Ben!

I've been listening to the conversation pod and in one of the eps you mentioned that if any country was to adapt ITSAY you would like to give it to a well-funded Pinoy crew and it got me intrigued. I have only ever watched Gaya Sa Pelikula but I was quite impressed with that one. Could you recommend a couple of shows from the Philippines that you enjoyed and that you think are a good representative of this country's "flavour" of BL?

Thank you!

I absolutely will recommend Pinoy BL! The caveat I will give about my desire to see a Pinoy take on ITSAY is because of some of their films I enjoyed, particularly Isa Pa With Feelings (2019) and Whether the Weather is Fine (2021). I have been extremely impressed with Filipino cinema and know they have it in them.

Onto the recommendations!

Gameboys 1 & 2

The studio that I would love to see take on ITSAY is The IdeaFirst Company. They made this production in quarantine to keep the lights on and keep people paid. This is probably the best quarantine show of all of them that released in 2020 and 2021. Elijah Canlas is a monster talent, and it was so impressive to see Kokoy de Santos and Adrianna So keep up with him in a show that manages to be funny and dramatic about the experience of finding love in quarantine while your loved ones are dying around you. Elijah gives a gripping performance in Kalel, 15 (2019). It's currently available on Netflix with English subs. Season 2 is available on GagaOOlala in specific regions.

Boys Lockdown

I remain forever sad that we won't finish this, but this is another one that tackled the quarantine experience well and captured the kind of chemistry that I find really compelling with Pinoy teams. I think at their best they compete or beat Taiwan. This one is available on YouTube.

Rainbow Prince

Filipino teams are ambitious, and that is always clear with Oxin Films. Is this show good? Not exactly. But it's exactly what it's trying to be and is so funny. It is the first BL musical and it delivers as such. It's this kind of gumption that makes me want to see a well-funded team tackle ITSAY, because this show is so much fun and I listen to the soundtrack regularly. This is available on YouTube.

Those are my best recommendations to get a sense of it, but I'll also shout out the Ride or Die team that did Quaranthings and Stuck On You, which both had compelling characerizations in lockdown.

[alexilove7]

I want that idea of Bathala, Mayari, and the gang struggling from hiding whoever is hunting them down, to go out of that god forsaken place that they're trapped in, to their longing of going back to the Philippines, where their powers are the strongest, to their subjects and worshippers are, the lands and Islands that they were supposed to protect. OUT OF YOUR LAPTOP AND INTO THE WORLD!!! BROADWAY OR CINEMA IDK tbh the tv plots here in the ph is stagnant and they suck soooooo My man, my bruh, my dude..... have you ever contacted TV5, LVN Pictures, Sampaguita Pictures, Lebran International and Premiere Productions, or anyone from the list below because they would probably like that

Philippine television production companies and film studios

ABS-CBN

ABS-CBN Studios

APT Entertainment

Bayan Productions

Bigfoot Entertainment

Black Sheep Productions

Brightlight Productions

CBN Asia

Cignal Entertainment

Creative Programs

Dreamscape Entertainment

GMA Entertainment Group

GMA Pictures

GMO Entertainment Unit

The IdeaFirst Company

Regal Entertainment

Solar Entertainment Corporation

Star Cinema

Star Creatives Television

Studio Viva

TAPE Inc.

TVJ Productions

Deadpool and Wolverine musings, Part 1 - On Deadpool knowing he’s Deadpool, the Worst Wolverine, and a Hero That Never Was: How the theme of failure in "Deadpool And Wolverine" hits too close to home for another would-be actor.

--- So now that I've processed Deadpool and Wolverine, it really hurts to see the theme of failure and being “the one who’s WATCHING people be awesome” woven through the story. You probably know someone like me, dear readers. I have big dreams, but no big friends or big bank account to pull them off.

The Deadpool franchise’s nature as a self-aware side of the Marvel Universe folds painfully into my own experiences as an artist.

As usual for Deadpool, the start of the movie is a wild ride: We open on him desperately digging up Wolverine’s grave from the end of “Logan,” because Deadpool needs Wolverine’s help--and he’s in serious denial that Wolverine died. Turns out that yes, he did. And Deadpool ends up fighting some furious Time Variance Authority soldiers… with Logan’s decaying skeleton. To the hilariously unfitting song of “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC.

