Award-Winning Scriptwriter Noreen ‘Noringai’ Capili on the Right Time
“Things happen for a reason.” This was one of the things that stuck with us as we sat down with Palanca award-winning author and scriptwriter, Noreen Capili, also known as “Noringai” — author of the National Book Store (NBS) bestsellers “Parang Kayo Pero Hindi” and “Buti Pa Ang Roma, May Papa.”
Once an aspiring journalist, Noreen had been writing since she was young and wanted to take up Mass Communication in college. However, life had other plans when she ended up in the Creative Writing program at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman where she discovered her particular interest in the creative form.
“When I studied Creative Writing at UP, I was introduced to different genres and types of writing. I realized then that I couldn’t do what we do here in journalism where it’s all straight facts and simple text, no metaphors whatsoever. In Creative Writing, there’s prose, poetry, and scriptwriting. Mas maraming mapaglalaruan (I can play around with my writing more). That’s why I stayed,” she shared.
Like most Creative Writing students, Noreen was prepared to pursue a career in writing after graduating and applied to big companies offering jobs and workshops for writers such as the ABS-CBN Corporation and Summit Media. However, she hadn’t anticipated the amount of rejections she had to face.
“All the workshops I applied to were rejecting me. So, I thought, maybe writing wasn’t for me,” she said. “I couldn’t keep waiting around because I needed to live, there were bills to pay. I couldn’t keep depending on my parents, either. So, I applied to a different industry.”
Noreen told us that for the next three to four years, she put her focus elsewhere and worked jobs different from the dream she had initially envisioned for herself. She took a job in real estate where she went from house to house, persuading customers to buy a house and lot. Through those years, she continued writing but it was more on the technical side, writing manuals, and editing supplementary magazines for school including Bato Balani and Salaguinto.
While working a nine-to-five job in Makati as a writer for a community website, Noreen came across a piece of news that stoked the flames of her writing dreams.
“I like to believe it was at the right time. I was working as an editor for a website and while searching for news, I saw ABS-CBN was looking for submissions for a comedy scriptwriting workshop,” she reminisced on how it felt like fate, and how she immediately took the chance to submit, especially since the last call for submission was on that same day!
“At that time in the early 2000s, blogging was already a thing and I had pieces I’ve already written on my blog page. So, what I did was I printed a blog entry and took the afternoon off, rode the MRT to ABS-CBN, and outside, there was a drop box for the entries. The name of the blog entry I submitted was ‘Pakwan’ (watermelon), which was a simple, funny entry about myself.”
It seemed the stars were indeed aligning when after a few days, she got the call and was hired. However, as most dreams did, it came at a price. Noreen told us how the workshops ran every Monday for a few months and how she took a leave every Monday afternoon to be able to attend. This didn’t go unnoticed by her company, and she ended up having to resign.
“I had to resign eventually. At that time, there was no certainty still, because in the TV or showbiz industry, if you don’t have a project, you don’t have income. Sometimes, we’ll be meeting three to four months without earning anything at all,” she revealed. “It was a risk I had to take. When I resigned, my manager offered me a promotion and to double my salary. If I was practical, I would’ve chosen to stay. There were benefits and everything! But at that time, I really wanted to write for TV.”
That began her entry-level role as a scriptwriter for one of the biggest media companies in the country. Her first project was for a comedy sitcom conducted by Jose Javier “Joey” Reyes. From there, she was handpicked by the same producers of the show for their next project, a musical anthology drama called “Your Song.”
“When there was a chance for it, even if it wasn’t sure, I jumped. And the rest as they say is history.”
Her Writing Journey: Scripts, Books, and Near-Death Experiences
Noreen’s scriptwriting career flourished through the years as she became part of project after project, consistently earning spots among writing teams in several television programs by ABS-CBN. But there was one other dream, she hoped to make a reality.
“I only have three dreams: to write for TV, write a movie, and write a book. Before I was a writer for ABS-CBN, I was already a blogger and columnist for Peyups, the online community for UP alumni and students. I wrote essays and articles there, and people said to me that if I compiled them into a book, they’d buy it. People fed me this dream, and I wasn’t sure if it could be a reality. Writing a book is no easy feat but it was something I wanted to do because it’s different from writing for TV or film. It’s a legacy you can leave behind. There’s a famous quote about the three things a man should do before they die: to have a child, plant a tree, and write a book.”
Noreen let her dream of authoring a novel simmer in the backburner for a time until an unfortunate incident happened. “In 2011, I almost died,” she shared. “I had a ruptured aneurysm. When that happened, I became determined to make that dream [publishing a book] come true.”
Upon her recovery, Noreen went to NBS and browsed through books to learn about the local publishers. She discovered that PSICOM was putting out books from blogs and she initially planned to compile her online essays. She inquired about submissions but was ghosted. The same thing happened for Summit Media Publishing. After those rejections, she started thinking about self-publishing.
“But then I saw Pam Pastor’s ‘Paper Cuts,’ which was published by Anvil Publishing. I emailed them about my manuscript, but they were closed for submissions, and I would have to wait for next year.”
It seemed that Noreen followed a theme throughout her writing career which was “right place, right time,” because by the time the following year rolled around, Anvil Publishing contacted her and expressed their interest in her work.
“They were looking for a female Bob Ong, and it just so happens our humor and voice were similar,” Noreen said. Her compiled essays eventually became her first book, “Parang Kayo Pero Hindi,” which she published under the pen name, “Noringai” — a pseudonym the publisher suggested for her. Noreen also signed with them to write two more books in the next three years.
