Roy C. Iglesias, Manila
Roy C. Iglesias, Manila
Roy Iglesias (Roy Claveria Iglesias) is a screenwriter, playwright, book author, and editor. He was born in Manila on 3 March to Felizardo Iglesias and Felicidad Claveria from Occidental Mindoro. He is married to Zenaida Pascua of Tarlac. They have three sons. Since 2014, Iglesias has been the creative director for drama in GMA Network.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree in mass communication at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. He also pursued a master’s degree in communication at Ateneo de Manila University and a master of arts degree in education at St Joseph’s College.
Right after college, he joined the advertising and public relations industry as a copywriter and later as a media campaigns consultant. During the last years of the Marcos administration, he worked as a radio commentator over DZME for a program that was critical of the authoritarian government.
Iglesias started his writing career in theater, writing one-act plays for the Kalinangan ng Lahi Café Theater in Cubao, Quezon City. He was only a teenager when he cowrote the classic historical film Ganito Kami Noon… Paano Kayo Ngayon? (This Is the Way It Was… How Is It Today?), 1976, with film director Eddie Romero. He wrote the screenplays of the following films: Sa Kabila ng Lahat (Despite Everything), 1991; Dahas (Rage), 1995; Bakit May Kahapon Pa? (Why Is There a Yesterday?), 1996; Ang Babae sa Bintana (Woman By the Window), 1998; Prosti (Prostitute), 2002; Xerex, 2003; Feng Shui, 2004; Bulong (Whisper), 2011; The Healing, 2012; and Feng Shui 2, 2014.
In television, he was scriptwriter for the weekly musical Zsa Zsa, which was chosen by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) through its Gawad CCP para sa Telebisyon as one of the best programs in 1987. He wrote a number of award-winning episodes in PEP Talk, 1986-1990; Inside Story, 1990-1998; and Coast to Coast, ca 1990. He was part of the creative team in ABS-CBN that pioneered the multi-awarded Café Bravo in the 1990s.
He wrote the first episodes of the docudrama, GMA True Stories, 1995-97, and served as creative consultant for ABS-CBN’s crime anthology, The Calvento Files, 1995-1998. He wrote teleplays for drama programs such as ABS-CBN’s Star Drama, 1993-2001, and Your Honor, 2001-2002; and GMA 7’s Spotlight, 1990-1998, and GMA Telesine, 1993-1999. Under GMA Network, he was head writer of the political telenovela Kung Mawawala Ka (A World Without You), 2002-2003, as well as writer/script supervisor for the fantasy series Darna, 2005, with Angel Locsin as the heroine.
Iglesias received the Best Video Documentary award at the Gawad CCP para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video for the documentary Edjop, 1987, about the life of political activist Edgar Jopson. He wrote The Palace of the People, a documentary about the Malacañan written during President Fidel V. Ramos’s administration. He was awarded the ICD Sony International Best Documentary for the environmental documentary Returning the Forest to the People. He won the KBP Golden Dove Award for Best TV Scriptwriter in 1994 for RPN 9’s miniseries De Buena Familia (The Good Family).
Iglesias wrote the screenplay of Sigaw (The Echo), 2004, a horror film with a remake in Hollywood under the title The Echo. He won Best Screenplay at the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) for three consecutive years: Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure in 2001, Mano Po (I Kiss Your Hand) in 2002, and Filipinas in 2003. Mano Po 2: My Home was awarded Best Original Story in the MMFF in 2003. His script for Baler won Best Story in the MMFF and Best Original Screenplay in the 2008 Film Academy of the Philippines Awards. His Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story won Best Screenplay at the MMFF in 2011.
