Submitted by OctoberRust13 t3_zuo9vc in television
I feel like sometimes I'll binge a show and it seems like every single episode has a different person directing it.
Maybe the finale will have one of the writers or creators directing it but so many of the mid season episodes just have what seems like a random person directing it...why is that?
Yep it's a logistics play. The director is the manager of the episode and they need to be involved in all stages, so on a weekly drama they have a particular schedule to keep. Everyone has their jobs but the manager has to rotate out.
Not really. The showrunner (usually the creator of the series, but not always) manages the series, from the writing stage through post. TV is not like film, where directors have all the power and control. In TV, writers have control, while director involvement typically is confined to their particular episode(s).
I think that's what they were saying, that the director has to be involved in all stages of their episode so if they are starting on other episodes while the previous episode is in production, they will need other directors
Yep, showrunners are usually EPs and keep the continuity across a series where a director is focused on a specific ep.
Sometimes those overlap but not often. Or we see limited series with one director across all the episodes.
If you listen back on some of Kevin Smith's podcasts, he talks about directing some WB shows like Supergirl. There is a lot that is taken from his hands to the show runners and EPs. They do a basic directing job, but the nitty gritty of directing a whole film isn't there. What you also realize, is these guest directors also bring some cache and fans of the director.
That and you'll often find the pivotal episodes in a season are directed by the showrunner themselves to further keep a handle on the tone of the series
I work in film and I've seen productions that will shoot multiple episodes concurrently. Meaning that they'll be shooting episodes 3 and 4 and then the crew on episode 3 will move on to 5 and then 4 goes to 6 and so on. Not to mention that if you have a stunt heavy seqjence or an extended sequence with a whole seoerate group of actors you may want to bring in an additional unit with even more people. It can be very easy for a film crew to balloon in size and need a bunch of directors concurrently if the producers and accountants agree this makes more financial sense.
Must be hard juggling the actors.
Depends on the actor. If it’s someone like Anna Kendrick you can easily juggle them since they probably weigh very little but if we’re talking Dwayne Johnson or Vin Diesel good luck even getting them into the air unless you are also a body builder.
You had me at the first half.
And depending on the nature of the story, if there are location shoots that occur at multiple points in various episodes over a season, it may make more sense to shoot them all at once, even if the rest of the episodes are shot at different times.
Fascinating, but I imagine this is less efficient when one of the cast member gets to direct an episode: Jason Bateman on Ozark.
Slightly so. The big trick is that an actor directing an episode is generally assigned one that they aren't going to be playing a large role in, and where an assistant director can handle the scenes where the actor also needs to be performing.
I noticed that with Atlanta—the episodes Donald Glover directs are ones where he isn’t in it or isn’t in much of it.
Is goofy really black?
In the latter seasons of Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston would direct one episode a season it would always be the premier episode because it's the only one he would be available to do the pre production on. After that he was busy acting.
I watched the Farewell to Ozark thing on Netflix, he only agreed to be in the show if he could direct it. He was meant to direct every episode of the first season, but couldn't due to time constraints.
Also Noah Emmerich on The Americans, Donald Glover on Atlanta, Rhea Seahorn on Better Call Saul, Giancarlo Esposito on Better Call Saul... Many great examples
This. But not just a long-running show, this is basically any show.
This totally makes sense. Any insight in how then a show like How I Met Your Mother managed to have the same director for all but 12 episodes? Would imagine she was maybe more hands off for the pre and post aspects of the show?
In general, sitcoms require a lot less effort in the pre-production and post-production stages due to reusing the same sets, angles and lighting most of the time.
3 camera sitcoms, unlike dramas, only film 1 episode a week, so it's easier for the director to be involved in the whole process from beginning to end. They also are less logistically challenging since the action is largely confined to the 3-4 sets all on the same stage.
Also note that series have a showrunner overseeing it, so that can help to keep things cohesive even with different directors.
Added benefit is sometimes you get a really good fit of a particular script and a particular director and it both fits the show stylistically and makes for a fantastic episode that might not have otherwise happened
Yup this is basically it
It also increases the show’s clout to have multiple award-winning directors on the show
It also allows newer directors to gain experience
the thing I've always wondered, is, it seems like it would be weird if there was a guest star who only has a few scenes scattered throughout the season and if they're only there for a few days to film their scenes and they have to hop from one director to the next over the course of shooting for the day.
