Hi, I'm Neo Bryce, I wrote and directed Wala!

the story

'Wala' was written during the COVID-19 Pandemic. All around me, I've started seeing people losing jobs and everyone just felt lost and aimless. I too, at the time, felt that way. I felt as if it had no end. The uncertainty scared me. This endless waiting for something to happen, for a pandemic to blow over. Although, I'm one of the lucky ones. I also just wanted to explore anxiety and how it grows and festers.

making the film

We shot the film at the tail-end of the pandemic. I had money saved and I had friends who were also just eager to do something that's not sitting around. With enthusiasm, we shot the film around the end of August 2022. Since I also was the producer, I made sure to research everything that we'd need. It's already written in the script that majority of the film will be set inside the main character, June's apartment. So I had to figure out where to shoot it.

I didn't have enough money to rent out a house for a full month, so we ended up booking an AirBNB for a whole month. While shooting, the cast and crew had this running joke of calling it "AirBNB filmmaking" and it's quite fitting. The space was tight but it was ours so we didn't have to worry about being shy around other people, we could just get to work.

My producing partner for the film is Ivan Cabanial, who I worked with in Anong Nangyari Kay Andrew Magsilang? While scheduling of the shoots were worked on by 1st AD Karina Jabido, who is also a brilliant filmmaker. Since most of us also had dayjobs, we scheduled the shoots during weekends. And we did that for a month. All in all we had about 8 shooting days for this film.

visuals

The film was inspired visually and tonally by films such as 2019's Take Me Somewhere Nice and 2020's Limbo, both of them featured characters that were lost, stuck or are waiting for something to happen, and in a way that's what Wala was all about. This girl who is trying to get her life together.

I showed the mood board to my cinematographer, JP Calis. Initially, I really didn't consider the aspect ratio of the film but as we were setting up our first shot of the film, JP suggested that we should shoot our film in 4:3 and that immediately excited me. Because we could do things with our shots and be playful about it. The main problem with shooting in an AirBNB during the weekends is really, continuity. That's where my Production Designer, Anj Estrella, came in.

Before shooting, I let her read the script and she was willing to do it in an instant. I even got her to cameo as the Italian smoking lady in the film. Aside from Production Design, she really helped a lot with continuity in the set and even with the continuity as it pertains to the actors' performance. Even during our last day when Anj couldn't make it to set, she continued to help the shoot virtually. She was so brilliant and I feel that she really brought so much texture and layer to the project that made the final film so much more beautiful than it already is on paper.

dancing

I also let my friend, Maf Braceros to tag along and help with the choreography for the last few minutes of the film. I really enjoyed her presence as she really grounded the set. Also, it was just fun helping her figure out the space and how we can incorporate it with her choreography and the camera. So it was a fun puzzle to figure out. I wanted June to have this big moment of catharsis in the end, although nothing eventually went her way, I wanted her to have a 'release your demons' moment and that's what she did. I'm so grateful that everyone in the team was so involved and excited to do it.

acting

The film opens with June eating alongside her friends and listening to them gossip about life, while also feeling very detached from everything. The scene was meant to be funny, so we got the best improvisers for it, my friends Christine Grace Ruta and Joel Parojinog, Jr. It was a lovely shoot, we did it at an outdoor bar and I bought them food and just let them do it. We made up this story about their friend back in high school who got pregnant. It was a fun and easy shoot because the atmosphere on the set was just easy and everyone was just willing to play.

For the character who June matches with, Sheila, I asked my friend Claire Contesa. First of all, she was an OG for letting us use her car for transport around the city during our last day. And again, she was just so brilliant. And she immediately had good chemistry with our lead actor. Same as Stefanie Cartoneros who I only had the pleasure of working with for one day. She played Megan, June's best friend and she was so game to do everything, shoot in broad daylight and record dialogue in a hot car, watching her put her own spin on hilarious lines I wrote was such an honor.

I first worked with Jing (Gezelle Jean Dacillo) back in my other film a short film about growing up, she was already brilliant during the making of that film, but after making that one, I promised her that I will make a film with her as a lead in it. And I felt this was the one. She was a fantastic actor, she would give me unpredictable and exciting takes and it was exciting for me to see her shine and bring this character to life.

I remember during setups, while taking breaks, she would say that the character was her and it made things easier. It surely wasn't intentional, but almost all of my films have that magic voodoo in it that lends to actors being cast in characters that have something in common with them. This was no exception. I have to say, making this film, has been the best experience I've had in a while and because of that, I will forever look at it fondly. There was just good vibes on set all the time. It's because of this fantastic cast, and this fantastic crew. I can still feel it, watching it today. It was a fun time whatever magic that set had, I will always try and replicate, in my future ones.

awards

As an epilogue, I just want to discuss the awards. We went into making the film expecting nothing, we just wanted to make a good-quality film that we can be proud of. So when it got selected for Mindanao Film Festival that year, I was surprised. And when it got nine nominations, I was surprised again. And then when we won three major awards: Best Director, Jury Prize, and Best Production Design, I was over the moon. Me and my crew were just in cloud nine that awards night. We were absolutely ready to lose but the surprise that came from expecting nothing was next level.

Currently, the film is up on big twist's Youtube Channel and it already has 22,000 views! A channel record! I just want to thank everyone who's watched it and supported it so far. I hope you've seen the film and it moved you in some way.