Unscripted: Conversations in the Dollhouse

via The 5 to 9 Life

A couple months ago, I posted a review of a book that opened me up to a new culture, a list of foreign talent and a breadth of knowledge of entertainers and creative individuals in the Philippines. The book is titled ‘Unscripted’, and the amazing authors behind aforementioned book are Sarah Meier and Vicky Herrera.

A while back, I was lucky enough for the chance to interview the two and now, I can finally reveal what went on during that interview.

1. Who are you and what do you do?

Sarah: Hi. My name is Sarah. In a nutshell, I’m a half Swiss half Filipina chick that was born and raised in Hong Kong, spent my teenage years in Manila, and the rest of my life traversing the globe, getting paid to ask creative and famous people questions. I write articles for magazines I’m sometimes on the cover of, write scripts for TV shows I’m occasionally the host of, wear pretty clothes made by Filipino designers, run my mouth about how much I love the Philippines, and once in awhile I have the incredible opportunity to fall in love in and with Hip Hop all over again.

Vicki: For work, I am a model, host and writer. But for life, I like to help people out with words I write, explore the world, have rich conversations with interesting people, and always experience new adventures. Who knows what I’ll evolve to become. This year, I’ve made “doing what I love” my first goal and I’ll let the career labels come later.

2. What’s the story behind ‘Unscripted’ and how did it first make its way onto the airwaves in the Philippines?

Vicki: In 2009, when I was still working for Status Magazine, I received a call out of nowhere from my booker to co-host a radio show with Sarah. (Sarah and I are in the same modeling agency in Manila so he represents us both.) He told me that the same company behind MTV Philippines was starting a radio station called U92. They got Sarah to host a show and she needed a co-host – so they called me! I had no prior experience in radio, but I knew it was something I wanted to try. So within 15 minutes all I said was “When do we start?” Actually, I’m lucky to have been given that opportunity.

From there we had a solid one year of radio work in our morning show “The Dollhouse”, interviewing awesome guests from different industries in the Philippines. I feel like we really brought a fresh approach to a traditional medium. We really learned the ropes of how being a radio DJ was. In terms of lining up songs, creating great content, interviews as well as the being exposed to business side of marketing. I learned a lot from that new environment and I feel like I really grew up in a lot of ways.

After the show ended, we received a lot of messages/tweets from our Dollhouse fans wishing we were still on air. So we decided to come out with a book last December that documented the entire journey. From putting together the best interviews from the show, photos, plus adding great photography, art, and graphic design from our talented friends in Manila.

3. What did you want to express with ‘Unscripted’?

Sarah: Completely honest answer? I’ve said a great number of things about this book being our gift to the next generation, and our “salute” to the one that came before us, but the most fundamental thing about getting ‘Unscripted’ done and out on shelves, was precisely that; getting it done and out on shelves. If Vicky and I got paid for creating concepts, we’d have matching minimalist beach houses on a private island, brownstone walk ups in Brooklyn, and a villa in the Italian countryside. Good ideas are EASY for us. But choosing which ones to invest passion, cash, and time into – and then doing all the grunt work to see it through? All I’m saying is that the process was the progress, and what that expresses is that a) to begin, you must dream without boundaries, and b) to make them real, you must create boundaries. Ah, the irony.

Vicki: We wanted to express time-tested lessons that the youth could learn from but in a fresh way. The guests we interviewed have really lived interesting lives and we wanted to bridge that gap between the people who came before, and today’s generation. Bringing these “OGs” back in a way that was relevant for the youth to understand. ‘Cause at the end of the way, we can learn a lot from different people from their life stories.

Our guests are so diverse. We have everyone from the former first lady Imelda Marcos to the Philippine pioneers of hip-hop, Mastaplann. But what’s so great is that even if you never experienced the show, you never lived in the Philippines, or you never heard of us, you can pick it up and basically get the whole story right away.

---- To Refresh Your Memory!----

So for the past few months, we've gotten a lot of love and support for the release of Unscripted last December. 

For that we want to say, THANK YOU!

There have been a lot of questions on whether the book will be sold in stores outside the Philippines...

Although we can't provide any answers yet, we can direct you to this trustworthy website to buy your own copy.

Tada!!!!

Fully Booked has put the book on their online store to make it easier for you to buy your copy. Just click the link HERE, follow the easy steps, and the book will be yours in no time.

Problems with the checkout process? Just leave us a message on our blog or you can email [email protected]. We will answer you as fast as we can...

If you already have a copy of Unscripted, let us know what you think of it! It's all about conversation and we want to hear what you have to say.

Sending you lots of light and love always,

"Both Meier and Herrera didn’t hold back on the personal and probing questions either, which is a rare find in the world of journalism today. A refreshing read that had me wanting to find out more about some of the creative people interviewed within this book."- Chau Tran, The 5 to 9 Life

Unscripted Featured in the April 2012 issue of Sense & Style.

I love getting photos like this on twitter!

Via Alyssa Lapid

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Pick up your copy of the Fully Booked Newsletter OUT NOW

  "Out of all the shoes she had, Imelda Marcos didn’t own a single pair of sneakers!” says sarah Meier over lunch in a studio in Quezon City. “she was quite hard to interview on the show because she had set answers to things,” continues Vicky herrera, which got sarah nodding. “It tested my interview skills, but we did bust through her barrier when she started talking about her childhood,” sarah reveals. 

The former first lady is just one of the people you’ll encounter in the first book of VJ/model/host Sarah Meier and model/writer Vicky Herrera. The two gathered 16 of the most interesting personalities from their former radio show The Dollhouse in u92fM through their book Unscripted. 

With a stellar lineup that includes lourd de Veyra, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, German Moreno, Raimund Marasigan, Jeffrey Cariaso, Ryan Cayabyab, Carlos Celdran, Gang Badoy, Kate toralba, and more—the book contains frag- ments from their show’s segment “The Real oG” (original Gangsta), which loosely refers to people who are influential and innovative in their respective fields. 

The idea for the book began right after they wrapped their last episode—they were sitting front row at fashion week and the idea popped up. “We got comments on twit- ter and on our blog about how the show changed them, and we felt that we should do something to keep the show in some way,” says Vicky. Though producing a book was the farthest thing from the minds of these two models, they’ve both been known for their creativity.

Vicky comes from the highly creative Herrera clan. Well-traveled and well- read, she moved quickly from graduating from Ateneo de Manila university to setting up Trilogy, a boutique in partnership with her siblings, and taking on even more writing and modeling work, including that for Behind the Brand for Fashion Week tV.

For Sarah, the progression from television to radio was not as natural as we all might think. “The thing about radio is that it’s a theater of the mind— you can’t giggle or do something physically to pull it off,” she says. Swiss-filipina sarah was a model long before she was part of MTV asia in 2000. Her brand of levelheaded-meets-witty hosting set her apart from the semi-neurotic fanfare of that time, so even as she left MTV after a few years, she still kept coming back to hosting shows. 

 “The nuggets of information and wisdom that came from our OGs are universal,” says sarah. “Yes, they’re filipino, and yes you can be proud of them—but at the same time, this book can be relevant to anybody, it’s timeless. trends come and go—what makes us different is that we need that kind of timelessness. We make the effort to make a significant difference.” 

Shout Out to GARAGE Magazine for featuring our book launch in their party pages this month. Grab a copy!

The Dollhouse in Mega Magazine's February 2012 Issue