Millennials, we can feel old now. I remember when NSYNC was rolling out their CDs in the early 2000s, and when I decided I was too cool for NSYNC anymore, I threw that shit away. Apple is now laughing at me for buying this one song again, twenty years later.

We then get plunged into an explanation of why Deadpool is desperate for Logan’s help, and boy howdy, does he need HELP.

--

Wade and Vanessa started having relationship issues between Deadpool 2 and this movie, so he tried to sign up for the Avengers to give his life purpose. In his interview with Happy Hogan (HELLO, SIR, IT’S GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!! WADE, SHUT UP ABOUT HAPPY BEING A CHAUFFEUR!!!), Wade says he wants to be an Avenger because “he needs it.” Why? Deadpool sure loves the battles that the Avengers are known for, but I don’t think he wants to be an Avenger JUST for violence or glory. There’s one MORE thing that the Avengers are known for: Being friends. And with it, being LOVED.

The running theme in Deadpool’s movies is his nagging insecurity and loneliness. In the comics and movies alike, he is constantly trying to join the X-Men or the Avengers, but his main problem is… Deadpool himself! You are your own worst enemy, as the saying goes.

He’s ruthlessly good at killing, loves his gallows humor, and he’s reckless as hell. The usual expression that someone’s weird/crazy is “having a wire (or a few wires) loose,” but Deadpool’s like an electric rat-king of jumbled wires. (A cash register at my work has one of those bad boys. I am constantly worried if it’s okay.) Later in the movie, Wolverine thinks Deadpool has ADHD because of how insufferably chatty he is, and while Deadpool’s constantly called “crazy” because other characters just don’t like him, fan speculations and writer depictions abound on what KIND of mental disorder he might have.

As TV Tropes would put it, Deadpool is “The Friend Nobody Likes.” Other heroes tolerate him because he’s skilled, but not many LIKE HIM. And he is all too aware of it, especially in the films, so by the time of Deadpool and Wolverine, he WANTS to be a hero.

As I mentioned before, he says to Happy that he NEEDS to be an Avenger.

But Happy tells him, “The Avengers don’t do the job because they need it, they do the job because people need THEM. Understand the difference?”

Many Avengers fans understand the core of the Avengers, and of the superhero genre as a whole.

I did not miss the shots in Happy’s office of notable objects in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe--and maybe Wade was looking at them, too. We call those “Easter eggs” because people will scour the film for them.

-Tony’s very first heart reactor, with the engraving of “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart.”

-One of Captain America’s old shields.

-Old pieces of Iron Man’s armor.

-A photo of Tony himself and Peter Parker.

Then comes the hurt-y part: “Please, Mr. Hogan, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life like an annoying one-trick pony.” Ouch, Wade. I am all too familiar with the sense of failure, and feeling like I annoy everyone by existing.

So Happy says to Wade, “The problem might be that you’re reaching a little too high. Aim for the middle and you’ll never miss. I think you got a good heart, I believe what you’re saying, but not everyone’s the world-saving type. Shoot for the middle and you’ll never miss.”

And after he’s rejected, Wade officially breaks up with Vanessa. WHY, motherfuckers?! THEY ARE MY POWER COUPLE!

So with no Vanessa and no Avengers, Wade becomes increasingly insecure/depressed, and he leaves the Deadpool work behind and takes a car-sales job with his former X-Force teammate Peter to pay the bills. If that is not an allegory for the constant misery of being an artist who doesn’t know anyone important, and doesn’t have the money to make knowing important people EASIER, I don’t know what is.

I spent years trying to get people to read my novel drafts on Wattpad so I can get them cleaned up and published for real, and then I could be a REAL FUCKING WRITER. And that wore me out, because I’m not a marketer and I’m already introverted. I spent years not being able to afford updated headshots to audition for shows, so I could finally be a REAL FUCKING ACTOR and do something that wasn’t a college production… but after I finally got new headshots, guess what happened? I’M STUCK AT MY DAY-JOB TO GET MONEY.

While I’m trying to be a real fucking actor and a real fucking novel writer, I’ve combined them into an unholy sandwich, by writing a superhero story that deconstructs the idea of “who gets to be called a hero, and who’s just a gangster/vigilante?” It involves the Tagalog deities being stuck in California as undocumented immigrants.

