Demand for star-rated actors in Indonesian television films

Demand for star-rated actors in Indonesian television films

By Tuti Gintini

JAKARTA (JP): During the golden years of Indonesian films, few
producers would eye Cok Simbara as many films he acted in were a
flop even though he could act well.

After passing into oblivion in the film industry for quite a
while, he made a comeback in Noktah Merah Perkawinan (Red Stain
of Marriage) with popular actress Ayu Azhari. Surprisingly this
teleseries won great popularity and became a household name.
Obviously, Ayu's popularity helped catapult Cok to TV fame. Today
both of them are among Indonesia's A-rated highly paid TV actors.

Ayu reportedly receives Rp 40 million (US$4,400) per episode,
which needs only about two weeks to make.

Just like the big-screen films, teleseries, locally called
sinetron, also adopts the star system. A marketing staffer of a
private TV station says that whenever Ayu, now a mother of three,
stars in a TV film, it is sure to succeed and is therefore
fertile ground for commercials. No wonder TV film producers vie
with one another to have her in their films.

Ayu's appearance in teleseries has helped popularize other
names in the business. Cok is only an example. In the same way, a
junior director may catch the attention of a TV film producer
just because of doing a film casting Ayu.

Besides Ayu, there are quite a few other A-rated stars now
such as Paramitha Rusady, Dian Nitami, Cut Keke, Lulu Tobing,
Bella Saphira, Inneke Koesherawaty, Elma Theana, Adjie Pangestu,
Peggy Melati Sukma, Krisdayanti, Primus Gunawan, Anjas Asmara,
Jeremy Thomas and Ari Wibowo. Desi Ratnasari actually belongs to
this class too, but her recent divorce and unsympathetic attitude
may considerably affect her status.

The star system prevailed during the heyday of Indonesian
films. Then we had the big five: Yenny Rachman, Dorris Callebout,
Robby Sugara, Roy Marten and Yati Octavia. In their day, they
dominated the Indonesian film world and their fees were too high
for other stars to compete with. Top-class stars after them were
Merriam Bellina, Lydia Kandau and Rano Karno.

Indonesian film producers have admitted that in the past it
was the film brokers who had the final say about who should be in
the cast. In the present era of teleseries, however, it is
generally the advertisers and the marketing division of a
television station that will determine the cast.

The negative effect of this is that the talent-scouting
section and the casting director of a television station cannot
really function. Eddy de Rounde, a talent-scouting division head
at Indosiar, said it was often the case that the names of the
stars for a particular cast were replaced with the advertisers'
choice by the production and marketing sections.

"I think I pick the right persons for the right characters in
the film, but I'm powerless against the marketing section," he
said.

Chocky Situmorang, production manager of the same TV station,
added that if the top stars requested by the advertisers or
marketing department are not available, he would go ahead with
the film production with other artists.

"I don't think, therefore, that we are overly dictated by
them," he added.

Some TV series, indeed, do not rely on the star system.
Indosiar, for example, airs Misteri Gunung Merapi (Mystery of Mt.
Merapi), Lupus, Saras 008 and Cerita Cinta (Love Story). Even
though they are without famous names, these series are quite
popular and attract a lot of commercials.

On the other hand, most production houses always rely on
famous stars for the films they supply to TV stations.

It is a public secret how Multi Vision's Raam Punjabi has
cleverly secured the commitment of stars and directors that will
bring him profit. He will give them luxury houses or cars to
ensure that they will not work for other producers.

No wonder when TV films began to flourish in the 1990s, Raam's
film productions were so dominant he was dubbed "King of
Indonesia's TV films". Raam once said he was proud of this title
because it was he who had pioneered the production of popular TV
films.

Leo Sutanto, TV film producer of Prima Enterprise, said that
actually he preferred to produce TV films without involving top
stars and also without exploiting themes of romance and adultery.
What he did is the opposite.

"Actually the TV station itself must set a good example of
such a change in taste. We only supply the films and usually we
find it difficult to sell our products if they do not include
famous stars," he said.

Discipline

The high demand for top stars also results in other negative
aspects. Cameraman Sri Atmo, for example, said that most top-
ranking stars often come late to the location.

On the part of the stars, their late arrival may not be
deliberate. Often the reason is they join too many film
productions and accept too many offers for entertainment shows.
Sometimes they arrive at the shooting location too tired for
proper shooting. The shots must be repeated many times, a factor
delaying production, of which the most important thing is
actually teamwork. Very often, therefore, these over tired actors
or actresses have to be hospitalized before the shooting is
finished.

"Tamara Bleszinky was hospitalized because of typhoid fever
after working day and night for the Ramadhan TV package," Sri
Atmo said.

There is another bad story. A top actress came at 1 p.m. and
had to be made-up. The make-up man was a newcomer. The actress
refused him and insisted that the usual make-up man be brought to
the location. Unfortunately he was engaged in another production.
The result was the schedule had to be postponed. Other members of
the crew, usually the lower-paid ones, could only heave a sigh
because of the arrogant attitude of this top actress.

Of course, not all top stars are that bad. Paramitha Rusady is
a good example. She is a professional top star ready to cooperate
with everybody else in the production lineup.