EXCLUSIVE: Erik Matti’s online ‘On The Job’ confirmed for release later this year

After it was announced last year that director Erik Matti was partnering with HOOQ to produce of an online series version of his film On The Job, people began looking forward to watching this much-anticipated project. This year, many speculated the project had already been shelved because it was past its original release date. This was refuted by HOOQ Philippines’ Sheila Paul. “Actually we started production already. You can even look at director Erik Matti’s [social media] feed because he has posts about it. We are looking at a third quarter release for OTJ,” she explained during the special screening of the HOOQ original series The Oath held in Taguig city.

As the newly appointed country manager to the Southeast Asian Video On Demand service, Paul revealed the real reason for the delay in the project which was the decision to make a movie instead of an online series. “It was because Erik wanted a grander vision for the movie because he wanted it to be a strong standalone as opposed to the original plan which was to be a single episode of the series. Now it’s a standalone version so it requires more planning. But definitely there was no cancellation,” she shared.

Paul said that HOOQ is a supporter of the local film industry. “We are super excited not just in the Philippines but all the other markets. The Philippines is actually being given the lead to co-produce its own from scratch movie. It’s going to be shown around all the other countries also. Definitely one of the things we’re working on is to strengthen our local library so we are still continuing our relationship with the likes of Viva and Regal for all their new movies that come out during the year, three months from theatrical release and it’s already on HOOQ. This is our contribution to our users and also to the studios,” she said.

When it comes to Pinoy viewers online, Paul also happily shared that local films are giving their foreign counterparts a good competition. “What’s interesting in the past few months is that we’ve really seen a catch up in the viewership of local content. In fact, you can say it’s like 50/50 demand in terms of Hollywood and local. I think what’s been interesting is that people have been watching a lot of the newest movies on HOOQ like always in our Top 10 is stuff like Kita Kita, Woke Up Like This, Die Beautiful, recent releases are what people are watching probably because people are talking about it and they didn’t catch it at the theaters,” she added.