Ever since the Sinecod Forte TVC aired on national television, my identity has been synonymous with the image of "the coughing guy in the cinema". Comments like "Ayyyyy, ikaw yong umuubo!", "Anggaling mo naman umubo", or a simple irksome, "Ubo-ubo-ubo!" are but normal remarks that I would get on a day-to-day basis...especially now, that it airs like crazy, thanks to the rainy season. It's funny, but after the initial kilig of having a full-length, full-blown exposure (following my 1-, 2-second cameos in Frutos, Motilium and even DoH and Sun Cellular), it slowly ceased to be amusing. I was a guest lecturer/facilitator in Cebu last June for the general orientation for agency leaders (GOAL) of my company. This was attended by unit managers and some financial advisers from the Visayas-Mindanao cluster. As I'm co-heading corporate training with Maita, we don't usually have training involvement with the agency force...which explains the mention of the title "guest lecturer/facilitator" earlier.
After a lengthy session opener/getting-to-know-you activity facilitated by the in-house agency force sales training manager, it was finally my portion's schedule. So I got my Bluetooth clicker ready, I straightened out the creases of my pants and shirt, and then stood up at the back, while waiting for my formal introduction to the participants. I was expecting to hear a spiel about me being the corporate training manager in head office, being "imported" to assist the sales training team to do this particular new employees orientation, that it was supposedly an honor to blahblahblah...heard those before. So when Jenny started deflecting from the "official" spiel after the "We're honored to be joined here by..." portion, i froze in my corner. She continued by saying, "...a very familiar face, someone you would've definitely seen on your television sets. He is a very popular commercial model, and you will remember him from his latest commercial which he will tell you of and show you later. Ladies and gentlemen, isang masigabong palakpakan para kay Ben Redulla". Believe you me, I was beet red and was literally shaking as I laughed and shook my head as I walked my way towards the front of the class.
That was almost exactly the same scenario when i recently attended a friend's friend's birthday party in Ayala-Alabang. Being the gracious host that he supposedly was, he would introduce whoever arrives in his townhouse to every single one of his guests. He would introduce the guests "normally", i.e. by their names...but whenever he reaches me, he'd always say, "This is Ben Redulla, commercial model sya". Imagine me turning beet red. All over again...and repeatedly mumbling, "Anobah! May ganon talaga?!"
Being a commercial model--ahem, I still half-choke regarding myself as that--isn't exactly the glamorous job everybody thinks it is. A whole lot of my gang, officemates, and mom's kumares would tell me how my life is so dazzling, so kainggit, and so bongga--and then follows it up with statements like, "Oy, isama mo naman ako sa mga projects mo"...or a variation like "Uy, yung anak/apo/pamangkin ko naman, ipa-owdishyon mo rin".
What they don't know is that modeling isn't exactly a glamorous job. All they see is the finished product--where we're all made up, wearing nice costumes, and with perfect lightings, blockings and editing. What they don't see is the ordeal of having to scrimmage against legions of co-model-wannabes in the DIScomfort of the audition/VTR/casting venues. The long lines, the sitting on the floor, the uncalculable cab fares to and from the venues, skipping meals, occasional pagtakas from the office, the spun out wait for your turn to do a 5-minute VTR (only to be told later that the person they're hiring is a known celebrity...blech!), the mortifying requirements for the audition such as taking off your shirt or doing a macho dancing routine...or both, the early-morning call times that don't start until after six hours of waiting, the countless takes especially when the director is such an exacting power-hungry prick, the countless resetting of workshop/fitting/shoot scheduels, and the exhausting takes. And, oh, let's not forget the harrowing wait for the talent fee to be released...which really takes the cake in the worst thing about it. Because, ladies and gentlemen, we almost never get paid immediately after the shoot. That will be like one in two million chances.
Don't get me wrong, I love the attention (hahahaha), the recognition, the moolah, and the self-esteem boost that goes with it. But, hey, I'm not exactly absorbing yet the designation "Ben the Commercial Model". That's so tongue-in-cheek. Just remember...don't be fooled by the rocks that I got, I'm still, I'm still Benny from the Block.....BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