I feel like I asked every Filipino theater I know of about workshopping this script or giving it a reading or two when the draft is done. Like, I’m Filipino-American and I’m writing about Filipino mythology and Asian-American superheroes--I don’t expect people to spring a whole production onto the stage when I say go, but surely people would want to check my script out or keep tabs on me? Something to get the ball rolling?

But that involves having GOOD luck, and I don’t seem to have any. The theaters who bothered to answer me say it sounds cool, but they don’t have the resources, or how this script is expensive to pull off, so I’ll need to find someone willing to take a risk and fund my production.

I wanted to fucking laugh at those folks, because that means THEY’RE not willing to risk things for me. I want to laugh because if I don’t, I’m gonna murder something.

As Deadpool said in his very first movie: "Fake laugh, hiding real pain."

PEOPLE SAY THEY CAN’T AFFORD ME? WHEN I SPENT YEARS HUMILIATING MYSELF, ASKING IF SELFIES WERE OKAY TO USE FOR AUDITIONS, BECAUSE I COULDN’T AFFORD TO UPDATE MY THEATER HEADSHOTS?

This one time, I could have gone to Canada for a writing conference. It was about how Filipinos and the Filipino diaspora use their culture and spirituality as inspiration for their work. I sent them an email about my poetry and writing, and I didn’t really think they’d answer me, so I was pleasantly surprised when someone DID answer, and they thought my work sounded beautiful!

But then they said I’d have to get to Canada, pay the attendance fee, find a hotel and get from a city (either Toronto or Ottawa) to the buttfuck wilderness of a regional park, where the conference was actually being HELD.

So I said (politely), “Oh, I didn’t realize you wanted to hold a conference in Canada, but had no way to… GET NON-LOCAL SPEAKERS TO THE CONFERENCE. I figured you’d be handling at least some of the costs. I won’t be able to go, then.”

One of my friends, bless her heart, started a GoFundMe on my behalf. It went nowhere, so neither did I, but she tried. Another of my friends said it felt really messed up that they wanted me to pay the attendance fee AS A SPEAKER.

In my only bout of less-bad luck, I submitted some angry decolonizing poetry about the Tagalog gods to a show halfway across the state, and the team absolutely loved it… but that was before I had updated headshots. When the recent Facebook memories with a photo of the brochure showed up, I got to see my fucking Facebook selfie smack in the middle of everyone else’s nice, professional headshots, and that really stings.

I wish I was like Deadpool, and I had some time-traveling friends to go back and replace it with one of my REAL headshots. But I can’t spend all my time cringing, so I’m not only writing my stories, but saving up to pay 50-100 actors for a table reading.

I GET ONE SHOT AT GETTING MY SCRIPT OFF MY LAPTOP AND INTO THE WORLD. ONE SHOT THAT’S GONNA HURT MY BANK ACCOUNT. MAXIMUM EFFORT IS MY STATE’S MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE, MOTHERFUCKERS.

And that’s probably going to be my only shot. I don’t know anyone in theater professionally, because I never got a chance to WORK WITH anyone professionally.

For my script, I have three or five Filipino actor “friends” (more like acquaintances) whose shows I’ve watched a few times, so I told them how I have a superhero script that I’d love to get a reading for when the first draft’s finished, and I will pay everyone for a table reading in a couple months. And if they have ten or fifteen more friends of varying ethnicities, please ask them if they think my script sounds cool as well.

I hope I didn’t sound too desperate.

I try not to outwardly beg, but I don’t have a good gauge on that. I was the only Filipino in my theater class for years, so I never knew how to TALK about my extremely Filipino-oriented urban-fantasy, or if my stuff was ACTUALLY good or just weird. I went to open mics for a short but lovely few months, before I had to stop.

I couldn’t even afford MONTHLY TRIPS to read my work. Not only for no pay, but I had to pay AN ENTRY FEE and deal with the parking in this driving hellhole of a state. And then being a BROKE Filipino who still lives with my mom and works in food service? I always feel like I’m begging for scraps of attention.

I love art.

I love making art.

But with so many things depending on who you know--whether you can afford to go to shows, or go to school, or go to parties so you can FIND people to know--art really makes you feel shitty and poor sometimes.

