SYNOPSIS

Danny (Winston Elizalde) and Jonas (Nor Domingo) are two petty crooks who dream of moving into the big scene. When their carefully-planned kidnapping goes askew, Danny and Jonas find themselves in a tangle neither of them can handle.

Big Time is the non-linear story of two small-time criminals, a wannabe actress, the son of a crime lord, and the kidnapping that brings all of them together for what should be the ticket to their dreams.

In this crazy world, everybody wants to go big time.

Going BIG TIME: the story.

Filipinos almost have no other choice than to go for the big time. For many, a lifetime of hard work and dedication results in a salary barely high enough to keep their heads above water. This perpetuates a culture of widespread gambling, corruption and pyramid schemes. Everybody plays the game, everybody knows it’s crooked, but it’s the only game in the country.

The film is about the different ways Filipinos do to hit it big.

DANNY (Winston Elizalde) and JONAS (Nor Domingo) are the best of friends, since grade school. In a way they’re harmless members of the Tambo community, only they’re not as productive and successful as they’ve tried so hard to be, legitimately. And so the duo engages in petty crimes to complement their meager lives, all the time dreaming of the day they run their own big organized crime operation, like the one of Don Manolo (Michael de Mesa), the local crime lord.

Their ticket to the big scene is to kidnap MELODY (Joanne Miller), the prettiest girl in Tambo. Her parents - DESI (Tony Roma), a taxi driver and TERESA (Carme Sanchez), the doting stage mother – both have big dreams for their little girl, which partly includes the local councilor. In truth, all Melody wants is to become a big movie star. Every Wednesday, Melody’s parents go to prayer rallies and Melody stays behind, supposedly to study.

On the night Danny and Jonas kidnap Melody, they discover a secret Melody has been keeping from her parents for quite some time – WILSON (Jamie Wilson). Wilson is your average confident wealthy dude raised in the States – except that he happens to be the only son of Don Manolo. Wilson wants to take over the family’s business in the underworld, but his father has plans of his own for his son.

The four main characters meet, and as comic situations go, all plans turn absurdly awry. Danny, Jonas, Melody and Winston must find what is truly in themselves to fulfill their ultimate dreams.

Making BIG TIME: about the production.

Originally, Big Time’s story was to be pitched to Fil-Am actor Ernie Reyes Jr. (The Rundown, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) at the time the Hollywood actor was in Manila looking for materials. But nothing had come of it. The day before the deadline of the Cinemalaya competition for scripts, director Mario Cornejo, who co-wrote the screenplay with producer Monster Jimenez, filed the storyline on a whim. A few months after that, Big Time made it into the list of ten finalists.

Casting Big Time was the first big task for the filmmakers. Casting files added up to two inches thick of paper. “I think it paid off,” muses Cornejo. “Our actors were first and foremost amazingly talented. But more than that, they were so easy to get along with and amazingly fun to work with.” Jimenez, who supervised the casting, agrees. “Shooting Big Time was such great fun that many of the actors have become our good friends.”

For the entire production, the thirteen-day shoot was easily the most fun everyone had. Filming began and ended in December 2004, with only two pick-up days in January 2005. Almost everything went according to plan in those days, but not without some glitches.

On the first day of shoot, Metro Manila was drenched at the height of a tropical storm. The second day was threatened to be cancelled. But by midnight of the first day, the storm had subsided, and the weather was friendlier after that.

Midway into the shoot, one of the cameras stopped functioning, forcing the production to find a new camera and pushing the schedule back five hours. Despite everything, the production continued to beat the festival’s deadline.

By February 2005, all the elements of the movie were in. Overall, Big Time took around six months of preparation and production – an ordinary schedule by industry standards, but quite a feat for the young production team.

About the Screenwriters

Mario Cornejo is 29 years old. He grew up in Tambo, where Big Time takes place. He does not work in an office and has no plans to do so in the future. Mario is a voracious reader who sometimes resorts to reading math books and shampoo labels when there are no books left to read. Sometimes, he writes. Sometimes, he directs. But only two things give him joy: making movies and his cat, Cuba.

Coreen "Monster" Jimenez is 29 years old. She lives in Alabang and works in an office called Arkeomedia. She has not informed U.P. that she is not enrolling this term, only her second in the Master's Program for Creative Writing. She was hired and fired by Mike de Leon several times. She doesn't eat fruit.

Major Credit Titles

Production Company	Arkeofilms
Genre	Comedy
Director	Mario Cornejo
Producer	Monster Jimenez
Major Cast	Michael de Mesa Nor Domingo Winston Elizalde Jamie Wilson Joanne Miller
Supporting Actors	Frederick Edwards Joel Ruiz Tony Roma Gerry Cornejo Amante Pulido Jon Santos
Supporting Actress	Carme Sanchez
Screenwriter	Mario Cornejo Monster Jimenez
Cinematographer	Ike Avellana
Musical Scorer	Allan Feliciano
Sound Design	Raffy Magsaysay
Film Editors	Mario Cornejo Monster Jimenez
Production Designer	Christina Dy
Line Producers	Joel Ruiz Margie Templo