From July 24 - August 7, the Television Critics Association (TCA) held their annual summer press tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. The goal of these industry conferences is to allow journalists an opportunity to gain access to the people who make television. On August 3, TCA members were able to meet and mingle with directors during a cocktail reception presented by the Guild.
Co-hosted by DGA Award-winning Directors Patty Jenkins (The Killing) and Jason Winer (Modern Family), the informal gathering provided the journalists with an opportunity to put faces to names they had only seen in credits and gave the episodic and pilot directors a chance to let the critics know who they are, what they do, and why the role of the director is a critical element of making great television.
In their welcome to the TCA members, Jenkins and Winer thanked them for recognizing the extraordinary quality of the work being done in television and bringing the public’s attention to the many wonderful shows currently being broadcast.
“As our president Paris Barclay said recently, this really is a great time to be a television director,” said Jenkins.
The hosts also highlighted the pilot director’s role in establishing the look and feel of a series, and the episodic director’s involvement in casting, soliciting performances from the actors and editing, noting that the director of every episode makes countless creative decisions that can make or break a show. Winer shared anecdotes from his experiences as a pilot director and encouraged the journalists and critics to ask the directors in attendance about their own stories. Following the remarks, many of the TCA members did just that and took the opportunity to mingle with the directors and engage them in informal interviews about their work.
The TCA represents more than 220 journalists writing about television for print and online outlets in the United States and Canada. Membership is open to full-time TV writers at newspapers, magazines, trade publications, news wire services, news syndicates, and text-based Internet news organizations.