“I realized then that the rejections, the apathy of the previous publishers, they happened for a reason. Rejection can also mean protection. I needed to mature first, to better my writing. A closed door doesn’t mean the end. As it turns out, I was meant for Anvil.”
With experience writing across three different mediums, we asked her which form she enjoys writing the most to which she replied, “Financially speaking, scriptwriting for TV has the money. But ownership is in the books. There are bragging rights to authoring a book. Mas masarap sumulat ng libro, pero pinaka-mahirap magsulat nito (I believe writing books is the best, but it’s also the hardest)."
Noreen also explained that each medium has its unique set of challenges. In TV, she stated that it’s more collaborative and that the writer is often at the bottom of the food chain. “You have to listen to a lot of voices — the producers, director, network executives, and the advertisers. You have to be dynamic and flexible.”
Meanwhile, writing a film script is a more solitary affair. Noreen told us that she’s only given directives by the producer to write for a certain actor or about a certain place, and is given free reign with the story.
She also finds writing personal essays to be much easier compared to writing fiction. “I really admire authors. It’s hard to write a novel,” she confessed. “I still haven’t finished the novel I started writing in 2018! *laughs* I remember Butch Dalisay [Jose Dalisay Jr.] said that no matter how bad a novel turns out, he would still commend its writer because finishing it is an accomplishment in itself.”
When asked if she had a favorite project from her career, she mentioned “Katorse” (2009-2010) for TV and “Through Day and Night” — the 2018 film starring Alessandra De Rossi and Paolo Contis set in Iceland. She also mentioned her Palanca-award-winning script, “DOS,” which she originally wrote to be produced to be a film, but certain factors encouraged her to submit to the prestigious awarding body instead.
“Many years ago, Star Cinema asked me to think up a love story for this actor and actress, and I thought what if they saw each other at EDSA DOS [Second EDSA Revolution] and they didn’t see each other until many years later? It’s an affair film. However, it was rejected because it was difficult to mount. It was a big film, and it would be hard to, for example, close off EDSA for the rally scenes.”
“I then submitted it to a workshop by TBA Studios [Tuko Film Productions Inc., Buchi Boy Entertainment, and Artikulo Uno Productions], the producers of ‘Heneral Luna’ and ‘GOYO,’ and they accepted it. But it wasn’t produced since the pandemic happened. I took back the concept and decided to submit it to the Palanca Awards. Again, [it was the] right time because the elections had just concluded at that time, and so it was on theme, and it won!”
Noreen also penned the 2024 film, “Guilty Pleasure,” starring Lovi Poe, which is a love story set in the legal world with an underlying message that promotes women empowerment and raises awareness for abuse.
“The goal was to spark conversations,” she said. “These topics [abuse, discrimination] are often talked about in closed doors. During our block screening, some members of the Department of Justice said that they were inspired to speak up and talk about these things more openly.”
The scriptwriter also expressed that the Philippine entertainment industry has changed throughout the years with more people being more open to varying genres and film styles with their exposure to Netflix and other streaming platforms. “It’s good for the Filipino audience to be exposed to a variety of genres. As filmmakers and scriptwriters, we’re always thinking, 'What can we offer that’s new? Or that they haven’t seen before and can be recognized as a good movie, globally?'”
Although Filipinos’ tastes in shows have become more diverse, Noreen also added that their love for romance movies and loveteam-centered shows remains unchanged, which is why there are still a lot of them being produced.
With several shows and films under her belt, and a few books on the shelf, Noreen is what many Filipino writers aspire to become. Not only because of her talent, but also for her tenacity, consistency, and courage to pursue her dreams. When asked about what’s the most challenging thing about being a writer, she immediately answered, “We are our own enemies. I often ask myself: 'How come when I was an emerging writer, I could easily finish a script?' But now, I find myself struggling. I realized the reason for it is because I know more now. With experience comes knowledge, and this also fuels our doubts. Your past self haunts you, especially if you have a big hit before and you end up wondering if you can do it again.”
Indeed, as many writers do, Noreen just keeps on writing, believing that it’s her calling and an opportunity she shouldn’t waste.
“This is what I’m good at and what I enjoy doing, and I make money out of this. So, I need to keep doing it well. Not everyone is given the chance to be in a position to tell stories and have people pay attention to them — to listen, see, or read them. Since I’m already here, I might as well continue and use my talent and platform to inspire and influence change among people. To make them feel something. Only a few people get the chance for their work to be seen, heard, or valued. So, I think to myself, 'Don’t waste it.'”
As for the writers aspiring to create scripts for shows or to publish their novels, Noreen advised, “Don’t let the praises and criticisms get into your head. Rejections don’t go away no matter how many years you’ve been working in the industry or how famous you get. Even Ricky Lee gets rejected, too. What’s important is you remain steadfast on your core and what you believe in.”
“The lesson that I learned from my journey is if you get rejected, don’t be discouraged. Do something productive then go back to it. Don’t let other people tell you what you can or cannot do. It’s just you and yourself. You know what you can do and how far you can go. Rejection and frustration will always be there so just keep finding ways to fight against it.”
For updates on Noringai’s latest releases and book events, follow her on Facebook and Instagram. Her books are also available at National Book Store branches and at Anvil Publishing’s online stores.
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