By AEDRIANNE ACAR

PHOTO BY BOCHIC ESTRADA, GMANetwork.com
 

Maraming hindi nakakaalam na bago pasukin ni Direk Dominic Zapata ang pag-di-direct ng mga drama series tulad ng groundbreaking Kapuso show na My Husband’s Lover at Hiram na Alaala, ilang comedy programs na rin ang dinirehe ng phenomenal director.

 

Una na riyan ang show dati ng Sunday All Stars' mainstay na si Janno Gibbs na Beh Bote Nga at ang show na pinagsamahan ng award-winning actress na si Eugene Domingo, Dabarkads Allan K at Brazilian hunk Fabio Ide na Comedy Bar.

 

Kaya naman hindi na raw siya nanibago sa pagha-handle ng isang sitcom. Bagkus ay mas pinagtuunan daw niya ng pansin kung paano bibigyan ng panibagong kulay ang comedy show niyang Ismol Family.

 

“Siguro more than an adjustment doing drama and comedy it was more [on] doing an adjustment from doing comedies before and doing comedies now.”

 

“Kasi the last comedy I did if I remember correctly [was] ‘Beh Bote Nga’ and that’s a long time ago. And it was done in a studio. ‘Yung set ganun. So the way we are doing this sitcom is it should have the production value of pretty much the dramas pero comedy pa rin ‘yung feel,” dagdag niya.

 

Importante sa Asian TV best director nominee na maganda raw ang kalidad na maipapakita nila sa Ismol at naging peg daw niya sa sitcom ang U.S. series na ‘Modern Family.’

 

“My pegged personally being ‘yung Modern Family. If you watch it maganda ‘yung production value if you’re not paying attention to the dialogue and you're just looking [at] it visually. Makikita mo mukha siyang ‘yung mga high-end na TV shows na ginagawa sa States.”

 

Nakakatuwa isipin na ‘forward looking’ ang Kapuso director when it comes to the show he's handling. Ayon kay Direk Dominic, gusto niya na lahat ng shows niya ‘at par’ sa mga neighbor countries natin sa Asia dahil iniisip daw ni Direk na maipapalabas ito in the future outside the Philippines.

 

Dagdag pa niya hindi dapat mapag-iwanan ang mga Pinoy when it comes to coming up with high quality programs.

 

“So 'yun gusto ko, medyo ma-replicate dito na hindi dahil comedy ‘yun lang ‘yung bentahe nung show. So of course the humor has got to be there pero ‘yung ano rin production value. ‘Yung lighting is still up to par with our Asian brother and sister countries kasi nahahalata ko more and more it’s becoming more global. And every time we put out something on air I’m assuming this will be eventually shown at least in Asia.”

 

“So I wouldn’t want that kind of disparity between a Philippine-made production and the Korean-made production or a Thai or a Malaysian. Gusto ko we're up there, if not better.”