Very few Filipino shows and movies have dared to look at the Philippine entertainment industry the way Ang Babae sa Septic Tank has. But now, the satire franchise finds company in HBO Max’s Call My Manager, a comedy series that follows the managers and employees running a struggling talent agency.
The show, led by director Erik Matti and produced by Reality MM Studios, is adapted from the hit French series Call My Agent!, which follows a similar premise. But Matti emphasizes that he and Reality MM co-owner Dondon Monteverde didn’t want to copy the original show beat-by-beat. “The original had a different tempo and rhythm. It had a different climate in terms of characters because they’re French,” he tells Rolling Stone Philippines. “And as Filipinos, we wanted to bring in what it is about our industry that we all love.”
Call My Manager marks actress Judy Ann Santos’ return to the screen after 2024’s Espantaho and 2025’s Ex Ex Lovers. In the show, she plays Andrea Manuel, a foul-mouthed, uptight talent manager at Shine Artists Management (SAM). Joining her are Edu Manzano, who plays the secretive senior manager Matthew Buenaventura, and RK Bagatsing as the nicer and more nurturing Gabriel Soler.
Fresher faces in the cast include Christiana Zaleta, basketball player and daughter of former Ginebra shooting guard Aris Dimaunahan, and actor-content creator Raf Pineda.
Also billed in Call My Manager is Gina Alajar, who plays the Mother Lily Monteverde-adjacent Aleta Alfonso. Of playing a character based on the late producer and “matriarch” of Philippine show business, Alajar says, “I found it hard to do the character because I didn’t want her to be a caricature or an impersonation. I wanted her to be a human being because [Mother Lily] was such a great human being.”
“Whether nasa side ka ng actors or nasa side ka ng managers, the show’s just going to make you understand that these are humans. They all need validation, they all need support,” Bagatsing says. “You’re going to have a deeper appreciation of your managers when you watch this.”
Here, Matti and the cast talk to Rolling Stone Philippines about what makes the Philippine adaptation different from the French original, and the personal experiences that inform Call My Manager’s story and characters.
What drew you to adapting Call My Agent! and bringing it to the Philippines?
Matti: When Dondon and I developed this, we really loved the show, and we rarely get the chance to do movies or shows about our industry, because the quiet discussion behind showbiz is that it doesn’t make money. We always dreamed of doing something that would let us show our love for the industry that we are in, and good thing HBO Max agreed to it.
Around that time, I was also supposed to do a movie about the matriarch, the biggest producer in the Philippines, Mother Lily Monteverde. And without having made it, I was given a chance to bring all the ideas that I was supposed to bring into the Mother Lily story into this show. So I think it hits home. And we have our own Mother Lily in the show.
Aside from situating the story in the context of the Philippine entertainment industry, how do you make an adaptation like this feel new for audiences who may have already seen the original show?
Matti: An adaptation is about making it your own. We didn’t want to [follow the original series] beat-by-beat. The original had a different tempo and rhythm. It had a different climate in terms of characters because they’re French. And as Filipinos, we wanted to bring in what it is about our industry that we all love. So, it’s a lot more local, but we also pick stories that, as much as they are local, would be appreciated all over the world.
The idea of road managers is not in the original series. In the original series, it’s just secretaries. We brought in what we all know in the industry here: every manager has a road manager beside him. And we listed every Filipino entertainment story that we wanted to bring into the story. You’ll be surprised at how many of those you will identify with.
Manzano: I got to watch the French original, and truth be told, I really, really enjoyed it. Nobody told me to watch it. I just happened to catch up on it. I binge-watched, and I said, “Gosh, I wish we would have something like this one day. I would love to be part of a project like this.” It was exciting. It was colorful. The setting was sexy. I thought it had all the elements necessary, the characters. And then lo and behold, HBO Max gave the green light, and I found myself being offered a role.
And after reading the script and watching what we were shooting, I now go back to the French version and say, “Is that all you got? You got nothing. You want characters? Filipinos got characters.” That richness, I think we have it, and that’s why I’ve been in the business a long time. I just can’t say how grateful I am to HBO Max, and of course to Reality MM, to Direk Erik, and they couldn’t have come up with a finer cast.
How much of your performance is based on what you see and experience in your day-to-day work in the industry? Did you have to exaggerate anything?
Santos: I wasn’t really able to pinpoint a certain person to get my character from, because growing up, I was more exposed to either bakla o babaeng manager. That was my time. Now kasi, I’m not really that much exposed to what’s happening behind the scenes because I rarely make projects now. So I had to choose different types of people that I could base my character on and build from that, and really play around with Andrea’s character because she’s a tough person but very, very emotional. Sensitive but may pagka-bakla din siya in a way. I can say 70 percent of her is Andrea and 30 percent is Juday.
Pineda: Being an actor or being an artist, iba ‘yung galaw mo compared to managers. [But] after shooting Call My Manager, I got a job backstage, a production job, as a social media manager. I was thinking, “Oh, parang ito ‘yung role ko sa Call My Manager. Parang nagkatotoo siya!”
Alajar: I play Aleta Alfonso, a producer. As Direk Erik said earlier, she was based on Mother Lily, who was a very iconic person in the industry. I found it hard to do the character because I didn’t want her to be a caricature or an impersonation. I wanted her to be a human being because [Mother Lily] was such a great human being. She loved the movie industry and helped a lot of actors and actresses, even the crew and directors. I wanted [audiences] to know her more as a very genuine person with a pure heart.
Matti: Before [Bagatsing] answers, let me just build up his confidence. He’ll be working with two of the most veteran, most seasoned, professional actors in the industry. And from the first day of shooting up to the last, not once did he get intimidated.
Bagatsing: Sa totoo lang, ‘yung mga managers, tao lang naman sila e. That’s the whole point of the show. Whether nasa side ka ng actors or nasa side ka ng managers, the show’s just going to make you understand that these are humans. They all need validation, they all need support.
For my character, si Gabriel, one of the things that I remember him doing was he can fix his artist’s crisis kahit gaano pa ‘yun kalalim. Pero ‘yung sarili niyang buhay medyo unmanageable. Those are the things na parang binubuhos mo na ‘yung oras mo sa mga artists. You’re going to have a deeper appreciation of your managers when you watch this.
Sa sinabi naman ni Direk Erik, thank you. ‘Yung respeto lang naman talaga sa material and for the people that you work with, you can never just wing it with this kind of ensemble.
Zaleta: This is actually my very first acting project. And I think Camille’s character is very headstrong, very brave, a risk taker, and she is just so full of love. And coming from basketball, that’s how I relate to Camille. Same values. They are two completely different worlds, but nandoon ‘yung middle ground niya, when it comes to the values, discipline, and ‘yung love na meron siya.
Call My Manager is available to stream only on HBO Max.
Frequently Asked Questions
Call My Manager is produced by Reality MM Studios, a company owned by Erik Matti and Dondon Monteverde. Its episodes are directed by Matti, Mario Cornejo, and Jade Castro.
The main cast of Call My Manager includes Judy Ann Santos, Edu Manzano, RK Bagatsing, Gina Alajar, Christiana Zaleta, Raf Pineda, and Haley Dizon.
Call My Manager follows several characters, senior and road managers of the fictional Shine Artist Management, as they try to balance their chaotic personal lives with the high-pressure demands of Philippine show business.
Call My Manager is available to stream only on HBO Max. The eight episodes will be released weekly, with the show expected to end its run in October 2026.
Aside from the original French series, Call My Agent! has been adapted several times for Turkey, the U.K., South Korea, India, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Indonesia, Germany, and the Philippines.
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