My friends and about twenty or so Wattpad reviewers like my work, and they say I’m a great writer. It always makes me feel nice.

But when I try to get someone IN POWER, someone with MONEY, to check out my work and say the same things, that’s where I start feeling like Wade in the Avengers Tower--so close to the heroes I’ve heard about my whole life, seeing the things they use, the photos of people they love--and begging the doorman to let me be a hero, too.

[youdontloveme-yet]

"Is this what you want?"

[save-the-data]

[harryfado]

I am absolutely, completely, irrevocably, obsessed with Gameboys the series (the unaired movie and also the unaired 2o season)... If you have the time, watch it! It's all on YouTube and Netflix. It's so good and heartwarming and will absolutely make you cry and laugh and love.

Kokoy de Santos and Elijah Canlas are both incredible actors and make quite the couple on screen.

Give it a chance, you won't regret it.

[funny-aneurysm]

But the hardest part is I like you. I really like you. I want to hold your hand. I want to kiss you to keep you from being talkative. I want to wrap myself around you. I always do.

[kamwashere]

THE FACT THAT THE ARGUMENT HAD NO CUTS??? IT’S LITERALLY ONE TAKE??? LIKE DAMN IMAGINE DOING THAT IN ONE LONG TAKE??? IT MUST HAVE BEEN EMOTIONALLY DRAINING SFGHJBVE GAMEBOYS IS REALLY THAT BITCH

[paint-music-with-me]

Why is no one talking about Gameboys!?!?

It's the first time I've ever seen a BL PH series !!! And omgg the first ep came out two days ago and it's so good so far!! It has such great potential and I cannot wait to see what else happens in the show!! I'm so excited!!

Please show support for this show!! :)

[bengiyo]

Get To Know Your BL Mutuals

I was tagged by my favorite fellow clown @elnotwoods

Simple, answer the questions. @ some people. Include the tag 'g2ky BL mutuals 2022' on your post so we can find everyone's answers!

what have been BLs that took you by surprise this year?

I’d say Kabe Koji, My Ride, and 21 Days Theory both surprised me with how much I really liked the adult elders in both of them. Ghost Host, Ghost House surprised me with how much I bought the desire between the leads. Love in the Air surprised me by not only being an engaging watch, but also in helping me make friends with some of the kinksters in fandom. 

I absolutely did not see Rainbow Prince coming, nor how much I would unironically love it.

DNA Says I Love you went to a queer space I hadn’t even thought about. 

what have been BLs that you felt a bit disappointed with this year?

Bite Me. I will never stop lamenting how much I hurt for Mark Siwat that this project went sideways for no real reason. Star and Sky, too, because goddamn were those boring and irritating. Love Area the series.... just ugh.

what has been your favorite BL this year?

Hmm... this is hard. If I have to pick one, then Gameboys 2. The maturity that show had in the way they handled the complexities of a new couple and the dynamics with their queer friends is sublime. There’s a depth to the way the IdeaFirst Company approaches storytelling that I think gets lost in the conversations about tropes and chemistry.

Shoutouts for Kabe Koji, Minato’s Laundromat, Secret Crush on You, Old Fashion Cupcake, Cherry Magic the Movie, About Youth, Blueming, To My Star 2, and 21 Days Theory for getting 9′s or higher

favorite BL couples (not just of 2022)

in no particular order:

Oh-aew and Teh (ITSAY/IPYTM)

Mork and Tawan (My Ride)

Rain and Payu (Love in the Air)

Kenji and Shiro (What Did You Eat Yesterday?)

Cairo and Gavreel (Gameboys)

Dean and Pharm (UWMA)

Minato and Shintaro (Minato’s Laundromat)

Togawa and Nozue (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Pat and Pran (Bad Buddy)

Gao Shi De and Zhou Shu Yi (We Best Love)

Key and Chen (Boys Lockdown)

Adachi and Kurosawa (Cherry Magic)

Seo Joon and Ji Woo (To My Star)

Xu Qi Zhang and Ye Guang (About Youth)

Tian and Phupha (A Tale of Thousand Stars)

Aoki and Ida (Kieta Hatsukoi)

Win and Tops (Ingredients)

Xia Yu Hao and Qiu Zi Xuan (History 2: Crossing the Line)

Frame and Book (Make It Right) - I will be taking no criticism about MIR.

what's your non-BL favorite this year?

