Visual History Interview
Director Bryan Buckley reflects on his more than 25-year career in Commercial Directing, how he earned the title of “The King of the Superbowl”, his narrative work, and how he uses his position to give voice to the underdogs.
Visual History Interview
Director Norberto Barba reflects on his career in episodic television, his tenure as a leader in the Guild and his hopes for what the future of representation in Directing will entail.
Visual History Interview
Director Mimi Leder considers her volume of television and film titles, her growth alongside the early days of digital, and the distinct Directorial tactics that have defined her success.
Visual History Interview
Stage Manager Leon Robinson discusses his catalogue of work, strategies that have garnered success in his position and his opinions on an ever-changing industry.
Visual History Interview
Director Elma Garcia discusses her experiences in commercial directing, sharing her production methodology and how her point of view distinguishes her work.
Visual History Interview
Barry Sonnenfeld looks back on his 31-year career, sharing his unique approach to directing comedic features (The Addams Family, Men in Black, Big Trouble) and episodic television (Pushing Daisies, Schmigadoon!, A Series of Unfortunate Events).
Associate Director Joyce Thomas reflects on her 30-year career as an Associate Director with CBS and her distinguished service as a Guild leader.
Visual History Interview
Director Ernest Dickerson discusses his 30-year career as a director and shares insight into his creative process through recalling his feature films (Juice, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight), movies for television (Strange Justice, Our America), and his various episodic television credits (The Wire, Raised By Wolves, and Dexter).
Visual History Interview
Mary Harron discusses her 30-plus year career directing film, television, and limited series including American Psycho (2000), Charlie Says (2018), and Alias Grace (2017).
Visual History Interview
Director Glenn Weiss discusses his 25-year career as a variety television director, sharing details about his craft and recounting stories behind the distinguished specials that he has directed over the years including Peter Pan Live!, the Academy Awards, and Tony Awards.
Visual History Interview
Associate Director Mimi Deaton discusses her 30-year career in the multi-camera format (The Facts of Life, Martin, Reba, The Neighborhood), her Guild service as a member of the Western AD/SM/PA Council for 23 years and her recognition by the Guild with the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award.
Visual History Interview
UPM Dwight Williams speaks about his 50-year career in television and feature film as a First Assistant Director and Unit Production Manager, including his work on Malcolm D. Lee’s Girls Trip, The Hughes Brothers’ Dead Presidents; working with the late Director John Singleton on Baby Boy and other features; and his extensive Guild involvement.
Visual History Interview
Director Rich Correll (Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zach & Cody, Family Matters) discusses his 30-year career in episodic television having directed over 700 episodes, primarily in children’s television.
Visual History Interview
Director Robert Fishman shares stories from his 46 years working with CBS Sports helming NFL, NCAA basketball and football games, the World Series, NASCAR, and the Olympics (’92, ’94, ‘98).
Visual History Interview
Director Félix Alcalá (ER, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary) discusses his directorial career in episodic television, movies for television, and feature film; his background as a cinematographer; and shares some of the lessons he’s learned while behind the camera.
Visual History Interview
Director Don Scardino recounts his 30-plus year directorial career, highlighting his work in daytime drama, television movies, feature film and episodic television including 30 Rock, The West Wing and Law & Order.
Visual History Interview
Director Martha Mitchell (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Madam Secretary, Without a Trace) recounts her 25-plus year directorial career, highlighting her work in episodic television and her service to the Guild on the Eastern Directors Council and the National Board.
Visual History Interview
Director Rob Reiner shares an array of anecdotes from his 40-plus year directorial career in feature film and discusses scenes from his filmography including The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., and A Few Good Men.
Visual History Interview
Director Joe Dante looks back on his 40-year career directing feature films such as Gremlins and The ‘Burbs; movies for television such as The Second Civil War and many episodes of television including Masters of Horror, CSI:NY and Hawaii Five-O -- sharing insights into his directorial process.
Visual History Interview
Mary Rae Thewlis discusses her 25-plus year career as a unit production manager, including her work on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and The Americans; as well as her extensive Guild involvement.
Visual History Interview
Unit Production Manager Kathleen McGill discusses her 25-year career, highlighting her collaboration with director Ron Howard on features A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Frost/Nixon and Angels & Demons; as well as her work in episodic television; and her extensive Guild service.
Visual History Interview
Director Richard Donner discusses his 40-plus year directorial career in feature film and episodic television, highlighting his work on The Twilight Zone (“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”), The Omen, Superman and the Lethal Weapon series.
Visual History Interview
Director Michael Pressman discusses his 40-plus year directorial career in feature film (Boulevard Nights, Some Kind of Hero), movies for television (Private Sessions, A Season for Miracles) and episodic television, where he has directed and produced hundreds of episodes (Blue Bloods, Picket Fences, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Med).
Visual History Interview
Randal Kleiser (Grease, The Blue Lagoon, White Fang) discusses his career as a director of feature films and TV movies, as well as, his active involvement in the DGA including serving in the Special Projects Committee.
Visual History Interview
Debbie Williams discusses her 40-year career as a stage manager in variety programs including American Idol, awards shows such as The Oscars and The Academy of Country Music Awards and live episodes of network dramas such as ER, and The West Wing.
Visual History Interview
Bill D’Elia discusses his 30-year career as a television director and producer-director highlighting his work on Ally McBeal, The Practice and Boston Legal among other series.
Visual History Interview
Wolfgang Glattes discusses his 35-year career as a first assistant director and unit production manager, highlighting his work on such productions as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Cabaret, Rosebud and All That Jazz, as well as his working relationships with Bob Fosse, Otto Preminger and Sidney Lumet.
Visual History Interview
Arlene Sanford discusses her 30-plus year career directing episodic television, feature films and movies for television, highlighting her work on such shows as Ally McBeal, Pretty Little Liars, and Grace and Frankie.
Visual History Interview
Director Jim Sheridan discusses his 30-plus year directorial career in feature film, highlighting his work on My Left Foot (1989), In the Name of the Father (1993), and In America (2002) among other notable projects.
Visual History Interview
Stage Manager Dency Nelson reflects on his 40-year career in live television (Academy Awards, Emmys, The Kennedy Center Honors) and his numerous years of Guild service on the Western AD/SM/PA Council and Negotiations Committee.
Visual History Interview
Director Charles Haid (Nip/Tuck, Criminal Minds, ER) discusses his 20-plus year directorial career in episodic television and movies for television, working with Robert Butler on the influential show Hill Street Blues and his service on the DGA’s Television Creative Rights Committee.
Visual History Interview
Director Ed Bianchi discusses his 45-year directorial career in commercials and episodic television, highlighting his commercial work for Eastern Air Lines, Pepsi Cola, and American Express, as well as his episodic work on Boardwalk Empire, The Wire and The Get Down.
Visual History Interview
Chuck Workman discusses his career as a director of the Academy Award-winning short film Precious Images (1986), feature-length documentaries Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014) and Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990), and his early work as an editor of numerous commercials, feature film trailers and Academy Awards montages.
Visual History Interview
Jerry Schatzberg discusses his 50-plus year career as a director of such films as Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970), The Panic in Needle Park (1971) and Scarecrow (1973); and working with Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Faye Dunaway.
Visual History Interview
Garry W. Hood discusses his 40-year career as a stage manager from his start in local Tennessee television production on Hee-Haw to work on variety programs including Dancing with the Stars and the Olympics; award shows such as the Grammys and the Academy Awards; and live specials like Grease Live! and Hairspray Live!
Visual History Interview
Director Bertrand Tavernier examines his 50-plus-year career, touching upon The Clockmaker (1974), Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975), Death Watch (1980), and Round Midnight (1986); and working with actors Philippe Noiret, Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel, Isabelle Huppert, Dexter Gordon, and Tommy Lee Jones.
Visual History Interview
Carroll Ballard discusses his directorial career, highlighting his work with children and animals in the feature films The Black Stallion (1979), Fly Away Home (1996) and Duma (2005).