(I probably have a fundamental misunderstanding of tv production, so there's that)
They would have multiple directors but probably not in the same day due to location.
Whelp I do t need to leave a comment. You pretty much said what I came here to say.
TV directing is a little more just about the pure technical production than film directing, where the director has more or less all the control over the whole product.
In TV the showrunner is the person closest to the film director, and then a rotating staff of directors handle the nitty-gritty of on-set production.
I can assure you tv directors are not purely technical production members. In fact as television more and more mimics cinema tv directors have a lot more creative license than they once did.
As a showrunner, one of your main jobs is to hire directors who will serve as creative collaborators and enhance your vision not just execute it.
Source: am showrunner.
David why are you lurking on reddit answering industry questions and do you accept unsolicited pitches at 1130 at night on christmas eve? Asking for a large bovine friend.
Can you have Judy Greer work in the line, “Say goodbye to these, Michael?”
Well then is changing directors throughout a series run a training/mentoring/exposure thing or..?
It certainly can be. But it’s more that you need one director to prep while the other shoots or else you hit a logjam. Obviously exceptions to the rule but that’s the norm. On shows with 20 episode seasons you’ll see more slots for new and emerging directors/more chances to spread the wealth. On niche shows you’ll see fewer. Especially with covid protocols trying to keep exposure low.
Your Reddit profile is full of interesting behind the scenes clips that I love. So cool.
I've never heard of Kidding but now I want to watch it.
We are what some call a cult classic.
Also on TV the cinematographers have a larger responsibility for maintaining a consistent look and shooting style between episodes. So camera direction will fall more on the cinematographers than in film or commercial work.
TV direction has a lot in common with a theater/stage director that spends more time rehearsing actors and working performance than dealing with blocking and camera work.
Obviously this varies from film to film and show to show. Especially with so many single camera shows in streaming where you have one director who is essentially shooting an 8 hour long film.
Even with series with 8 episodes, the load is shared between at least 2 directors and ADs.
With some recent exceptions like Flannagan directing all of Hill House and Midnight Mass, Lynch directing all 18 episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return, Sam Esmail with all episodes after season 1 of Mr. Robot, Mike White with White Lotus, etc.
Traditionally, British shows are 6 episodes and have one writer/director for all of them and don't have a writer's room. The one director for all episodes is something you find in prestige television, as someone mentioned above.
And behind the showrunner is the production manager keeping the set alive and functioning. If a director listens to what they have to say after they get the crew well oiled, probably not going to have any issues.
And directors are involved with an episode from beginning to end. It’s just just the week it’s shooting. It’s weeks before scouting locations, etc., and editing afterward. It’s an exhausting job and you are crazy busy that whole time which could be a month or more.
Just how tv is. It’s exhausting I’d imagine to direct so many episodes. A movie can be 2-3 hours. That’s way less run time. The show runner is kind of more of the overall director of the show anyway.
For a long running and well oiled show, the director is pretty much a figure head at that point. Kevin Smith directed some episodes of The Flash and Supergirl and he said that he showed up and everybody just kind of did their thing, with or without him. He did make Jason Mewes a random masked henchman though so there's that.
Yep, this. Though sometimes depending on the show and depending on the director, you definitely get different looks and feels for some episodes more than other. Some directors have specific shots they like to do more than others, or add flourishes and what not.
Your comment is making me think of the two-part episode of CSI directed by Quentin Tarantino called “Grave Danger.” I remember it feeling more or less like classic CSI, with a few little nods to Tarantino being at the helm here and there (e.g., events being presented chronologically out of order à la Pulp Fiction, an idea he most likely borrowed from Bertolucci’s The Conformist [1970]).
One of the absolute best.
He also directed an episode or two of ER and there are definitely a couple extra shots of feet in there
Also very gratuitous blood spray
Dude I was on one of those episodes and Kevin Smith is being kinda humble about it. We would wrap on a shooting day in half what it could have been on a worse run set(which is VERY common for a CW show) and a decent part of that is that Kevin Smith trusts the crew to do their job even in cases where he can't directly be present.
