#there are some consistency issues but that always happens in jittirain shows

[iguessitsjustme]

Be My Favorite - Episode 9 Thoughts

Am I watching this on Friday this week? On the day it airs? On time? Who am I? 

-Every week, I’m grateful for the previously on because I’ve blocked it from my memory and need to be reminded. 

-I still like the opening song. This hasn’t changed. No one is surprised. I say this each week. Krist actually has a nice voice.

-Unrelated to the show, but I’m gonna kill the bar next to my apartment. What the fuck is this beat? Need to pause until they move on to the next song that doesn’t distract me from the show. 

-Glad Kawi is quitting drinking. He doesn’t seem to be able to do it in moderation so quitting and sobriety is probably the best option for him. But that poses an interesting question in how the time travel affects him. In the future, he was an alcoholic and couldn’t stop. But in the present, he can easily quit. How does that work?

-Pear, my precious angel child. I love you. 

-I hate Pear’s mother. It took 3 seconds of Pisaeng’s explanation. A child isn’t something that you can just abandon cause you didn’t feel like it anymore. That’s not how that fucking works. You tell her Pear!

-I actually disagree with Pisaeng here. It’s ultimately Kawi’s decision whether or not he performs with the band and Pisaeng can’t make that choice for him. And then making Kawi choose between him or the band is like making Kawi choose between his future and his love life. I know Pisaeng wasn’t serious about it but it still rubbed me the wrong way. 

-What the fuck is this peer pressure to drink? It’s 2023 and people should know better. 

-Poor Pisaeng. He’s gonna get alcohol poisoning. 

-Hold up. Why the FUCK am I not eating my cake right now while I watch this? What’s wrong with me?

-I hate Pear’s dad too. Neither parent cares about the well-being of their child. He forced his forgiveness into his child and didn’t let her properly heal. Pear, darling, I love you so much. 

-Drunk Pisaeng is adorable. 

-So Kawi has charged his phone for a ride but hasn’t called Pear back even though she called multiple times. I would have at least checked in. One call, I’d text. Two calls, I’d call. Is she okay?

-This is an interesting change. This time Pisaeng got drunk and kissed Kawi. Don’t think I didn’t notice that little flip flop there. 

-Oh wait. He was denied. Lol. 

-Oh lord not Not seeing it. The absolute worst person on the planet. He should go fuck himself. Why the fuck is he calling Pear to report on Pisaeng and Kawi. Does he think outing them is gonna get him anything? It better fucking not. The only thing he should be getting is a swift kick in the ass.

-“You might not be able to resist your desire” what is this? A MAME show?

-Is this communication? Honest to god communication? In a Jittirain show?

-These assholes should mind the business that pays them. How the fuck is this their business in any way. I will NEVER forgive anyone for outing people. Ever. Especially Not who is outing his “friends” so he can have a chance with Pear. That’s completely fucked up.

-Pear deserves better than this show. Kawi sacrificed her happy future for his. Although how happy could she have been if she was marrying and extremely closeted Pisaeng. 

-Kwan, girl, Not? I mean we been knew you loved him. But seriously? He sucks. If he ends up with Pear, I’ll riot.

-Not, I hope Pear bitchslaps you. That’s all I want from Not.

-Kawi, tell me, how is breaking up with Pisaeng going to make anything better? Seriously. No really and truly. The issue isn’t that you’re with him. It’s that you didn’t talk to Pear first. Just give her some time. The rest of the issues? Not. All Not. Launch him into the sun and y’all will be good to go. 

-Pisaeng, you’re so right. Hold hands and go through it together. 

-Pear is a good person and I love her.

-That’s right! Reject him! Make him cry! I hope he cries.

-I probably enjoyed this episode more than any of the others so far! Now I just need this show to get rid of Not and I’ll be happy. 

[respectthepetty]

Hi petty, so I came across an interesting conversation on reddit. It's about how the BL screenwriters are not getting the credit for their work. From what I understand it's because the director is basically the showrunner and they are the ones responsible for 'creating' the show and OP pointed out something that I agree with: even if that is true the screenwriter has contributed labour and thus they deserve to at least be co-credited for their work. Someone mentioned that because most BLs are novel adaptations the screenwriters aren't doing much work but OP points out that that is not true. Most BLs change the novel in some way, whether to extend the story or to soften it or to shorten it. And like yeah, I see that.