Visual History Interview
Jeremy Kagan (The Chosen, The Journey of Natty Gann, Crown Heights) discusses his 40-plus year career as a director of feature films, TV movies, and episodic television, and his active involvement in the DGA including serving as the Chair of the Special Projects Committee.
Visual History Interview
Veteran unit production manager Ezra Swerdlow discusses his 30-plus-year career working with directors Woody Allen (Stardust Memories, Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters), Frank Oz (The Muppets Take Manhattan), Mel Brooks (Spaceballs) and Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland).
Visual History Interview
Mira Nair discusses her 35-plus-year directorial career, highlighting her documentaries (Jama Masjid Street Journal, India Cabaret), independent features (Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding), and studio features (Vanity Fair, Amelia, Queen of Katwe).
Visual History Interview
Oz Scott (The Jeffersons, Picket Fences, CSI: NY), recounts his 30-plus year career directing episodic television and TV movies, his beginnings in theater (for colored girls who considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf), and his feature film, Bustin’ Loose, starring Richard Pryor.
Visual History Interview
Director Stephen Frears discusses his 50-plus-year career working in feature film and television including: My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters, The Queen, Philomena and Florence Foster Jenkins.
Visual History Interview
Biff Henderson discusses his 38-year stage manager career, starting out in the NBC-Radio Sales Department, and his 35-year association with David Letterman.
Visual History Interview
Director Michael Mann looks back on his 45-year career as a film and television director by discussing his filmography (The Insider, Heat, and The Last of the Mohicans), sharing his philosophical perspective on filmmaking, and detailing his tenure as a leader in the Guild.
Visual History Interview
Director Don Roy King discusses Saturday Night Live, starting out at local stations, and his diverse body of work directing news, variety, talk, reality and live theatrical Broadway performances.
Visual History Interview
Feature film and television director Mike Newell discusses his 50-plus year directorial career, highlighting his work on Coronation Street, The Man in the Iron Mask, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Love in the Time of Cholera, among other notable projects.
Visual History Interview
Anita Cooper-Avrick discusses her 36-year career stage managing television programs ranging from and The People’s Court to Mr. Belvedere and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; her AD/SM/PA Council West participation; and her extensive Guild involvement.
Visual History Interview
John Boorman discusses his half-century career directing feature films (Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, Hope and Glory); his collaborations with acclaimed actors Lee Marvin, Toshirô Mifune, Marcello Mastroianni, and Sean Connery; and how his WWII childhood experience influenced his career.
Visual History Interview
Henry Chan (A Different World, Moesha, Fresh Off the Boat, 100 Days) discusses his 30-plus year career directing episodic television and feature films, his beginnings as an editor, and his involvement in the Asian American Committee.
Visual History Interview
Steve Glanzrock discusses working for more than 30 years as an assistant director on features, television programs, commercials, and movies for television, as well as his extensive involvement in the Eastern AD/UPM Council and National Board.
Visual History Interview
Dick Carson shares highlights from his 35-plus year career directing talk and game shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffith Show, and Wheel of Fortune.
Visual History Interview
Victoria Hochberg discusses her career directing episodic television (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Sex and the City), movies for television (Jacob Have I Loved, Sweet 15), and her involvement in the founding of the DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee.
Visual History Interview
Director Stan Lathan discusses his 40-plus year career directing episodic and variety television (Sanford and Son, The Steve Harvey Show, Real Husbands of Hollywood, Def Comedy Jam); starting out at WGBH-TV; and his collaboration with iconic comedians Redd Foxx and Moms Mabley.
Veteran news director Judith Farinet discusses her 50-year career working at NBC News, highlighting her work on The Huntley-Brinkley Report, NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and America's Got Talent, among other programs.
Visual History Interview
Veteran director and actor Norman Lloyd discusses his 60-plus year directorial career, highlighting his work on both Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Lloyd also touches upon his 80-plus year acting career, working with such notable directors as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin, Jean Renoir, Martin Scorsese, Peter Weir, and most recently Judd Apatow.
Visual History Interview
Commercial director Neil Tardio discusses his career in advertising, working for McCann Erickson and Young & Rubicam in the 1950s and 1960s, directing iconic commercials for Xerox, Right Guard and the U.S. Army, and his involvement in political campaigns.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director John LiBretto shares his 45-plus year career in news and sports, including notable assignments such as directing the first “Town Hall Meeting” debate for the 1992 presidential elections and highlights from directing Summer Olympics.
Visual History Interview
Alan Myerson (Steelyard Blues, Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, The Larry Sanders Show) recounts his 30-plus year career directing feature films and episodic television, his involvement with Second City, and the formation of the world-renowned improvisational troupe, The Committee.
Visual History Interview
Ted Kotcheff tells boisterous and insightful stories from his 60-year directing career beginning in live television drama, and including classic feature films like First Blood and North Dallas Forty, as well as 12 years executive producing Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Visual History Interview
Director Steve James recounts career highlights including the groundbreaking documentary Hoop Dreams and the six-year-long process to make the film, which led to directing narrative films like Prefontaine and critically-acclaimed documentaries like The Interrupters and Life Itself.
Visual History Interview
Veteran Associate Director Vince DeDario discusses his 40-plus year career working for ABC Sports, highlighting notable assignments including six Winter and Summer Olympics games, Monday Night Football, and Wide World of Sports.
Visual History Interview
John Madden shares his varied experiences directing radio, British theatre, BBC television drama, and feature films like the 1998 international hit Shakespeare in Love.
Visual History Interview
Jerry London, acclaimed miniseries and movies for television director, discusses his prolific career, from working as an apprentice editor on I Love Lucy to directing Shōgun, The Scarlet and the Black, Chiefs, and Ellis Island.
Visual History Interview
Mike Figgis discusses his 30-plus year career as director of such films as Stormy Monday, Leaving Las Vegas, and Timecode. Figgis reveals his passion for drama, innovation, and his unending desire to experiment within the realm of narrative filmmaking.
Visual History Interview
The DGA mourns the passing of Lifetime Achievement in Feature Film Direction Award winner, Norman Jewison. In his visual history interview, Jewison shares stories from his more than forty-year career beginning as a live television Director before transitioning to direct genre-bending feature films that entertained and challenged audiences, such as The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, and Moonstruck.
Visual History Interview
Variety, talk, and live events Director Arthur Forrest discusses his long career beginning in early live television at the DuMont network and up through directing The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, The Dick Cavett Show, and The Tournament of Roses Parade.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed comedy director, writer and producer Jerry Zucker shares his experiences crafting iconic films like Airplane! and Ghost, and discusses collaborating with his brother David Zucker and friend Jim Abrahams, working with both comedic and dramatic actors, as well as his personal philosophies on humor.
Visual History Interview
Director John Landis recounts his journey through the film business, starting as an 18-year-old mail boy at 20th Century Fox to directing blockbuster comedies like National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and Coming To America.
Visual History Interview
UPM, assistant director and production executive Stanley Neufeld discusses his long career in entertainment, starting on B-movie sets of 1930s and 40s Hollywood, and working his way up to producing Academy Award-winning films.
Visual History Interview
UPM and Assistant Director Robert Koster shares the story of his father, Director Henry Koster in the Golden Age of Hollywood, as well as his own experiences on television and film sets from the 1960’s to the ‘90’s.
Visual History Interview
Director John Glen (For Your Eyes Only, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights) discusses working his way through the studio system of Great Britain as an editor, second unit director and sound editor to directing five James Bond films—the most by any director.
Visual History Interview
Assistant Director David McGiffert discusses his extensive career working on directorial teams of such noted directors as Sydney Pollack, Taylor Hackford, and Robert Zemeckis.
Visual History Interview
Assistant Director and UPM Joe Cavalier discusses his long career working on film and television sets on both coasts, working with such icons as Howard Hawks, Frank Capra and George Stevens.
