ABS-CBN to build state-of-the-art soundstages

MANILA, Philippines - ABS-CBN Corp. is set to build state-of-the-art soundstages and backlots that will enable the Kapamilya network to meet the multimedia company’s expansion plans and its growing needs to serve the viewing public.

“The first soundstage will be up before end of 2012 in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan,” said ABS-CBN chief technology officer Raul Bulaong, who is responsible for ABS-CBN’s production, post-production, animation, and transmission.

Bulaong said a soundstage is a sound-proof building in which TV shows and films are shot.

“It’s like building a place where you can put together a hospital room, a hotel lobby, and an office space side by side and even shoot scenes sequentially,” he said.

ABS-CBN is the first among the local TV networks to pioneer the construction of state-of-the-art soundstages as it was also the first to build state-of-the-art TV studios in the ’90s.

Aside from soundstages, Bulaong said ABS-CBN will also construct backlots which are areas adjacent to a soundstage that will enable them to shoot exterior or outdoor scenes like streets in foreign countries, a slum area, or even a generic street in New York City without the need to travel to far flung places.

“With these facilities, you can easily do that. You just replicate the scenes,” he said. 

Bulaong said the consumers stand to benefit from the plan. “ABS-CBN is producing a lot of TV shows aired on Channel 2, Studio 23, cable TV channels like ANC, movies by Star Cinema,” he said.

And when the National Telecommunications gives its go signal for local networks to shift to digital TV, ABS-CBN will launch five more new channels. This would mean more content and more shows that ABS-CBN should be able to produce efficiently.

For the city of San Jose del Monte, the construction of soundstages will be spurring development as demand for accommodation and recreation will be created as more production people and celebrities start trekking to Bulacan to work on TV and film assignments.