In fact, I was there for one if the "without him" scenes and its basically the only times I've ever seen a director willing to let the crew do things so autonomously, and the camera and stunt teams had a blast getting the scene done at the time.
It doesn't sound like a lot but this is definitley a skill that he's developed and an extension of his fairly unique philosophy to filmmaking.
He also said he kind of regrets doing movies instead of getting into TV, because the writers seem to have more creative control in TV than in movies
I mean that’s just what’s gonna happen with a scripted show with lots of CGI, you’re just following the playbook. Now take a comedy with improv like always sunny, and you get completely different styles of episodes (w production carryover to keep things looking similar).
You’ll hear TV referred to a a writers medium for this reason. The Directors execute the showrunners (head writer/ep) vision, but the production process is generally too long for the same Director to work on back-to-back episodes.
Mostly logistics. Directors need more time for pre-and post shooting work and oversight. In a long form series with multiple episodes that has a faster turn around than a full length film it’s easier to split up the work.
TV shows have a lot of content to get in a relatively short period of time and directing is an incredibly involved and exhausting job. The easiest way to accomplish this is to have multiple directors divide and conquer. Each director gets assigned an episode or two that they focus on for the season. The show runner will guide the directors in pre-production and often be on set to ensure the continuity of the look and feel of the show. TV directing is a somewhat different skill than directing features from that perspective.
A similar arrangement is often made with the Director of Photography, but it's also common to see one Cinematographer on the whole show which also helps to create consistency in the look of the show.
In my personal experience I've worked on shows that had multiple directors and multiple cinematographers. They would usual be paired up for their episodes. Often in these situations they had consistent camera operators across all of the episodes that ensured the visual language of the production was being maintained from a framing standpoint.
Usually (though not always) the director is the main decision maker and planner, so their time scale of involvement is from the first day to the last day of the project. Most other roles have a lot less time commitment.
Having multiple directors lets 6, 8, 10 or more episodes be created in a given timeframe. Director A can be actively shooting while director B can be in pre-prod and director C can be in post-prod. And all kinds of permutations in between. In planning terms we'd say the director is critical path.
Sometimes people think the actors would be, but they're less involved for pre and post prod, so they can jump from director C's shoot straight to director A's and then to director B's. Often it's not even that linear and there can be periods that overlap.
tl;dr: Directors are critical path, and using multiple directors allow a whole season to be shot without taking multiple years.
"Random people" eventually are big names you know. Look at Community or Arrested Development. Lots of episodes directed by the Russo Brothers who went on to do Avengers Infinity War & Endgame.
Come back when you figure out why British actors only hang for like six or seven hours-run-time.
A rare example of a show having only one director is season one of True Detective with Cary Joji Fukunaga. You could really see the results, every episode is perfect. I’m surprised it hasn’t been done more after that success.
Twin Peaks The Return as well
Sam Esmail with THREE seasons of Mr. Robot too, many episodes of which he was the credited writer. A pretty insane feat
38 of 45 episodes. Mr. Robot is a rare example of a show that was completely wedded to showrunner vision from beginning to end.
I just mentioned this in a comment on this post...but Mike White wrote and directed every episode of White Lotus.
Another pair of examples are the two science fiction series by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, Dark and 1899, with Baran bo Odar directing every episode of both series and his partner Jantje Friese writing or co-writing every episode.
So that the show can get made in a quick and timeline manner. If one person was doing everything, it would take forever.
Directing is a stressful job. I can’t even imagine having to be a director for an entire season. Give the reigns to someone else for a few episodes for the sake of my own mental health.
Heck yeah it is. I’ve only done commercials and I fuckin hate it. All the prepro and shoot days are goddamn stressful until wrap. I do love post though!
Having multiple directors allow them to shoot parts of multiple episodes at the same time.
So in reading all these answers I have a better understanding of the WHY... I feel like knowing this now, it almost takes away from the importance of the Director or the idea that the director is responsible for the vibe and end product that the viewers receive. I get that for a movie the director is everything in that they direct the entire product whereas with TV that's not the case.
I will say that Mike White from White Lotus writes and directs every single episode...and it's overwhelmingly obvious in my opinion.
Cary Joji Fukunaga also wrote and directed every episode of the first season of True Detective .