Visual History Interview
Assistant Director Yudi Bennett shares stories from her extensive career from the early beginnings of the DGA’s Assistant Director Training Program in New York, to the sets of award-winning feature films and television movies.
Visual History Interview
Roger Goodman is a director and producer of television news, sports, and live events who was instrumental in ABC’s rise through the 1970’s and ‘80s with credits ranging from ABC’s World News Tonight, to presidential elections, breaking news, the Olympic Games and The Academy Awards.
Visual History Interview
Veteran feature and documentary film director and past-president of the DGA Michael Apted discusses his 45-plus year directorial career, highlighting his work on the Seven Up! documentary series, Coal Miners Daughter (1980), and Nell (1994) and reflecting on his presidency and Guild leadership over the years.
Visual History Interview
Unit Production Manager James Brubaker discusses his long career, starting as a driver for Elvis Presley and John Wayne, to working as a UPM and producing big-budget Hollywood blockbusters.
Visual History Interview
Larry Albucher discusses his long career as an assistant director and unit production manager for films and television, his transition to working as a studio production executive and returning to working as a UPM.
Visual History Interview
Veteran UPM and 1st AD Burt Bluestein recounts his career working on the sets of both television and film productions, his early days in Manhattan’s “golden age” of advertising, and his long history of service to the Guild.
Visual History Interview
Director Herbert Wise (I, Claudius; Skokie) shares his personal and professional stories from a five-decade long career. Fleeing Austria as a child to escape the Nazis, Wise found a new home in Great Britain, eventually directing for the BBC for more than 20 years and creating award-winning movies for television in the 1970s and 80s.
Visual History Interview
Veteran stage manager Doug Quick (The Price is Right; Archie Bunker’s Place; The Young and the Restless) discusses his creative contributions to episodic programming, daytime serials and variety shows, and the extensive rehearsal and planning that goes into the production of game shows.
Visual History Interview
News Director Eric Shapiro discusses his long career working at CBS News, developing programs like 48 Hours and Face the Nation and directing the CBS Evening News.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed independent filmmaker John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus Seven, Eight Men Out), shares his unique views as a director/writer/actor hyphenate, working on tight indie budgets, and how he got Alan Parker, Sidney Lumet and Martin Scorsese to sign his DGA application.
Visual History Interview
Movies for television director Mike Robe (Return To Lonesome Dove; Reversible Errors) discusses his long career in television, from his beginning shooting military documentaries for the Air Force to directing and writing award-winning television movies and mini-series.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director Wes Kenney (Days of Our Lives, All in the Family) discusses his long career, spanning from the early days of television at the DuMont Network, to directing and executive producing some of the most well-known daytime serials in history.
Visual History Interview
Daytime serials director Larry Carpenter (One Life to Live, General Hospital, All My Children) discusses his theater and musical beginnings, his long career directing soap operas, and his views on where the genre is heading.
Visual History Interview
Former Associate National Executive Director, Warren Adler, shares invaluable insights about the Guild's negotiating history from his extensive involvement on 11 of the Guild's Basic Agreement and FLTTA negotiations cycles over a 32-year career at the DGA.
Visual History Interview
The DGA mourns the passing of veteran Television Director Rod Holcomb. In his Visual History interview, Holcomb discusses his career beginnings on The Six Million Dollar Man, his vision for shooting the pilots of hit shows ER, The A-Team, and China Beach, and the importance of maintaining directors’ creative rights.
Visual History Interview
British Director Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, The Spy Who Loved Me) shares stories and insights of his career from starting off as a child stage performer, working his way up as an assistant director for the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, to directing his own acclaimed movies—including three James Bond films.
Visual History Interview
Versatile director Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever) provides insight into his broad filmography which ranges from bleak war dramas to blithe romantic comedies, including four of the most iconic James Bond films.
Visual History Interview
Veteran news associate director and stage manager Esperanza “Candy” Martinez discusses her long career working for the news crew of WABC in New York, her mentorship of new directors, and her “passion projects” directing documentaries on African-American quilt making.
Visual History Interview
Iconic commercial director Joe Pytka discusses his long and varied career, directing advertising spots, music videos, documentaries and feature films for over 40 years.
Visual History Interview
Veteran musical and variety director Walter Miller (Primetime Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, Country Music Awards) discusses his more than 60-year career, from the beginnings of television in the 1940s, up through the 21st century.
Visual History Interview
The DGA mourns the passing of former DGA field representative Donald Gold. In his visual history interview, Gold looks back at his 30-year tenure visiting film and television sets to ensure members’ rights were protected, and shares insights on his early career as an associate director and stage manager.
Visual History Interview
Veteran commercials director and one of the real life Mad Men, George Gomes, discusses his long career in advertising, creating some of the most well-known and remembered commercials in history for such brands as Alka-Seltzer, Crest, American Airlines and Volkswagen.
Visual History Interview
Barry Levinson (Rain Man, The Natural, Diner) reflects on his first big break on the local Los Angeles comedy show, Lohman and Barkley, his early apprenticeship with Mel Brooks as a writer, and his working methods and philosophy, including the importance of improvisation on the set.
Visual History Interview
French writer-director Bertrand Blier (Going Places, Too Beautiful For You, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs) discusses his father’s influence on his career, his collaborations with Gerard Depardieu, and his unique rehearsal process.
Visual History Interview
Director Richard Benjamin (My Favorite Year, Mermaids) discusses his directorial career helming features and movies for television and explains the transition he made from actor to director.
Visual History Interview
Veteran British director Mike Hodges (Get Carter, Flash Gordon) discuses his long directorial career, explains why endurance is the most essential quality of a director and how the DGA protects its members in post-production.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television and film director Robert Scheerer (The Danny Kaye Show, Star Trek: The Next Generation) discusses his long career in the entertainment industry, starting as an actor and working his way behind the camera to direct some of the most popular television series of the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
Visual History Interview
Award-winning director and choreographer Tony Charmoli (Your Hit Parade, The Nutcracker, Gypsy in My Soul) recounts his participation in the first successful test of transmitting live motion at DuMont Studio in New York, the use of his choreography to highlight the new medium of color television, and how he brought a sense of glamour to the Emmy-winning, Mitzi...A Tribute to the American Housewife.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director Jeffrey Hayden discusses his long career, beginning at the advent of television in the 1940s through the 1990s, and his participation in the fight for directors’ creative rights.
Visual History Interview
Veteran sports and news director Bernie Hoffman discusses his long career directing for ABC, NBC, and CBS, covering such major world events from the dissolution of the USSR to the tragic 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
Visual History Interview
Feature director Harold Becker (The Onion Field, City Hall, Taps) discusses his long directorial career, including how to make the best out of a tiny budget, why you should never screen your film’s rough cut for a studio, and the benefits of having a good working relationship with Al Pacino.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed French director Claude Miller (Garde à vue, La meilleure façon de marcher) discusses his directorial career, sharing the films that influenced him as a child, how he got his start making instructional documentaries for the French army, and his favorite aphorisms from famous directors.
Visual History Interview
The DGA remembers film and television director Richard Bare, member for 70 years -- winner of the DGA Award in 1958 for Outstanding Achievement in Television Direction and director of nearly every episode of Green Acres' six season run.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed variety television director Don Mischer discloses the details behind his successful career directing some of the most well known and watched live television events in history -- from Super Bowl halftime events and musical specials -- to Olympic opening ceremonies and the 2008 Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed director James Ivory (The Remains of the Day, A Room with A View) looks back on his long career helming films under the legendary Merchant-Ivory Productions banner.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director Robert LaHendro (All in the Family; Welcome Back, Kotter) discusses his long career in production, working from a cue card holder to directing some of the most well known series of the 70s and 80s.
