How John Prats shifted from acting to God-given purpose as a director

January 22 ------ When John Prats was first offered to be a director, he initially found it to be offensive. Little did he know that it was the start of the Lord working wonders in his life.

“Noong 2016 or 2017, when I was about to renew my contract with ABS-CBN, I was offered by Direk Lauren [Dyogi] to be a director. At first, I got really offended. I felt na parang bakit in-offer ang direktor, wala na bang gustong makakita sa’kin on-cam, you just want to give me work but behind the camera?” Prats admitted in a press conference for the upcoming Valentine’s Day concert featuring Martin Nievera, Sofronio Vasquez, Jed Madela, Jona, and Klarisse de Guzman.

Prats started his entertainment career as a teen star for the comedy sketch show “Ang TV” in the early 2000s. He worked his way up in the industry, transitioning from a leading man to a character actor, taking on various roles. But Prats was already asked to sit behind the director’s monitor when was about 16 or 17 years old. He wasn’t interested back then, but looking back, it might’ve been the beginning of a budding career that he never planned to become.

After his meeting with Dyogi, he got into work and made an appearance on “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.” “One time, I watched the concert of Coldplay in 2016, and when I watched the concert, I felt something really different. It was more than the visuals. After two months, ‘yun pa rin ang karga ko (I’ve been holding onto it),” he recalled.

Prats’ directorial debut was in 2017, when he worked on the music video of Moira Dela Torre’s “Malaya.” It was supposed to be something he did out of “fun,” but after getting offered to direct Dela Torre’s concert, the rest was history. “From then, nagsimula na siya. In 2018, I fell in love with OPM. Hanggang ngayon, I still get kilig. Kapag dinala ka ni Lord sa isang bagay na para sa’yo, parang hinahain. I always come to a meeting empty. I don’t plan things, I let God use me to be His extension, His creativity, hindi ‘yun lahat ako,” he said. “Lahat ‘yun, Siya ang nagbibigay. My purpose now is a director, happy ako kung nasaan ako and ang saya-saya ng puso ko sa purpose ko kasi it’s not about me. It’s about [the artists] and the audience,” he continued.

Some of the concerts that Prats—lovingly nicknamed as “Direk Pratty”—took charge of were SexBomb’s “Get, Get, Aw!: The SexBomb Concert,” Jaya’s “Jaya: At Her Finest,” Jessi’s “Zoom in Manila,” and Kim Soo-hyun’s fan meet in the Philippines, to name a few. This time, he’s working with Nievera, Vasquez, Madela, Jona, and de Guzman for the “Champions of the Heart” Valentine’s concert, a feat he says has been exciting.

“Naisip ko siya as I’m more excited to do this project with them, and kung sa creative process, [akala ko] nahihirapan ako, but I get it from them. We visualize it. Even those kinds of details excite me because they’re all in,” Prats said, noting how the five singers have been collaborative throughout the process. “Ang sarap to work with artists who are involved. Ang sarap kasi ako ang tipong direktor whom you can call every time, and naniniwala ako na ang creativity, hindi siya pinaplano,” he further explained.

Source: inquirer.net