Written Work #4 (BLOG 1ST ENTRY)

Ricardo A. Lee, also known as Ricky lee is a Filipino and a writer from the Philippines. He is more popular as one of the country's considered best scriptwriters in the field of film and television, although he is also known for his artistic contributions in the field of short stories, novels, plays and journalism. He was born on March 19,1948 in Daet, Camarines Norte and he is now 72 years old. He was active from 1973 until now. Lee grew up with his relatives in Daet, Camarines Norte. His mother died when he was 5 years old and only saw his father on few occasions. He studied primary and secondary school in the same town.

He was accepted at University of the Philippines Diliman as an AB English major but never got his diploma where, ironically enough, he later taught screenwriting at its College of Mass.

Lee at a screenwriting seminar in Colegio de San Juan de Letran, February 2018

Since 1982, Lee has also been providing free scriptwriting workshops in his home for beginning writers. Hundreds of scriptwriters have gone through his workshop and are already making their mark in the television and film industry. In 2000, along with his workshoppers, Lee founded and headed Writers Studio (now the Philippine Writers Studio Foundation) as a medium of unity and collaboration of writers.

 Bea Alonzo joins Ricky Lee's scriptwriting workshop | ABS-CBN News

Ricky Lee presently works as a Creative Manager at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation.

He has written more than 180 film screenplays since 1973, earning him more than 70 trophies from various award-giving bodies, including three life achievement awards from the Cinemanila International Film Festival, the Gawad Urian, and the PMPC respectively. He is also the recipient of 2015 UP Gawad Plaridel, as well as one of the Gawad CCP awardees for 2015. And this 2018, Gawad Dangal ni Balagtas awardee, Apolinario Mabini Achievement awardee, Special Citation for ABS-CBN Walk On Water Awards and recently awarded as one of the CAMERA OBSCURA awardees by the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

As a screenwriter, he has worked with many Filipino film directors, most notably with Lino Brocka, Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Ishmael Bernal. Many of his films have been screened in the international film festival circuit in Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, among others.

Among the books he has published are: Si Tatang at mga Himala ng Ating Panahon (an anthology of his fiction, reportage, 

behind-the-scene musings and the full screenplay of Himala), 
Pitik-Bulag Sa Buwan Ng Pebrero, 
Brutal/Salome (the first book of screenplays in the Philippines),
Moral, Para Kay B and Bukas May Pangarap.

In November 2008, he launched his first novel entitled Para kay B (o kung paano dinevastate ng pag-ibig ang 4 out of 5 sa atin) at the University of the Philippines-Diliman Bahay ng Alumni. This was followed exactly three years later by Si Amapola sa 65 na Kabanata, which was launched at the SM North EDSA Skydome and was met similar public acclaim and support.

Para Kay B (o kung paano dinevastate ng pag-ibig ang 4 out of 5 sa atin)

This novel begins with a proposition: love has a quota, and among those who fall in love, only one out of five will end up happy. A narrative tackling love's various facets and intricacies, stringing together five disparate stories into one manuscript.

Trip to Quiapo: scriptwriting manual
On the trip to Quiapo, Ricky shares everything he has learned over many years of writing a movie script on TV, teaching scriptwriting at UP and Ateneo, and conducting free scriptwriting workshops since 1982. Most well-known name now in film and on TV began in his workshops.

Si Amapola sa 65 na kabanata: ikalawang nobela
Amapola, the protagonist of distinguished playwright and screenwriter Ricky Lee’s novel, is a female impersonator who discovers that s/he is also a manananggal, the fabled viscera-sucker of Philippine myth and lore. 

Salome: A Filipino Filmscript
Salome, one of the finest films from the new Filipino cinema, is presented in both English and Tagalog with more than twenty stills from the original movie.

Bahay Ni Marta: Ikatlong Nobela 
The novel opens with the encounter of a boy with a facial deformity and  a seemingly unreliable narrator an animated abandoned house with perverse musings of its previous owner. The tale catapults as it shares a grim event that took place in its wake as the boy finds comfort in its shelter and company.

Indeed, with his various achievements and his countless efforts to give back to society, Ricky Lee has blazed a trail for today's scriptwriters and the playwrights of the next generation.

Carrying his trademark of quality and relevance, he continues to touch the hearts of Filipinos, waking them up and setting their spirits afire, and for that, no award can ever be enough.