Visual History Interview
Musical and variety director Martin “Marty” Pasetta discusses his long career directing the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards, and what it was like directing Elvis Presley as 1 billion people worldwide tuned in.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director Howard Storm (Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, Full House) discusses his long career directing episodic television and the actors who received their big breaks on his sets, namely Robin Williams and Jim Carrey.
Visual History Interview
Television and film director Jim Drake (The Golden Girls, Night Court, Newhart) discusses his career in entertainment, starting as an associate director on daytime serials, to directing primetime network television and feature films.
Visual History Interview
Bob Giraldi discusses his career as a commercial, feature, music video, and dramatic short film director, directing commercials and music videos with such performers as Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. He also describes his working methods and philosophy, as well as his views on new technologies and on the importance of mentoring.
Visual History Interview
Veteran Stage Manager David Wader discusses his 35-plus year career in musical and variety specials, award shows, situation comedies, and movies for television.
Visual History Interview
Veteran Western and action director Andrew McLaglen (Shenandoah, The Wild Geese, Gunsmoke) discusses directing both feature films and episodic television, and how close working relationships with John Wayne and James Stewart shaped his career.
Visual History Interview
Stage manager Ken Stein discusses his long career in musical variety and specials; running the stage on such shows as Star Search, various pageant competitions and the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy awards broadcasts.
Visual History Interview
Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Wattstax, Four Days in November) discusses his long and varied career as a director and producer of everything from fantastical musical pieces to hard-cutting political documentaries. Stuart shares his working philosophies, among them, his Five Rules to “making it” in the film industry.
Visual History Interview
French director Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7, Vagabond, The Beaches of Agnès) discusses her long career creating documentaries, features, and mixtures of the two that pre-dated and inspired several film movements of European cinema.
Visual History Interview
Michael Hausman shares stories from his lengthy career as a UPM, Assistant Director, and Producer -- including working with such directors as Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), and Milos Forman (Amadeus) -- and offers his words of advice that gave Michael Moore the courage to make his first documentary, Roger & Me.
Visual History Interview
Michael Zinberg discusses his origins in Texas local television and what he learned from television directors like John Rich, John Frankenheimer Bob Butler, and Gene Reynolds. He comments on the differences between directing single and multi-camera shows, and his stints as a writer, producer, and executive at NBC.
Visual History Interview
Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor, The Ladies Man) shares his unique perspective of the directing side of more than seven decades working in comedy as a director, writer, producer and performer.
Visual History Interview
Veteran Musical Variety and Documentary director Merrill Brockway (Great Perfomances: Dance in America, American Masters) discusses his long directorial career showcasing some of the most memorable dance and musical routines in the history of television.
Visual History Interview
Francesca Bellini-De Simone recounts her first big break as a dancer on Carousel before moving into stage managing. Bellini-De Simone discusses working with producers Larry Cirillo and Norman Lear, and her experiences in live sports and on the daytime dramas Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful.
Visual History Interview
Andrew Davis discusses his transition from cinematographer to director under the mentorship of cinematographer/director Haskell Wexler. He discusses Chicago as a centerpiece in his filmmaking, as well as working with actors and visual design in films such as Under Siege (1992), The Fugitive (1993), and The Guardian (2006).
Visual History Interview
Lawrence Schiller discusses moving into producing and directing from his early career as a photographer and photojournalist. Schiller talks about his collaboration with Norman Mailer on the book, The Executioner’s Song and their 1982 adaptation for television which he produced and directed. He also discusses producing and directing movies for television such as American Tragedy (2000) based on the book he co-wrote about the O.J. Simpson trial.
Visual History Interview
Frank Pierson discusses working as a director of movies for television (Truman, Citizen Cohn) and writer of acclaimed feature films (Cool Hand Luke, Dog Day Afternoon) as well as the feature films he has directed (A Star is Born, Looking Glass War), the Golden Age of Television and he offers insight into the sometimes complicated working relationship between writers and directors.
Visual History Interview
Film and television director Arthur Allan Seidelman (Walking Across Egypt, A Christmas Carol) looks back on his long career, from studying under famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, to directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first acting role.
Visual History Interview
Fred Levinson directed some of the most iconic advertising spots during the “golden age of advertising” for the largest agencies and corporations of the time. Levinson looks back at the commercials that shaped his career, as well as his brief foray into feature film directing.
Visual History Interview
Luis Valdez (La Bamba, Zoot Suit) details his extensive career directing groundbreaking theater, film and television about the Chicano experience.
Visual History Interview
UPM and Assistant Director Phil Rawlins discusses how working as a stuntman on the sets of westerns of the 1950s led to a career working on the sets of big budget feature films.
Visual History Interview
The DGA remembers film and television director Walter Grauman (633 Squadron, Lady in a Cage, Murder She Wrote).
Visual History Interview
Jesús Treviño discusses his career as a director of documentaries, episodic series and movies for television and his work on the series Resurrection Blvd.. Treviño also shares his working philosophy, his responsibility as a director in representing his community, and his involvement with the DGA’s Latino Committee.
Visual History Interview
Actor/Director Lee Grant (Nobody’s Child, Down and Out in America) discusses her long career in entertainment and transitioning from being an award-winning actress to an award-winning director of documentaries, movies for television and feature films.
Visual History Interview
Ken Annakin (The Longest Day, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines) details his long career, his experiences working with Walt Disney and Darryl Zanuck, and shares stories from the set including how to build a tree house for the Swiss Family Robinson.
Visual History Interview
Award winning director Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman, And Now My Love) discusses his long career. The acclaimed French director explains how cinema saved his life from the Nazis as a child, the influences American films have had on his work and why the “director is always right.”
Visual History Interview
Mick Jackson reflects on his career as a feature film and television director including his early work for the BBC, and his work in Hollywood on the feature films L.A. Story (1991) and The Bodyguard (1992), as well as movies for television such as Temple Grandin (2010).
Visual History Interview
Veteran sitcom and pilot director and producer James Burrows (Cheers, Frasier, Taxi) discusses his vast, critically acclaimed and award-winning career directing some of the most iconic series from the 1970s to the present day.
Visual History Interview
Veteran episodic television director Will Mackenzie (Family Ties, Newhart, Moonlighting) discusses how his early work as an actor and director in musical theatre allowed him to successfully transition to directing for television, and the joys of collaboration on a set.
Visual History Interview
Television director and producer Lee Shallat Chemel (The Middle, Gilmore Girls, Murphy Brown) discusses her long career directing episodic comedy, how she got her start on Family Ties, and the importance of her Guild service.
Visual History Interview
Australian Director Simon Wincer (Lonesome Dove, Free Willy) discusses his career in feature films and mini-series, shares stories from his many Westerns, and describes the importance of being passionate and prepared on set.
Visual History Interview
Agnieszka Holland discusses her career as a director and screenwriter of films including Angry Harvest, Europa Europa, and The Secret Garden. Holland discusses working with Polish director Andrzej Wajda and how living under Communism influenced her perspective as a filmmaker. She also describes her working methods and philosophy.
Visual History Interview
Television Director Jeff Bleckner discusses his career in Movies for Television and Episodic TV, from mentors Joseph Papp and Francis Ford Coppola to directing award-winning movies like Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995) and The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000).
Visual History Interview
Miloš Forman discusses his career from the difficulties making films like Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball under the Soviet
regime in his native Czechoslovakia, to directing award-winning films like like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus with the creative freedom he found in the United States.
Visual History Interview
Tony Bill discusses moving into producing and directing from his early career as an actor. Bill talks about producing such films as The Sting (1973) and directing films like My Bodyguard (1980), Untamed Heart (1993), and most recently, Flyboys (2006).
Visual History Interview
John Avildsen discusses his early years in advertising and working on industrial shorts, which led him to work with Otto Preminger and Arthur Penn, and how he made the leap from independent films like Joe to studio features like Save the Tiger and Rocky.
