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Date Posted: 15:07:50 05/10/05 Tue
Author: mmJun - Good people here
Subject: Fil-Am entertainment group brings Pinoys Closer

Fil-Am entertainment group
brings Filipinos closer to home

By Leah Nemil-San Jose, contributor INQ7.net

IT'S the year 2010, and walking on the red carpet of Kodak Theater in Los Angeles are Regine Velasquez and Aga Muhlach, who are in town to promote their latest film. They slowly make their way inside the theater, stopping after just a few inches to sign autographs for Filipino-Americans who have come to watch their idols. Screams are heard each time a limousine drops off another Filipino actor, whether a cast member or just there to watch the premiere. It's all Pinoy glitz and showbiz glamour -- could it rival any American premiere headlined perhaps by Brad Pitt?

Dream on, as some Filipinos would probably say. But six young Filipino entrepreneurs are asking you to believe that maybe, just maybe, what you've just read could actually happen.

Currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, AJ Rosario and wife CJ, Alan G, Bong Castillo and Edna and Quino Araneta were like any barkada who would throw around business ideas at get-togethers, with their favorite reality TV show "The Apprentice" usually providing the inspiration. Because movies and music had always been a passion for most of them, a video and music distributorship enterprise was a subject that they came back to often.

"We knew that there are so many Filipinos here in the US who were just like us, missing the Philippines, particularly the Tagalog movies and OPM. In fact, go anywhere in the world and you'll find Filipinos who were simply 'sabik' to watch and hear anything from their home country," says the group's spokesperson, CJ.

CJ probably had a lot to do with her friends finally getting serious in putting up the business. With her onboard, they already had insider knowledge -- CJ after all had been a manager at Viva Video Inc., perhaps the most successful video distributorship business in the Philippines with its exclusive tie-up with Disney, Fox, MGM, and Touchstone. Plus her mother, Tess Del Rosario-Cruz, is the president and chief operating officer of Viva Entertainment Group and the indefatigable Vic Del Rosario is her uncle.

More important, however, the six friends realized that this was an opportunity to give Filipinos in the US a wide array of choices of Filipino movies and music, which cannot be said now.

"When we hit on this idea we knew that our primary goal was to bring global Filipinos closer to home by making Filipino titles easily available to them," CJ explains. "Right now, the offerings are so limited that it simply does not satisfy the demand."

The group finally got to business and formed Dynamic Vision Entertainment, LLC (DVE), under the trademark Entertainment Pinoy, a specialized Internet portal that focuses solely on providing quality and affordable Filipino movies and music to Filipinos abroad. Its first order of the day: know what Filipinos in the US where hankering for.

DVE's market survey revealed that movies of Sharon Cuneta, Richard Gomez and the Viva Hot Babes topped the video list of US-based Filipinos while Regine Velasquez, Ogie Alcasid and Sarah Geronimo lead the pack when it comes to musical artists. In response, CJ, who has followed in her mother's footsteps as DVE's COO, forged a partnership with Viva. DVE now has exclusive distributorship rights to sell all Viva products in selected states in the US.

Several challenges face DVE -- gain more territorial rights, offer better products and services at more affordable rates than its competitors -- but the most pressing perhaps is video piracy. Already, DVE has heard concerns from US stores and retailers about the legitimacy of videos coming from the Philippines.

"The notion that anything coming from the Philippines is pirated is something that needs to be dispelled," CJ points out. "It's a legitimate concern -- there are stories about Filipinos coming in the US bringing 70 to 80 compact discs and 10 to 20 DVDs, all fake. That's bad for our business and for the Philippine movie and music industry as well. That's why we know that we must take the initiative to inform, no, to educate, the people about the harmful effects of piracy. That's definitely DVE's advocacy."

While DVE's service is currently available only in the US, that will change when its website, www.entertainmentpinoy.com, is launched next month. It will offer Filipinos everywhere -- and at any time -- online purchasing so they won't have to look far and wide for their favorite Filipino movies and music.

For the six friends, their adventure in the entertainment business is just the beginning. CJ shares that eventually the group would like to bring Filipino talents in the US to do shows and concerts. They'd also like to develop a Filipino artist who can capture the mainstream American audience.

"Talent-wise, we definitely have it so we know it's just the proper timing and right packaging. Take note that in the recent 'American Idol,' two of the top ten had a Filipino heritage. That surely says something about Filipino talent."

And, of course, there is their dream of a simultaneous release of Filipino movies in the Philippines and in the US.

"If that happens, that will be our very own red carpet moment."

You can now reach Entertainment Pinoy
at toll-free number 1-888-8-EPINOY

or via e-mail at
info@entertainmentpinoy.com for details.


------------- :-) --------- good people here -------->


Mbr of the Regine fans list!

http://insidebuzz.tripod.com

" Support good caring pinoys among us! "

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