Mark Neumann strikes gold with ‘Wattpad Presents’ performance

Now he can really be called “Mr. Popular”.

Since making his showbiz debut on TV5’s “Artista Academy” two years ago, Mark Neumann has been taking on one challenging project after another in his bid to prove to everyone that there’s more to him than just his pretty boy features.

After “graduating” from the reality talent search, the 19-year-old Filipino-Croatian lad who grew up in Germany immediately played against type when he took on the role of Fuego, one of the villainous superpowered characters in the 2013 fantaserye “Kidlat”.

He followed that up with the May-December TV movie “The Lady Next Door” where he played a troubled teen who fell in love with an older woman portrayed by Alice Dixson.

Mark was then included in the cast of the comedy soap “Confessions of a Torpe” where he first rekindled the “Shark” love team he started with Shaira Mae dela Cruz on “Artista Academy”. Despite the fact that Shaira went public with her relationship with Edgar Allan Guzman, fans continue to accept their onscreen team-up.

So it comes as no surprise that when the two headlined the “Wattpad Presents” mini-series “Mr. Popular Meets Ms. Nobody”, it turned out to be the biggest hit of the eight Wattpad stories adapted by TV5 to date as well as the only one to merit a sequel.

“We didn’t expect our story to rate that well. I was both surprised and happy with the good feedback but Shaira and I could not have done it without Direk Jay Altarejos, the rest of the cast and everyone who worked behind the scenes,” Mark told InterAksyon during the recent story conference for the latest batch of “Wattpad Presents”.

Aside from his chemistry with Shaira, which was pretty much a given, a big part of what made “Mr. Popular Meets Ms. Nobody” was Mark’s performance as Kyle, the most popular guy in school who made life very difficult for Chelsea, a little known girl who made the mistake of standing up to him. The young actor said it was not easy playing a character who is the exact opposite of who he is in real life.

“Ako yung binu-bully sa school noon,” he recalled. “Hindi rin ako mayabang kaya maraming nagsabi na hindi ako bagay sa role ni Kyle. So I really had to push myself and I kept thinking, ‘Mark, ang puso, laban dapat!” and I’m glad people I performed convincingly in this role.”

It was so convincing that Mark is now doing a double take on the same character. Although it seems that Kyle is now humbled by his love for Chelsea, their relationship is not without its share of challenges.

In “Mr. Popular Meets Ms. Nobody 2: Still in Love”, one of those challenges come in the form and shape of Mandy, Kyle’s ex-girlfriend portrayed by Yassi Pressman. As if that does not complicate matters enough, there’s also Kyle’s father (Lander Vera Perez) who wants him in an arranged marriage.

And then there’s also Adrian (Diego Loyzaga), the best friend of Kyle who still has the hots for Chelsea. He is still around and ready to take his place if the two young lovers don’t pan out.

“Unlike the first series na medyo pa-tweetums pa kami, dito mas mature na ang characters. Marami pa ring kilig moments pero I think mas medyo drama na siya compared to the first book,” Mark pointed out.

This also means that Mark once again finds himself in familiar territory of facing new challenges. But that is something that’s no longer news for him. Even as he already improved on his Tagalog, he continues to accept projects that will allow him to continue his mastery of the national language.

Recently, Mark was invited to be reader in the Inquirer Read-Along series along with Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Gilas Pilipinas and Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters forward Ranidel De Ocampo. As a first-time reader, he said the experience was very memorable to him in more ways than one.

“I’m happy and thankful to be reading for kids. But when they showed me the book, I found it to be malalim, Tagalog na Tagalog, so I practiced it repeatedly before I faced the kids and I’m glad that it went well with them,” he admitted. “Yes, I was nervous but since I’m always looking forward to experiencing new things, I’m glad I was able to do this.”

Again written by Pinkyjhewelii, “Wattpad Presents: Mr. Popular Meets Ms. Nobody 2: Still in Love” airs on TV5 every weekday this week at 9:30PM.

source: interaksyon.com

Writers and readers go mobile and social at Wattpad

SAN FRANCISCO — Allen Lau considers himself living proof that love of good writing is alive and well in the age of streaming video and terse text messages.

He offers as further evidence the 32 million people who each month visit online literature social network Wattpad, which he and Ivan Yuen launched eight years ago as an online venue for writers and readers to connect.

“Wattpad is the world’s largest community for reading and writing,” Lau told AFP during a recent visit to San Francisco to meet with investors in the Toronto-based startup.

“We’ve created a mobile and social storytelling experience.”

Of the more than nine billion minutes spent monthly reading at Wattpad, about 85 percent is done using smartphones or tablet computers, according to Lau.

More than a million Wattpad users are writers, who typically upload a chapter at a time while readers tune in the way they might watch episodes of a television series.

“We make story telling very different and unique,” Lau said.

Readers shape stories 


Readers share feelings, thoughts and criticisms with one another and authors at the social network, sometimes shaping fates of characters or directions of stories.

“Writing and reading have traditionally been very solitary experiences,” Lau said.

“In this case, writers get constant feedback from readers in real time; and from the reader perspective it is almost like watching a TV show with 10 million people all at once.”

Readers are free to wait until books are complete and then binge on chapter after chapter, but that is rarely the case at Wattpad. The most common question fired off at the service was said to be “When will the next chapter be released?”

After Wattpad noticed writers providing links to music videos to listen to as background for reading, the social network added a way to embed YouTube clips.

“It has been so widely used, if you go to YouTube and search ‘Wattpad’ you will find millions of videos,” Lau said.

“The writing is the main actor, but we have supporting characters: video and sound.”

Wattpad sees a quarter of a million chapters uploaded daily, with about 24 hours worth of reading arriving at the service each minute.

Less than half the visits to Wattpad come from the United States, and the service is growing strong in an array of countries including Turkey, Italy, Britain, and Spain.

“Not everyone has an e-book store, a library, or a regular book store, but everyone will be on the Internet and everyone will have a smartphone,” Lau reasoned.

“I am the walking proof that it is rubbish people aren’t reading as much; the Internet is helping people to read and write more.”

Writers find fame

The Wattpad mobile application is free, as is access to work uploaded by writers. More than half the stories on Wattpad were written on mobile devices.

Wattpad writers don’t get paid, but exposure at the social network provides opportunities for them to make money.

Publishing house Simon and Schuster gave Wattpad author Anna Todd a sizable advance to make a series of books out of “After” stories she wrote on her Android smartphone and uploaded to the social reading network, according to Lau.

Hundreds of writers reportedly have seen their work on Wattpad lead to traditional publishing deals.

In collaboration with USA Network, Wattpad has commissioned a writer to create prequel stories intended to promote a coming “Dig” television show.

“This is one of the first,” Lau said of the partnership.

“Whether a TV show or Starbucks, all good brands have good stories to tell. And where else can they tell their story but the world’s largest story-telling platform?”

While Wattpad remains focused on growth, not revenue, companies can sponsor stories at the network or commission writers to craft tales tied to brands.

Revenue from sponsorships is shared with writers, according to Wattpad.

Wattpad’s popularity has soared in the Philippines, where the first television adaptation of a story from the social network is heading for prime time television.

Books and films have also been made there from Wattpad works.

Wattpad has raised about $70 million in venture capital funding, the most recent round in April.

Terms of service at the Wattpad.com include not using, copying, or distributing content without express permission.

source: interaksyon.com