The pandemic and its laundry list of safety protocols may have made it more challenging to shoot a TV show, series or movie but people will always find ways to adapt — and still manage to make the entire process fun and rewarding.
That’s what director Mark Reyes and the GMA production team behind the second season of I Can See You did when they recently shot the first short series titled On My Way To You in Rizal province.
The entire cast led by Ruru Madrid and Shaira Diaz, direk Mark and his team were “locked in” after being screened and deemed fit for work. The close proximity of the cast and crew undoubtedly helped speed up the process. The eight-episode series started airing on the evening primetime block of GMA last March 22.
“I guess the idea of ‘less is more’ definitely holds true for the new normal. I had to be more inventive technically and more creative in my direction because you don’t have the same number of people and equipment at your disposal in a bubble, compared to pre-pandemic days,” he said.
It required him to utilize all available sources like turning their chief medic into the priest for a wedding scene. “I had to work with what I had, the staff had to take on double duty.”
Direk Mark got to work with Richard Yap, newly-signed Kapuso star but long-time and well-loved actor.
“‘Sir Richard’, as we fondly call him, was a joy to work with — no sense of entitlement whatsoever and a consummate professional, especially when I asked him to bathe in a kawa (big cauldron) with co-star Malou de Guzman crushing over him.”
Direk Mark also had only praises for the cast. Ruru is “a well-rounded actor” and “one of GMA’s leading men to watch out for.” He predicts that Shaira will be the “next big star,” one who carries such “a fresh aura and new energy.”
He added, “The ShaiRu team-up definitely works. They have the same elusive chemistry that Bobby Andrews and Angelu de Leon had.” Direk Mark obviously knows what he’s talking about as he directed the TGIS series that made household names of Bobby, Angelu, Red Sternberg, Rica Peralejo, Michael Flores, Raven Villanueva, Bernadette Allyson, Onemig Bondoc and Ciara Sotto. The popular series that aired in the ‘90s continues to be a touchstone for many but especially Generation X.
“There are too many funny moments from those days until today. The cast and I are still close and keep a very active Viber group.” Needless to say, the jokes and pranks still continue, more than 25 years since the show first aired on GMA in 1995.
“If there is one memorable moment, it would be shooting the last scene of the show (for Growing Up). I remember writing the scene that same day. The tears shed in that scene were real as the barkada walked into the darkness of the night.”
Direk Mark will also helm the live-action Voltes V series, another iconic TV show that kids who grew up in the late ’70s continue to talk about and obsess over to this day. He says he is up to the task because, “I have been preparing for it since I was a kid!”
To assuage fans, he said that “there will be enough for both the loyal fan base and the new audience to appreciate in Voltes V Legacy.”
“I am one of the biggest nerds and geeks in town so rest assured our Voltes V will be grounded in the Mecha/Anime/Science Fiction/Space Soap Opera roots that people fell in love with back in the ’70s but with some updates with the modern audience in mind,” direk Mark said.
“With my filmography over the years, it has become easy for me to switch from genre to genre. I would just like to ask the Pinoy audience to keep an open mind and give it a chance and not to be too judgmental at this point. I have been working on this series for the past seven years — and if the Japanese trusted us enough to allow us to do the show, then so should they.”
Pandemic or none, good directors will always create ways to make shows and films that the audience will love. What remains constant are passion, an innate talent for storytelling and technical expertise. Fortunately for director Mark Reyes, God blessed him with all these.