Visual History Interview
Penelope Spheeris discusses her career as a filmmaker, directing documentaries like The Decline of Western Civilization and studio films such as Wayne's World. Spheeris talks about growing up in her father’s traveling carnival, as well as major influences in her life, including Janis Joplin and punk rock music.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed television director Peter Levin (Homeless to Harvard, Little Girl Fly Away) discusses his long career directing episodic television, mini-series and movies for television, as well as stories from off and on the set.
Visual History Interview
Director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) discusses his iconic career; beginning in the mailroom of a television station to winning the DGA Feature Film Award and becoming a premier member of the “New Hollywood” wave of filmmaking that revolutionized the industry.
Visual History Interview
John Korty discusses how exposure to art and experimental film led him to documentary and feature filmmaking. He also discusses his Oscar and Emmy award-winning documentary Who are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get 19 Kids? and his work on movies for television like Farewell to Manzanar
Visual History Interview
Feature and television director Peter Medak (The Ruling Class, The Hunchback) discuses his long career directing for both the silver and small screen, the differences between the Hollywood and British studio systems, and how he worked with actors like Peter O’Toole and Peter Sellers.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director John Erman (Roots, An Early Frost) recounts his early career casting for television series, and his path to directing award-winning television movies and mini-series.
Visual History Interview
Walter Hill talks about starting out as a second assistant director and screenwriter, pursuing his interest in genre films, working with Sam Peckinpah and John Huston, and his directing career making films like The Warriors, The Long Riders , and 48 Hours.
Visual History Interview
Director Randa Haines (Children of a Lesser God, The Ron Clark Story) discusses her career in feature films and movies for television, sharing, among other highlights, how she selected Marlee Matlin from a background role and directed her to an Oscar-winning performance.
Visual History Interview
Joan Tewkesbury discusses working with Robert Altman as the co-writer of Thieves like Us and the writer of Nashville, then building her own directing career in television, the changes she has witnessed for woman directors, and the importance of the DGA’s support of creative rights.
As an assistant director and production manager on such classic films as Jaws and The Blues Brothers, Tom Joyner describes the duties, responsibilities, and expectations of AD/UPMs and tells stories from the production and business sides, sharing the pressures of raising a family while working in the entertainment industry and revealing who his favorite director to work with has been.
Visual History Interview
Veteran mini-series, movies for television and feature film director Marvin Chomsky (Inside the Third Reich, Roots, Holocaust) discusses his long career directing projects based on significant historical events.
Visual History Interview
Robert Markowitz discusses his career as a director of movies for television and feature films. He also describes the role the DGA played in his career and the importance of the Guild’s support of the creative rights and financial security of directors.
Visual History Interview
Director Karl Genus discusses the beginnings of television in the 1950s, directing live and taped television broadcasts, commercials, and his service to the Directors Guild.
Visual History Interview
Stanley Donen discusses his early work on Broadway with Gene Kelly and George Abbott, and later as a choreographer on such MGM musicals like Singin in the Rain and . He also recounts directing Funny Face with his boyhood idol Fred Astaire, and later the critically acclaimed Charade.
Visual History Interview
Lamont Johnson discusses being an actor and what he learned from directors during the Golden Age of Live Television, He also discusses directing episodic series, movies for television, and feature films. Johnson also shares his insights about collaborating with actors, writers, editors and cinematographers.
Visual History Interview
Herb Adelman shares his insights and experience spanning three decades as an assistant director, production manager and line producer in television and motion pictures.
Visual History Interview
Assistant director, UPM, producer and studio executive Robert Relyea discusses some of the most significant films he worked on including West Side Story, Bullitt and The Magnificent Seven.
Visual History Interview
Garry Marshall discusses his career as a writer, producer and director on shows like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, and on feature films like Beaches (1988), Pretty Woman (1990), and The Princess Diaries (2001). Marshall also discusses his service with the DGA, working to protect the director’s creative vision.
Visual History Interview
Steve Binder discusses becoming a television director on live sketch comedy and variety shows like The Steve Allen Show. He explains how his deep passion for music led to his directing acclaimed variety shows featuring iconic musicians such as James Brown, Elvis Presley, and Diana Ross.
Visual History Interview
Multi-hyphenate filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon) shares stories from his long career as a director, writer, producer and actor during the “New Hollywood” era.
Visual History Interview
Legendary second unit director/assistant director Micky Moore shares his insights and memories of a career in film that lasted over 80 years, starting as a child actor during the silent film era, transitioning to prop man for Cecil B. DeMille, his long-time mentor, then working his way up to assistant director, then to second unit manager on such acclaimed films as Unconquered, The War of the Worlds; The Ten Commandments; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Patton and the original three Indiana Jones films.
Visual History Interview
William Beaudine, Jr. looks back on his long career from the 1940s to the 1990s, working on television and film sets as an assistant director, UPM, producer and director.
Visual History Interview
Director and writer Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street, Finnegan Begin Again, Crossing Delancey) shares insights and stories from her career directing independent features and movies for television.
Visual History Interview
Jerry Ziesmer discusses his extensive career as an Assistant Director on films like Apocalypse Now, Rocky II, Scarface, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous. He also describes his service to the Guild as Chair of the AD/UPM Council and helping to establish a Mentorship Program for women and minority members.
Visual History Interview
Frank Capra Jr. discusses his long career as both an assistant director and producer, growing up with one of the most well-known directors of all time as a father, and how he transformed Wilmington, N.C. into a production center.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed Writer-Director Robert Benton traces his career from working as an Editor for Esquire in the 1960’s and co-writing the screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde (1967), to directing Academy Award winning films like Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984), offering insight into his writing process and how he works with actors like Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Paul Newman.
Visual History Interview
Assistant Director and Production Manager Abby Singer talks about his career in features and television, his involvement in the Guild, and his personal perspective on changes in the entertainment industry spanning 50 years.
Visual History Interview
Edwin Sherin discusses his long career including acting and directing on Broadway, producing and directing episodic television like Law & Order and LA Law, his directing techniques like “The Sherin Shot,” and the importance of mentoring the next generation of directors.
Visual History Interview
Director Paul Bogart (All in The Family, The Defenders) discusses his long career in film and television, his working philosophy on the set and his start in the “golden age of television.”
Visual History Interview
Veteran Assistant Director, Unit Production Manager and Producer Richard “Dick” McWhorter discusses his long entertainment career working with legendary directors like King Vidor, Frank Capra, and Cecil B. DeMille, and provides a first hand account of some of the earliest meetings of the newly formed Screen Directors Guild.
Visual History Interview
Melville Shavelson discusses his near-fifty year career as a director and writer of such films as The Seven Little Foys (1955) and Yours, Mine and Ours (1968). He shares insight on his early career writing for Bob Hope, his preference for making biographical pictures based on real people and events, as well as filming on-location in foreign countries.
Visual History Interview
Veteran director John Badham (WarGames, Saturday Night Fever) shares stories from the sets of his most well-known films, reveals his role in casting, his views on the changing world of post-production, and which films he wishes he hadn’t made.
Visual History Interview
Director, writer, producer and cinematographer Robert M. Young (Alambrista!, Triumph of the Spirit), discusses his career in feature films, documentaries and television and his influences and inspirations along the way.
Visual History Interview
Jay Sandrich discusses his career as a television director, from beginning as an assistant director for Desilu Productions on shows like I Love Lucy (1951-1957) to directing multi-camera comedies like Mary Tyler Moore (1970-1977) and The Cosby Show (1984-1992).
Visual History Interview
Veteran film and movies-for-television director Joseph Sargent (Something the Lord Made, Warm Springs, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three) discusses his long directorial career and shares his working philosophy from both on and off the set.
Visual History Interview
Director George Stevens, Jr. (Separate But Equal, George Stevens: A Filmmakers’s Journey) discusses his father’s legacy and working philosophy from pre-production through post-production, as well as the important lessons he learned from his father. Stevens, Jr. also highlights his founding of both the American Film Institute and Kennedy Center Honors.