So much. Koisenu Futari for sure, because we never get to see ace stories. Sleep With Me is my favorite GL of the year right now (yes, more than GAP). I enjoyed Extraordinary Attorney Woo a lot (even if I’m unsure how to talk about it due to feedback from autistic folks). Our Flag Means Death. Heartstopper. Young Royals 2. Abbott Elementary. 

I absolutely came apart because of 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us. Cannot reflect on this year without talking about it.

Thank you for tagging me. I need to get back to my end of year post.

I feel like everyone I know has already done this or been tagged.... I’ll tag @yugiohio, @gillianthecat, and @sapphorarelyreads. Consider yourself tagged if you want to participate. No pressure otherwise

[cairos-angel]

BREAKING NEWS-

The ideafidst company released a statement that due to technical difficulties the new episode of gameboys will be released on...

🥺!SUNDAY!🥺

[prncsspatty]

Watch "Alt GAMEBOYS EP 13.5 {Reaction}~ Saes Story 🍑" on YouTube

This was giving me Peach girl saes story vibes

[mehestmoi]

Not @ me packing my bags to move to the phillipines just so i can get cignal play and watch all of these movies and shows

[kamwashere]

so adrianna so (aka pearl) has a movie on netflix where she has a female love interest... a true wlw icon/ally

[batboyblog]

Lets Make a Gay New World in 2022!

Genera+ion (HBO Max)

Love Victor (Hulu)

The Other Two (HBO Max)

Young Royals (Netflix)

Diary of a Future President (Disney+)

Gameboys: The Movie (The IdeaFirst Company)

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)

Sex Education (Netflix)

Chucky (SyFy/USA Network)

Everything's Gonna Be Okay (Freeform)

[shortpplfedup]

BEST OF BL 2021 CATEGORY: FAVOURITE KISSES

I don't know about the rest of you, but a truly great kiss that makes your spine tingle when you're not even participating is one of the things that can make a show for me. Here are my top 5 makeouts of the year.

BEST OF THE BEST

5. Cai and Gav (Elijah Canlas and Kokoy de Santos) | Gameboys: The Movie (The IdeaFirst Company)

'Let's give them a show' Gav says to Cai, and a show they give indeed. The makeout in the backyard, in full view of any potential nosy neighbours, was simply hot.

4. Teh and Oh Aew (Billkin Putthipong Assaratanakul and PP Krit Amnuaydechkorn) | I Promised You the Moon (Nadao Bangkok/LINE TV) | Episode 1: Ice Breaking

I'm surprising myself by placing this one so far down the list, but as beautiful and narratively meaningful as it was, the ones ranked higher were simply more electric.

3. Shi De and Shu Yi (Sam Lin and YU) | We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd (Result Entertainment/WeTV) | Episode 2

Call me a trash panda for this one, I'll own it. It's right on the borderline of consensual, and I'm not entirely sure it falls on the right side of that line, but Shi De's desperation and Shu Yi's inability to resist were so visceral that my mouth was hanging open.

2. Simon and Wille (Omar Rudberg and Edvin Ryding) | Young Royals (Nexiko AB/Netflix) | Episode 2

The balls it took for Simon to walk up to a literal prince that he's only about 50% certain would welcome the advance and just take that plunge, and the way Wille doesn't want to let the moment pass even though he's only about 50% certain that he's feeling what he's feeling for this beautiful boy...ah young gay love.

1. Pat and Pran (Ohm Pawat Chittsawangdee and Nanon Korapat Kirdpan) | Bad Buddy (GMMTV) | Episode 5

Kiss of the year. Kiss of the decade. Kiss of the genre. Pat and Pran's passionate rooftop kiss set a new bar for Thai BL. Emotional, electric and narratively critical, it's now the standard.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Tian and Phupha (Mix Sahaphap Wongratch and Earth Pirapat Watthanasetsiri) | A Tale of Thousand Stars (GMMTV) | Episode 10

Sweet, low heat and yet still somehow one of the most affecting kisses I saw all year. It feels earned, not just for the audience but for the characters as well, and that makes all the difference.