It was, at the very least, a lesson in patience.

Scriptwriter James Ladioray and director Raul Jorolan waited over two years before seeing their debut “The Red Shoes: A Love Story” on the big screen. (The film opens March 10, with a premiere night at SM Megamall for the benefit of the Philippine Red Cross on March 6.)

To give us an idea of the long wait, Ladioray said his wife, who helped edit the script, was pregnant with their first child, now 3 years old, when he entered his work in the Cinemalaya tilt in 2007.

“When we started shooting the film, my wife was pregnant with our second baby who’s now 10 months old,” added Ladioray, an advertising creative director.

Although principal photography took only 20 days, it was spread out over 10 months, said Jorolan, who’s a TV commercial director.

Lead stars Marvin Agustin and Nikki Gil had to squeeze in the movie in their constantly hectic work calendars.

Making matters extra complicated, Jorolan and Ladioray also had to shuttle between their advertising jobs and the movie set.

From rival stations

“Also, Marvin is from GMA 7 and Nikki, from ABS-CBN... their schedules were difficult to match,” Ladioray admitted. “That’s why we came up with the slogan: ‘Kapuso ... Kapamilya ... Kapares.’”

Their initial fear was that, “ne’er the twain shall meet.” When the shoot wrapped late last year, it was “a joyous occasion,” recalled Jorolan.

Ladioray explained that they precisely pulled out of the Cinemalaya fest, where it was chosen as a finalist, because they didn’t want to rush the film.

“We felt that a script gets only one chance to achieve celluloid reality. I wanted to wait to tell the story properly... with the right actors, the right crew, the right time,” Ladioray clarified.

After Cinemalaya, Unitel took over as producer.

An advertising veteran, Jorolan never imagined that he’d make his feature film debut with a romance drama. “I thought my first film would be action or comedy.”

But when Ladioray handed him the script, he was immediately taken by the concept.

“I’ve done all sorts of commercials. Here was a chance to tell a story in long format—and it’s an original, unique story.”

It’s a familiar dish, a love story, “but served in a most unusual platter,” Jorolan said.

Originally titled “2,999,” this Unitel production boasts a most unlikely hero, a boy who stole, at the height of the 1986 People Power revolution, a pair of shoes from among the thousands owned by then First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos.

But, Ladioray insisted, it’s not based on a true-to-life incident.

“I didn’t steal shoes from Malacañang. I had a fool-proof alibi. I was sick at the time,” he insisted.

Ladioray explained that he used Edsa as backdrop and Imelda’s shoes as plot device because he wanted to write a story that is “distinctly Filipino but universal at the same time.”

Because of their backgrounds, Jorolan and Ladioray were extra careful that their transition from advertising to film should be seamless.

“I didn’t want to just churn out a tapestry of beautiful 30-second images. If you get too fixated on the visuals, you may lose out on the story,” Jorolan said.

“We aimed for a sustained emotional arc,” Ladioray said.

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