Visual History Interview
Melvin Van Peebles discusses his career with his son, director and actor Mario Van Peebles, including starting to direct in France, his award-winning film The Story of a Three Day Pass, and kicking off the blaxpoitation genre with his independently financed and produced Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
Visual History Interview
Director Robert Altman describes his working philosophy, often comparing filmmaking to painting, and discusses the sources of his storytelling and directing techniques he used on films like M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and The Player.
Visual History Interview
Ulu Grosbard, a director of both stage and screen, discusses his work on The Subject Was Roses (1968) and True Confessions (1981). He talks in detail about the art of casting the right actors for specific roles, collaborating with composers, and trying to communicate his vision accurately for the screen.
Visual History Interview
Sidney Lumet discusses his directing style developed over 50 years of filmmaking including such noteworthy films as 12 Angry Men (1957), Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Network (1976).
Visual History Interview
Veteran director Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Fantastic Voyage, The Vikings) discusses his long directorial career, what it was like being born into the entertainment industry, and how he won an Oscar his first year in Hollywood.
Visual History Interview
Director Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond, James Dean, The Cowboys) shares insights to his long career in entertainment; studying at the Actors Studio and directing on Broadway before moving to helm iconic television series and award-winning feature films.
Visual History Interview
Legendary advertising photographer and celebrated commercial and feature film director Howard Zieff (Private Benjamin, My Girl) traces his unique career path with interviewer Richard Benjamin. Recorded late in Zieff’s life after Parkinson’s forced his retirement from filmmaking, his wife Ronda Gómez-Quiñones assists in the interview.
Visual History Interview
Hal Cooper reflects on his career, beginning as a child actor and going on to direct such television classics as Maude, I Dream of Jeannie, and Gimme A Break!, as well as his distinguished service to the DGA.
Visual History Interview
Gary Shimokawa shares with interviewer Michael Zinberg his experiences over thirty years of working in television on shows such as All in the Family, Laverne and Shirley, and The Golden Girls.
Visual History Interview
Ronald Neame discusses his early days in silent pictures and as an assistant cameraman for Alfred Hitchcock on the first English Talkie, working with actors like Alec Guinness and Judy Garland, and directing films such as Tunes of Glory (1960) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).
Visual History Interview
Paul Mazursky reflects on his career as a director, writer, and actor, including directing films like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), and his involvement in the DGA, especially in the area of creative rights.
Visual History Interview
Cult classic director Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop, The Shooting, Ride in the Whirlwind) discusses his long career directing horror films and westerns and everything in between.
Visual History Interview
Greek-born, naturalized French director Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing) discusses his long filmmaking career directing critically acclaimed political and social thrillers. Gavras shares his inspirations for his most well-known films, his working relationships with producers, and where the ‘dash’ in his name originated.
Visual History Interview
Jud Taylor, President of the DGA from 1981 to 1983, discusses his near-forty-year career directing for television. He shares his thoughts about directing episodic series and his work on the movies for television Foxfire, The Old Man and the Sea, and Guinevere, as well as the importance of young directors becoming active in their Guild.
Visual History Interview
Late night television veteran Hal Gurnee looks back on his fifty-year career, telling stories of directing from the sets of such comedic staples as The Tonight Show with Jack Paar and Late Show with David Letterman.
Visual History Interview
Robert Butler discusses his career as a director on television shows such as Batman (1966) and Hill Street Blues (1981). Butler discusses his participation in the Guild and offers his insights and philosophy on the craft of directing.
Visual History Interview
Gene Reynolds discusses with John Rich his career as a television director working on notable series like M*A*S*H and Lou Grant and his long-time service to the Director's Guild of America, including two terms as DGA President.
Visual History Interview
Bill Duke discusses his directorial career and working with Ossie Davis, Laurence Fishburne and Forest Whitaker in films such as Deep Cover, A Rage in Harlem, Hoodlum, and Deacons for Defense. He also discusses changes in the film industry and the DGA’s role in fostering diversity in Hollywood.
Visual History Interview
Daniel Petrie (Eleanor and Franklin, Sybil, A Raisin in the Sun) shares anecdotes from more than 50 years directing, including his early experiences in live television, his working philosophy with casts and crews, and the value of longtime service as an active member of the DGA.
Visual History Interview
Veteran television director James Sheldon (The Twilight Zone, Sanford and Son) discusses his long career directing for television, from its evolution from radio to the small screen in 1948, to the stylistic and technological changes the medium has gone through over the decades.
Visual History Interview
Gil Cates recounts to his son and interviewer Gil Cates, Jr. his experiences as a feature film director, Dean of UCLA's Theater, Film, and Television Program, and President of the DGA.
Visual History Interview
Veteran director Elliot Silverstein (Cat Ballou, A Man Called Horse) discusses his long career in both television and film, working on set during several decades of Hollywood, and his passionate fight for the creative rights of directors.
Visual History Interview
John Rich discusses his career working with comedians like Jack Benny and Jerry Lewis and directing television shows like All in the Family, The Brady Bunch, and Gunsmoke and MacGyver. Rich also discusses his long years of service to the Directors Guild of America.
Visual History Interview
Michael Schultz recalls his career through four decades of directing, beginning in the theater, successes with Cooley High and Car Wash, and his prolific work in episodic television.
Visual History Interview
Nancy Littlefield details her start as an assistant director and becoming the first woman to represent her category on the DGA's National Board. She discusses working on television shows, documentaries, and commercials, as well as her tenure as Director of the New York Mayor’s Office for Film, Theater, and Broadcasting.
Visual History Interview
Veteran sports director Doug Wilson shares insights to his long career directing a wide variety of sports broadcasts from the Olympic games to figure skating championships to the historic “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” match.
Visual History Interview
Jack Shea describes working in the early years of multi-camera television and his experiences directing series such as The Jeffersons (1975-1979), The Bob Hope Show (1956-1966), and The Waltons (1972-1975). As a former DGA President, he provides insights into Guild history, including his efforts to increase diversity.
Visual History Interview
Veteran director Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back, Never Say Never Again) discusses his long career in film and TV, directing for some of the most well-known and beloved franchises of all time.
Visual History Interview
Arthur Hiller discusses his long career directing films such as Love Story (1970) and The Hospital (1971), and television hits including Naked City and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as his many years as a leader of the Directors Guild of America.
Visual History Interview
Oscar-winning director of Marty , “Golden Age of Television” luminary, and former DGA President Delbert Mann shares insight from his long career as a director in television and film.
Visual History Interview
Arthur Bloom discusses his career with Josh White at the DGA in New York. Bloom details how he got his first big break, landing a directing assignment when the CBS newsroom was understaffed during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Visual History Interview
Arthur Penn discusses his career from the early days of live television to his successes in feature films including The Miracle Worker (1962), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and Little Big Man (1970).
Visual History Interview
Esteemed director Vincent Sherman (Mr. Skeffington; Adventures of Don Juan; The Young Philadelphians) discusses the Hollywood studio system as a Warner Bros. contract employee, the importance of a screenplay, and his philosophy on working with actors.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed director and cinematographer Haskell Wexler (Medium Cool, Latino), discusses what it takes from both roles to bring excellence to features and documentaries.
Visual History Interview
Film and television director Ted Post (Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Magnum Force) discusses his long career on both the silver and small screens, his theater beginnings, and his working philosophies on and off the set.
Visual History Interview
Muriel Balash, best known for her Oscar-nominated documentary feature A Portrait of Giselle (1982), discusses her career as an actress, editor and director. She reflects on her working methods and philosophy from pre-production through post-production, including the joys and difficulties of editing.
Visual History Interview
Reiner describes how he came to be involved in show business, his early days in television, and the motivation behind his decision to start directing relatively late in his already successful career as an actor, writer, and producer.
Visual History Interview
Acclaimed director Jules Dassin (Rififi, Topkapi, Never on a Sunday) shares details of his long and varied career—starting off as an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock, working his way through the old Hollywood studio system, becoming blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and then working independently throughout Europe.
