Joy Barcoma declined talent fee for ‘First Day High’ cameo

Joy Barcoma reveals she declined talent fee for Esnyr’s “First Day High,” praises creator’s VIP treatment and self-funded production effort.

Miss Philippines Earth 2025 Joy Barcoma shared her positive experience working on content creator-actor Esnyr Ranollo’s new series, “First Day High,” and encouraged fans to support the heavily self-funded YouTube project.

“Panoorin niyo sa YT, suportahan niyo si Esnyr para makabawi siya sa gastos,” Barcoma said during a social media live. “Sobrang laki ng ginastos niya for the production, out of his own pocket.”

Barcoma revealed that Ranollo personally reached out to her via social media to join the cast and even offered her a talent fee. However, as a longtime fan who had been watching his videos since the pandemic, she immediately accepted the role and declined the payment.

“Sabi ko, ‘no’ na, masaya na ako na naging part ako no’n,” she said, adding that simply being part of his craft was already enough for her.

What stood out most for the beauty queen was the way Ranollo treated his cast and crew. She praised him as one of the most considerate people she has worked with in the industry, saying, “Si Esnyr yung isa sa mga pinakamaayos mag-alaga ng katrabaho.”

Among the production perks she highlighted were a dedicated staff member assigned to assist her, an air-conditioned holding tent shared with other artists, a provided makeup artist so she didn’t need to arrive fully glam, and catered meals on set.

Barcoma also emphasized the production’s respect for her time. Unlike other shoots where talents are made to wait from 5 a.m. for a 2 p.m. take, she said she was asked to arrive just one to two hours before her scene. Her shoot wrapped up in under an hour.

Ranollo later responded to a clip of her livestream uploaded on TikTok, commenting: “iloveyouuu queen!”

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