As tv shifts towards shorter seasons that drop all at once or are in post production for months, it's getting easier to work around the production problems others have mentioned that stop a season from having a single director. One other thing I haven't seen anyone say yet is that the director of the pilot IS extremely important as, with very rare exceptions, they set the tone and look of the series that future directors imitate and build on.
Agreed! So many shows go straight to series now, we forget how important a pilot still is for many.
> I will say that Mike White from White Lotus writes and directs every single episode...and it's overwhelmingly obvious in my opinion. > > Cary Joji Fukunaga also wrote and directed every episode of the first season of True Detective .
You'll see a single director more often on prestige (think HBO, Starz, and Showtime) and streaming shows because those shows have either completed post-production or are nearly complete by the time the show airs.
When it comes to your basic cable shows on CBS, ABC, and NBC those shows start filming about 2-3 months before airing and can take about a week and a half to film an episode. You'll see a higher quantity of directors brought in since episodes sometimes won't be complete until days before airing.
Well prestige shows are also usually much much shorter.
A typical NBC show can have 26 episodes in a season while White Lotus had 6 episodes in season 1.
In a network show it's not unusual for a director to handle 6 episodes in a season.
Fukunaga did not write any episode of True Detective. All of True Detective was written by Nic Pizzolatto.
To give a little more info, the directors who direct episodes aren’t “random people”. The show runner has directors that they trust. A high-caliber show that lasts several seasons usually has some consistent directors working on it. A specific episode might be assigned to a specific director because of the director working with a certain actor who has a big episode, or some other aspect that’s suited to them. And talented tv directors are in very high demand. Look at the IMDb for someone like Lesli Linka Glatter or Michael Uppendahl.
Also on the writing side just remember that even when it’s credited to one person there’s almost always a writers room. I don’t know specifically about the example of White Lotus, but for example every episode of Fargo season 1 is credited to be written by Noah Hawley even though a writers room was used.
Because those shows are not network TV shows, which are just made to be running for a long time like NCIS. The shows you mentioned are usually created by the director and writers from the beginning and have fewer episodes per season or they’re like Stranger Things and the handful of directors are curated by the creators of the show.
Most shows change directors every couple of episodes. Film is a directors medium, television is a producers medium. The person in charge is the showrunner.
Traditionally, the speed with which TV episodes were produced was much faster than films. One person directing every episode of a weekly release, 22 episode series, would burn out instantly. Films have a much longer window to shoot compared to shows. These lines are blurring now with the death of network tv and the dominance of streaming, but this is the traditional reason.
I'm assuming the rolling production is the main reason for this, as people have said. I think another part is also that a lot of television shows allow cast and crew members to direct episodes so they can get a director credit, which allows them to pursue other directing work through the union. This is why you often see that star actors in shows have also directed the odd episode. I might be talking complete bollocks, but I think this is a thing, if anyone in the know can confirm?
I noticed this and my first thought was "Is one in ten people in the world a director"?
As mentioned, directors can work three weeks on a one-week show. Creatively, directors on TV have limited input; they are hired hands (not true on every show, but most).
The best way to think about it is a quote from a biography I read: "Television is a producer's medium; film is a director's medium." In television it is the producers who have the most creative control.
Television used to be controlled by writers (I know, it's blasphemy 😤 but sometimes scripts matter). Unless directors were well known, they weren't considered as important as writers like they were in film where the writer doesn't matter once they get their hands on the script.
That changed with premium cable and HBO with things like The Knick and now Severance (on Apple) where there is a pretty good balance, but this is mostly due to writers wanting good directors I believe personally.
Most shows are controlled by writers still, because on most shows the writers are the creators and showrunners. This is true of severance too. Dan Erickson is the showrunner, creator & writer. He’s been writing this story for years. Ben stiller is an EP, helped develop the series, and directed 7 of 10 episodes. But ultimately Erickson is creator and showrunner, imo it’s not 50/50. I also wouldn’t say it’s closer to 50/50 because stiller is the director, it’s because he helped develop the show as an EP.
However you want to look at it, I doubt the show would have gotten off the ground without Stiller, and his roll is director. I also believe he has enough power to have the showrunner/writer fired and to never work again
The showrunner is the one in charge and sets the tone of the show. A director can come in and give a little bit of their own style, but not really stry to far from the tone the showrunner sets.
