Emmy-winning producer comes home to build a studio for Filipino stories

MANILA, Philippines — Michael Carandang spent 20 years in American television, from “The Jerry Springer Show” to a Daytime Emmy with “The Tyra Banks Show.” On Monday, August 3, he stood in a Makati cinema to launch the studio he says will let the next generation of Filipino creators skip the trip abroad.

Goat Creative Studios, a Manila-based production company co-founded by Carandang and entrepreneur Jonathan M. Sterling, marked its official launch at Greenbelt Cinema 4 with a media event, an advance screening of its first reality docuseries “Celeste Unscripted,” and the reveal of its first documentary film: “Songbird,” on the life and career of Regine Velasquez.

The studio pairs Carandang’s two decades of experience in American and Philippine television with the backing of Sterling, an entrepreneur and investor who has lived in the Philippines for about five years — and who is clear about which of the two runs the shows.

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‘Who’s going to pay for it?’

“One of the things that I’m good at is identifying good people. When I first met with Michael and saw the vision that he had, and his reputation in the industry — I mean, he also has an Emmy, right? Let’s not underplay that. Mike will never put that out there, but he’s actually a very accomplished producer,” Sterling said.

That resumé runs deep. Carandang told the media he started his television dream on “The Jerry Springer Show,” won the Daytime Emmy as part of “The Tyra Banks Show,” and worked on “America’s Next Top Model” before moving back to the Philippines in 2012, where he directed around 17 installments of “Making MEGA,” the country’s first fashion documentary series.

But Carandang said the pandemic exposed the one problem that stops Filipino creators more than any other.

“If you ask a lot of creators, the number one thing that would stop them from actually making their idea into something real is: who’s going to pay for it?” he said. “We have so many amazing creators in the Philippines, so many talented producers. But nobody’s willing to front the money.”

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That is the problem Sterling built Goat to solve. For him, the studio is as much an investment in the country as in a company.

“I really want to invest in the Philippine economy and hire more and more Filipinos,” Sterling said. “There are so many talented people in this country. Rather than the top people going to Hollywood or LA to work, we offer them an option here — where you can work for a top-quality studio while still being in your local culture, around your friends and family.”

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Documentaries

Sterling was candid that the studio’s approach carries risk in a market built on proven formats.

“People are doing, generally, the format that they already know works, whereas Goat is more focused on new, innovative, creative concepts that may or may not work,” he said. “So I’m actually super nervous. But I think it’s the first time that the Philippines is going to see something like this.”

The studio’s first slate leads with “Celeste Unscripted,” an eight-episode docuseries following former Miss Universe Philippines Celeste Cortesi through the year she became an entrepreneur, fell in love, and started a family — premiering Saturday, Aug. 8.

“To me, you have to be Goat level to work with Goat,” said Carandang, who created the series and first worked with Cortesi during her Miss Universe Philippines campaign. “Out of the many, many queens we’ve had in the Philippines, Celeste has a very, very interesting story — and with the show, you’re going to be able to see how it transitioned from that moment to where she is today.”

The launch also revealed the trailer for “Songbird,” Goat’s first documentary film, timed to Velasquez’s 40th year in the industry. The singer, joined by her sister and manager Cacai Mitra, then took the stage for a press interview of her own — and made clear the film will go where no interview has.

“There are so many things that a lot of people don’t know about what I’m going through right now — and it will be revealed in this documentary,” Velasquez said. “Even back then, there were so many things that I’ve gone through that not a lot of people know. So yes, there will be so many things revealed. A lot of them good, a lot of them probably not so good, too.”

“I’ve done many, many interviews — about how I started, about my life, about everything and anything about how my career came to be. But nothing like this,” she said. “This is the full story of my life, and we’ve never really done it this way, at this stage of my life.”

The film follows the road to her finale concert this October — the last big concert, she said, of a career on stage that began when she was 17 — with the documentary filming across a whole year. The project began with Mitra, who conceived it for her sister’s 40th anniversary and, Velasquez said, “couldn’t think of anyone else” to direct it but Carandang.

“I was in the US from 13 until I was 33, and I remember feeling so homesick at 13, 14, 15 years old — I would just listen to her songs. My friends had Mariah; I had Regine,” Carandang said. “We wanted it to be a legacy film — the documentary Regine Velasquez deserves.”

The event also previewed further titles from the studio’s original slate, including its first podcast. Carandang said the studio is staying, for now, in the lane he knows best.

“As of this moment, we are focusing on unscripted. Soon, we’re also open to doing more scripted stuff,” he said. “But for now, while we’re a startup company, we’re focusing on something that I know best.”

For Sterling, the horizon is longer than any single show.

People behind Goat

Goat Creative Studios is a Manila-based studio developing and owning premium unscripted entertainment — reality series, documentaries, and formats built to travel — rooted in authentic, character-driven Filipino storytelling.

Co-founder Michael Carandang leads the studio’s creative slate. He is a Daytime Emmy Award-winning producer whose credits include “The Tyra Banks Show” and “America’s Next Top Model,” the Philippines’ first fashion documentary series “Making MEGA,” and the PMPC Star Award-winning “It Takes GUTZ to Be a Gutierrez,” which aired in 20 countries.

Co-founder Jonathan M. Sterling is a business owner and philanthropist who has lived in the Philippines for five years and invests in Filipino talent and enterprises. /atm