Visual History Interview
Tom Donovan discusses starting out as a stage manager in theater and moving into directing and producing during the early days of Television. Donovan describes his work in live TV on drama anthology series like The United States Steel Hour and on daytime serials such as General Hospital.
Visual History Interview
Musical variety director Kirk Browning discusses his almost 60-year career directing some of the most memorable musical and theatrical performances broadcast on television and how he went from being a chicken farmer to directing 185 episodes of Live From Lincoln Center.
Visual History Interview
Veteran director David Pressman discusses his long career, starting from the pioneer days of television in the 1940s, to his McCarthy-era blacklisting during much of the 1950s, to his return, helming more than 28 years of the run of One Life to Live.
Visual History Interview
Director Larry Auerbach shares tales from the pioneering days of early television through a more than 50-year career directing New York based daytime serials such as Love of Life, One Life to Live and All My Children.
Visual History Interview
Director Michael Ritchie (Bad News Bears, The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom) discusses his career as a director of comedic satires, the importance of casting, the relationships you need to have with screenwriters and the advantages of using an absurdly long title.
Visual History Interview
Former Directors Guild of America President Robert Wise discusses his career in the motion pictures, directing features films such as The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and West Side Story, his directing methods and his "Three Ps" to success in the film industry.
Visual History Interview
Former DGA President George Sidney (Bye Bye Birdie, Show Boat) discusses his lifelong career in entertainment and provides a first-hand account of some of the most memorable moments in the history of the Guild.
Visual History Interview
Veteran science-fiction movie director Nathan Juran (7th Voyage of Sinbad, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman) discusses his career in film, from winning an Academy Award as an art director, to helming major fantasy and adventure films.
Visual History Interview
In this first Visual History conducted in 2000, director of television and feature films, André De Toth discusses his career, which spanned more than 50 years and two continents; his collaborations with other filmmakers, from John Huston to David Lean; and some of the technical challenges he faced, from the location shooting for Pitfall (1948) and Crime Wave (1954), to the stunts in Carson City (1952) and Springfield Rifle (1952); and the pioneering 3-D effects in House of Wax (1953).
Franklin Schaffner
As we approach the centenary of his birth and the 50th anniversary of his magnum opus Patton, the legacy of Franklin Schaffner looms larger than ever.
Eliza Hittman
With her third feature, indie provocateur Eliza Hittman solidifies her reputation for unvarnished drama and truthful performances.
Rising to the Occasion
1st AD Jennifer Reiss and 2nd AD Jason Melius discuss the challenges of filming the season finale of CBS' All Rise, which was prepped and filmed entirely remotely.
Streamlining the Juggling Act
2nd AD Joann "JoJo" Connolly doesn't take any part of her work for granted.
iPhone Filmmaking Goes Pro
For directors Zack Snyder, Michel Gondry and Sean Baker, shooting a movie on a camera phone has gone from a novelty to a practicality.
Unforgiven
For the cathartic shootout in Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood the director stuck to his guns, aiming for the gut rather than the intellect.
DGA members reflect on how they have stayed productive during the COVID-19 quarantine.
Even during the worst of times, directors all around the globe found ways of coping with crisis by holding a mirror to society—for good and bad.
Faced with reduced staffs and heightened safety measures, news directors maintain a ferocious pace at a time when Americans rely on their skills more than ever.
Spike Lee's Inferno
J.C. Chandor discusses the bravura style and prescient politics of Do the Right Thing, and what he learned from it.
Directors of neo-noir series find their expression in the City of Angels, where darkness is submerged in sunlight.
No Way Out
As we gradually emerge from our quarantines, it’s worth taking a look at themes of isolation and confinement over the years, which served as a device for directors to study characters pushed to the breaking point.
Directing Better Call Saul
Although it's a prequel, the directors of Better Call Saul treat the series like its own animal, with no detail too small, and no situation too outrageous.
Melvin Van Peebles
Fifty years ago, Melvin Van Peebles shook up the establishment with his subversive comedy Watermelon Man, turning the tables on a racist society with an ingenious scenario of role reversal.
Josh and Benny Safdie
With Uncut Gems, Josh and Benny Safdie worked with a cushier budget, but their unvarnished style remained intact.
Miracle on the Gridiron
Director Mike Arnold and his colleagues chronicled an NFL playoff comeback for the ages as the Chiefs reversed a 24-point deficit into a rout of the Texans.
Lords of Dogtown
In Lords of Dogtown, director Catherine Hardwicke captures the '70s skateboard culture of L.A.'s Venice with kinetic energy, gritty authenticity and a local's knowledge of the scene.
Staying 10 Movies Ahead of the Game
2nd AD Rachel Jaros keeps her game face on when it comes to assigning responsibilities on The Irishman.
Recent TV Hall of Fame inductee Jay Sandrich emerged as a pioneering sitcom director, and he was generous in paying his knowledge forward.
Coppola's Heart of Darkness
Susanne Bier revels in the seduction of power and evil in Apocalypse Now.
Against All Odds
Star-crossed romance has made for memorable drama over the years, proving that “happily ever after” doesn’t always apply.
In search of authenticity, the directors behind Succession jettison the glitz by deglamorizing its rarified settings and capturing performances on the fly.
For Alex Rudzinski, directing The Masked Singer is like working with a blindfold, but he and his team were hooked by "this beautiful riot of color and craziness."
Rolling With the Punches
2nd AD Eric Lasko appreciates the unexpected, both in life and on set.
Adapting on the Fly
Production associate Nate Hapke thrives on the fast paced environment at General Hospital
Empire's directors discuss how they used music to enhance the show's mix of dynastic drama and a fanciful take on the recording biz.
Directors Damien Chazelle, Jon M. Chu, Bill Condon, Dexter Fletcher, Adam Shankman, Barbra Streisand and Julie Taymor tackle the genre's suspension of disbelief in varying ways, making the internal external and lifting our spirits in the process
Gene Reynolds
Gene Reynolds, who passed away Feb. 3, served as DGA president from 1993 to 1997 and was instrumental in bringing more youthful, diverse members into the Guild’s ranks.
Crunch Time in the Late Afternoon
Late Night With Seth Meyers associate director Amy Mancini is usually busiest after three in the afternoon.
Rob Marshall
The director behind Chicago, Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns, knows a thing or two about musicals, thanks to his theatrical training and an ability to inspire by example.
Don Mischer
A live-event maestro bar none, Don Mischer was equally adept at directing fine arts.
The Thin Blue Line
In the opening sequence of The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris enhances his quest for the truth with innovative, and controversial, style.
Thinking 10 Steps Ahead on The Today Show
Stage manager David Auerbach enjoys the choreographed chaos of a typical morning at The Today Show.
On-Set Safety for Humans and Bears
Associate director Richard "Mercury" Melendez was tasked with creating and implementing a comprehensive safety protocol on Discovery's Man Vs Bear.
Verbal Precision in Three Words or Less
"I think the less words you use on headset the better," says Desus & Mero associate director Jodie Taylor.
Capturing Competition on Camera
For competition shows, directors still focus on the storytelling by concentrating on real people with relatable stories, whether it's an Iron Chef contestant or a singer on The Voice.
Lauren Greenfield
For photographer, documentarian and commercials director Lauren Greenfield, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Network news directors Sarah Carlson Brooke, Brian Nalesnik, Rob Vint, Brent Holey and David Distinti must not only stay ahead of fast-breaking developments but also frame reporting in ways that underscore the human drama.
Barry Sonnenfeld wove together disparate elements into a unified vision for the fanciful TV series A Series of Unfortunate Events.
With Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, director Richard Preuss and his team orchestrate and choreograph a show that gives new meaning to the term "multimedia."
Hamish Hamilton navigated uncharted waters for a broadcast of the reimagined Disney musical, blending live action with animation.
Prime Imagery
Large-Format Lenses Shape Visual Storytelling.
