Plucked out of their steady stream of roles in the independent cinema circuit, young actors Elijah Canlas and Kokoy De Santos, along with The IdeaFirst Company, hit entertainment gold with the first successful Philippine-made Boys’ Love (BL) series, Gameboys.
More than the saccharine exchanges and the heart-tugging drama, Gameboys: The Series, elicited critical and audience success with its delicate and refreshing portrayal of love–unembellished, uninhibited, pure.
We sat down, albeit virtually, with the online series’ lead actors to talk about the beauty of the series’ message, the creative and logistical journey it took to foray into the creation of the digital content amid limitations to a global audience, the continuing criticisms on representation thrown the way of BL as a genre, and life lessons they picked up while on quarantine in this special edition of Rank Episodes.
Produced by Rank Magazine
Interviewed by Leo Balante with Eric Avena
Edited by Joe Andy
Special acknowledgments to Ferdy Lapuz, Judith Bauer, and The IdeaFirst Company.
Featuring clips for illustration purposes only from “Gameboys: The Series” via The IdeaFirst Company YouTube