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It’s usually someone involved with the show at least right - so there’s some continuity
I've always thought it was strange that episodes would have different writers, meaning that the characters would feel slightly different (or drastically different) and with a different voice from episode to episode.
TV shows being rewatchable on DVD and then streaming and "is it canon?!?!?!" weren't big things before recently, so different writers was just them trying scripts and seeing what happened since it would be a long time before people would see that episode again, if ever. If something didn't work it'd get dropped, if someone went over well then they'd keep it.
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Ya! And how is it almost always Bryan Cranston
Some shows' creators are more continually hands on - you won't have this particular complaint about any of Lindelof's shows, the Sopranos, the Wire, etc. Those are created in a similar vein to films where one director oversees pretty much everything, or enough of everything that you could call him/her the 'director' of said show if you wanted to.
It just depends on the kinds of shows you watch. If you watch more episodic stuff or dime-a-dozen 20+ eps per season types of serialized shows whose main focus is on trying to get renewed, you'll have this issue frequently. Because they do often have different people direct and oversee episodes. But if you're watching shows that're more compact and/or have a clear singular vision, you'll be less irritated by this. Miniseries especially.
I believe the director of the pilot usually sets the style for the series.
Also How I Met you mother is the rare show, where almost all episode are directed by the same person, Pamela Fryman.
because guest directors get paid more than guys with year long contracts. same as actors.
Heather Locklears agent was very smart. She got her credited as a guest star in every single episode of Melrose Place. She gets paid double what a regular would. And she can leave on a weeks notice if she wants out.
I feel it’s a way to break in directors. If they pull off some good episodes they can later be trusted with a bigger budget movie or be a show runner.
No film festival or school really trains for show running or big budget movies
Maybe because a long running TV show is like a daily job for the members. So someday someone is ill or busy with something else, another person takes charge. Kind of like when someone in our offices goes on a leave
If this is a concern for anyone I suggest the British TV series “SPACED”. Every episode is directed by Edgar Wright.
If you direct any episode you can join the Directors Union. In the US it is the Directors Guild of America. That is why many "Star Trek of any type had different directors (except Harry Kim for some reason)
It levels up your resume.
It’s a bit of the other way around I think— I believe to direct TV one has to be a member of the DGA.
Filming schedules.
You might come to be surprised to learn that even the greatest artist of the Renaissance era didn’t create all their works. They guided the workers through the process that’s all.
Makes it happen faster.
Edit: referring to sculptors
How Italian renaissance sculptors worked alone very very rarely
BB, BCS, and Ozark popularized this trend. Even some of the cast gets to try their hand at it. I'm genuinely surprised that there isn't more dysfunction and disconnect in the quality and cinematography from one episode to another.
That's not really true. It's been pretty common way before those shows.
The real reason is that it's the easiest way to get as many episodes in as possible in the least amount of time.
What? TV has been shot this way by default practically since TV became a thing, and actors guest directing about as long, since it gives them a chance to try it out.
Those shows didn't popularize director rotation. It's how TV has been made for decades.
>I'm genuinely surprised that there isn't more dysfunction and disconnect in the quality and cinematography
A director stepping in is expected to stick to the formula, the look and feel of the show that's already been established. That's why a TV director traditionally has less creative authority.
Me being a tad cynical, I'd suggest the shows actors get paid extra if they're the director.
Huh?
More work for more pay. Makes sense. Do they not get paid for directing while acting?
Likely DGA minimum
That’s not a pittance. Especially if it’s regular work.
Dunno. I just noticed David Boreanaz directed Bones and Seal Team whilst acting in them. If you get a credit, you get paid.
Lots of actors have an interest in directing and sometimes they get an opportunity to do so on shows that they're on, and if it's their first time it gives them a bit of a safety net as they're working with people they know and are already familiar with the workplace rhythms.
Amanda Tapping for example started directing on Stargate and has directed episodes of many different series since, some she also acted on but most as just a director.
They do
mugenhunt t1_j1khxhj wrote
The basic idea with a long-running television series is that you will have one episode in pre-production, while another episode is filming, and a third episode is in post-production. Having a different director on each episode means you can have progress being made on three episodes at a time, as opposed to just one.
The basic idea with this is that you want directors who are going to be relatively safe and keeping to the same general style, but that it allows for a more streamlined production.