Young film and television director Zig Dulay has gone a long way, indeed!
Was it only yesterday when he was just assisting controversial Fil-Briton filmmaker Jowee Morel in “Latak,” shots of it mostly done in Merville Park in Paranaque City?
Was it only yesterday when I had to see former Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino member Jun Cruz Reyes in his room at the Faculty Center of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman before it was razed to the ground?
And who would I see in Jun’s room, one of his Master of Arts (MA) students but Zig?
Was it only yesterday when Zig and I with other film artists would meet up in Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas to discuss an independent film project which until now hasn’t seen the light of day?
Until Dulay was given bigger breaks in scriptwriting and directing in various media companies, big and small which become his passport to bigger projects especially when he was already winning awards that establish more of his credibility in the entertainment industry.
Now Zig has clinched another good offer from GMA Network to direct the primetime teleserye “Legal Wives” which stars Dennis Trillo, Andrea Torres, Alice Dixson and Bianca Umali with an array of actors, veterans and upstarts.
It’s a giant project, bigger than “Sahaya” (a southern tale which starred Bianca and Miguel Tanfelix)—his first time in primetime.
This time, the challenge is intensified considering that he has to hurdle a major network’s drama series tackling Muslim culture.
Zig, of course, has all the aces up his sleeves to put up his gargantuan task to action because of his ingenuity and determination. During the main shoots of the soap, Zig has to face up with a lot of challenges especially when it started rolling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Didn’t you know that Zig has to transform a big portion of Laguna Province like Kaliraya into Mindanao to achieve an approximation of the Muslim Mindanao onscreen?
It is unimaginable to recreate the whole Kaliraya into a Muslim village but Zig and his creative team was smart to achieve it.
“Pagdating sa shoot, kailangan mo lang harapin kung ano ang ibabato ng universe sa’yo—doon ka lang gagalaw. Katulad ng iba, maraming problema ang dumating—walang tigil na pag-ulan sa Laguna, daya dito—daya doon dahil wala nang araw, paano magwo-work ‘yung scene, kinulang na sa oras, tapos may nag-positive sa Covid, nag-lockdown at marami pang iba (During the shoots, I should make do of what is available. There were lots of problems—incessant rains in Laguna so we had to do something for how would the scene work when there was no sunlight anymore? We were time constrained. Someone was positive of COVID so it was locked down and many more),” mused Zig in his public diary.
Everything ended well when the project is already on air.