I hadn't thought about this thing until OP pointed it out and now I'm like: have we been making a mistake by not crediting the screenwriter? That feels iffy to me.

I feel that we should be crediting the novel writer, screenwriter and director for the work they do in the scope of their jobs and not let one or two people hog all the credit, you know.

And I think this is a fandom issue.

So, what do you think?

[I know this is a heavy question but I've always respected your opinion that's why I wanted to ask you.]

The Trainee did a great job of demonstrating the production around filming, but in TV and film, screenwriters aren't usually spotlighted in the same realm as the director regardless of the genre. Directors are very important to a film or series because their direction is what guides everything else. They set the tone and the pace of a series, and everyone else has to figure out how to make that vision come to life, and sometimes, screenwriters have to rewrite scenes while filming is happening based on a shift in the director's vision.

However, I'm showing up for the cinematography usually rather than the directing, so I agree with you, and many other people do as well, which is why we have awards and databases that acknowledge the work others put into a series or film beyond the actors and the directors, but at the end of the day, it's usually the director being praised or berated because they are the one in charge.

For example, we have Jojo and Aof, two directors with resumes full of excellent shows like 3 Will Be Free, Moonlight Chicken, and Bad Buddy, but some people believed they fumbled their last series, Only Friends and Last Twilight. Should we blame the screenwriters Bee, Best, and Den who have also written for My Stand-In, Never Let Me Go, and Playboy (which others also felt had issues with the stories)? Last Twilight just won a Maya TV Award for Best Screenplay, so . . . no.

Another example is Chao Planoy who has written the novels for most of the GLs we have in 2024. Idol Factory got GAP and My Marvellous Dream is You (Dream), Change2561 took Affair, GMMTV has Us and Pluto, Blank went to Nine Star Studios, Mate is with Zensee, and Apple, which is being produced by Kongthup will probably go to WeTV. Each company uses its own directors, so Idol Factory used the same director for GAP and My Marvellous Dream is You. Both shows also had the same screenwriter. Everything should have been solid for both, but Chao has gone on record stating she disliked the adaptation of Dream, and she felt it was messy. Who's the issue then? Chao wrote the source material. Patty wrote the screenplays for both. Natthaphong directed both, but his vision wasn't as cohesive for the Dream like it was GAP and it shows in the series and ratings.

JittiRain is another popular BL writer. Her works include 2gether, Theory of Love, Fish Upon the Sky, and Be My Favorite, which have all been bought and filmed under GMMTV. When turned into shows, her pieces have had different directors and writers, but her lastest, Be My Favorite, was written and directed by people outside of GMMTV's usual roster of professionals. Be My Favorite also didn't use a branded GMMTV pair, yet it is consistently her highest rated series on various platforms, and that could be the result of all these listed reasons, but the praise is put on the director. I agree with this because I think the director, Waa, knew what he was up against and steered the series accordingly. He directs Club Friday, which is a show with the messiest plots, but he knows how to make those stories coherent. He had a vision and saw it through.

We heard awful things about the director's behavior on the set of Century of Love, but Wo directs several One31 series like Laws of Attraction, To Sir, with Love, and the upcoming Spare Me Your Mercy, so this might hurt him (which it should) while others who worked on the set and contributed to the toxicity will merely get shuffled to other projects.

There are so many examples that I could give, but as important as it is to acknowledge all of the hard work that goes into these series from everyone involved, at the end of the day, it's the director who is directing not just the series, but the set. If they mess up, we blame them. If things go right, we praise them. Their vision can make or break a series, so when we see a show work really well or fall apart, we normally look at the directors because that is their job.

Directors give direction to the story. Directors direct the set and all the departments. Directors directly impact the story. Directors are the captain of this ship, and they have to make sure it doesn't sink, and even though they have a lot of help making sure that doesn't happen, it takes a strong person to carry that burden of responsibility.

Which is why they get (the bulk of) the credit.