Davis Guggenheim
In viewing Man on Wire, Davis Guggenheim marvels in director James Marsh's deft reenactments, inspiring use of score and ability to build suspense.
NYC location managers do more than scouting and securing permits: They also iron out the logistics while keeping city leaders and residents happy.
For directors of fact-based dramas, fighting the good fight means knowing when to fortify the storytelling and when to pull their punches.
History in the Making
The Nationals, held in check for most of Game 7 of the Fall Classic, broke it open within the span of three batters, while Matt Gangl and his gang caught every angle.
Rebuilding a Show in Real Time
Real Time with Bill Maher associate director Stacy Talbot recalls her scariest moment on the show, from four years ago.
Far beyond the promo reels once popularized by MTV, the most penetrating documentaries underscore psychological insight and socio-political context.
Late scripts affect everything from casting, editing and performances to overall cost and safety, and can make the difference between mere competence and genuine artistry.
Barbara Kopple
The pioneering documentarian, with an uncanny ability to gain her subjects’ trust, has repeatedly put herself at risk while leaving no stone unturned.
Michael Mann, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Ang Lee expound on their opening sequences for The Last of the Mohicans, Love & Basketball and Sense and Sensibility.
In Lockdown Under Maximum Security
UPM Bill Carraro met his biggest challenge yet on Ben Stiller's Showtime limited series Escape at Dannemora.
The Right Graphic at the Right Time
For Associate Director Jeremy Hardwick solving puzzles is all in a day's work on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Carrying the Tune After 17 Seasons
Even after 17 seasons on The Voice, associate director Laura Lyons pays close attention to the information at hand.
The Kids Are All Right
In Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, evidence of an affair sparks an epiphany the audience can feel from the inside out.
Bill Condon
Bill Condon marvels at Anthony Minghella's nuanced take on The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Hanelle Culpepper
Director Hanelle Culpepper is paving paths with comprehensive prep and unwavering commitment.
DGA Unveils New Theater
For the DGA's reimagined theater, directors Michael Mann, Christopher Nolan, Jon Favreau, Michael Apted, Betty Thomas and Shawn Levy ensured that new enhancements matched their vision.
Made in Mexico
The author of a recent book about filming south of the border examines the experiences of such directors as Julie Taymor, Mel Gibson and Alfonso Cuarón, among others.
Books
As this Taschen volume makes clear, the Master of Suspense remains appealing to cineastes young and old, with 50-plus features underscoring his timeless ingenuity.
A rare glimpse into Terrence Malick's process by the 1st and 2nd ADs of his most recent film, A Hidden Life.
Francis Ford Coppola's controversial, Prohibition Era mashup of entertainers and gangsters achieves the balance between two sets of characters that the filmmaker originally intended.
Visual History
According to directors Mira Nair, Milos Forman and Jim Sheridan, all of whom were interviewed for the DGA's Visual History program, landing the right actor is key to getting the best performance.
The under-sung director of such classics as Coming Home, Shampoo and Being There embraced his characters' flaws and foibles, and helped define one of American cinema's greatest eras.
Fredrik Bond
A born storyteller, commercials director Fredrik Bond hooks viewers with offbeat humor and a touch of the macabre.
Photographers-turned-directors Peter Chelsom, Minkie Spiro and Jerry Schatzberg describe how their still work informs their filmmaking and allows viewers a glimpse beyond the surface.
Residuals
What drove over $400 million in revenue for Guild members in the last year alone, including over $70 million to the DGA's Basic Pension Plan? Residuals.
Bo Burnham & Olivia Wilde
Bo Burnham and Olivia Wilde trade war stories on making their first features, both coming-of-age sagas, and drawing on their own experience as actors to guide their young casts.
Kasi Lemmons & Ed Zwick
Kasi Lemmons and Ed Zwick hold forth on the responsibilities that come with fact-based historical dramas, achieving authenticity and connecting the past with the present.
Pamela Fryman & Mark Cendrowski
Seasoned sitcom pros Mark Cendrowski and Pamela Fryman discuss working with live audiences, calming actors' nerves and how to best bring out the humor of their material.
Martin Scorsese & Quentin Tarantino
Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino talk movie obsessions, director heroes, process and violence as catharsis.
Chris Castaldi
As one director puts it, blockbuster 1st AD Chris Castaldi minimizes potential problems while maximizing shooting potential.
James Mangold and Phedon Papamichael
James Mangold and DP Phedon Papamichael tackle the racing world with the same unified vision while swerving away from stock solutions.
Changing Drivers in Midstream
1st AD Shawn Pipkin-West brainstorms simple solutions for seemingly complex problems.
Lina Wertmüller
We pay homage to the director of Seven Beauties, which earned her the first nomination by a woman for the DGA’s Feature Film award.
As the Showtime series enters its final season, Lesli Linka Glatter and her directing team reflect on Homeland's global reach and the prescience of its storylines.
The Advantage of Slowing Things Down
1st AD Leo N. Bauer take his time on set.
For the Starz series set in L.A.'s Boyle Heights, directors and producers keep it real.
Making a Statement
Director Kim Gehrig is making waves in the commercial realm but doesn't want to be pigeonholed.
The Big Picture
In high-end capture, larger sensors are becoming the new normal.
Thomas Kail
Like his inspiration in Fosse/Verdon, director Thomas Kail has mastered multiple mediums.
The global market for SVOD programming is outpacing North America, and having a profound impact on the future of the film and television business.
Directors behind the battle sequences in Game of Thrones talk tactics, scale and the escalating stakes of television's most epic water-cooler series.
Advent of TV
In TV’s Platinum Age, we look back on the nascent medium’s Golden Age, when live broadcasts ruled the roost and directors learned the ropes through trial and error.
Leaders Out of the Gate
Looking back at select pilots launched since 2000, it's clear that the first decade of the New Millennium paved the way for the current Platinum Age of Television.
Producer/directors seek a unifying vision without sacrificing artistic integrity.
Jean-Marc Vallée
Jean-Marc Vallée has mined raw, powerful performances and made the internal external as he's tracked the trials and tribulations of the lost and damaged.
Ensuring the Surprise Factor
Associate director Duncan White's reality tv experience informs his work on scripted series.
Feature and television directors talk about needle drops as character-builders and scene-setters.
Going the Extra Mile
2nd AD Michelle Parvin loves the collaborative atmosphere on Amazing Stories.
Playing It Safe
UPM Suzanne Geiger is always prepared for whatever the day could bring.
John Singleton
The impact of John Singleton, who passed April 28, continues to reverberate throughout the industry.
Breaking Bad
In Breaking Bad's series finale, director Vince Gilligan orchestrates an intimate emotional farewell between a self-indulgent kingpin and his embattled wife.
Kenny Ortega and Mark Hofeling
Kenny Ortega and production designer Mark Hofeling are in sync when it comes to serving young audiences.
Patrick McManus and his American Ninja Warrior team make sure they have every angle covered.
When it comes to rallying the troops and asserting a sense of order amidst chaos, 1st AD Adam Somner has repeatedly inspired confidence among such collaborators as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson.
James Cameron and Jon Favreau, who have made it their business to push the cinematic medium beyond what was previously possible, exchange views on cutting-edge technology, their roles as directors and achieving the balance between emotion and spectacle.
David Yates
The director behind Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, David Yates, waxes nostalgic on the mix of horror, humor and ingenuity in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.
5G
At CES 2019, 5G—the fifth generation of cellular technology—was heralded as the solution for glitchy entertainment connections, and, for entertainment companies, a way to extend their reach and lure new audiences. We separate the wheat from the chaff.
Anthony and Joe Russo
Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo went from no-budget indie underdogs from Cleveland to Marvel tentpole overlords, without sacrificing their character-driven sensibility and storytelling vision.
John Schlesinger
In the spring of 1969, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy was released to widespread acclaim, becoming the first and only X-rated film to win the Academy's best picture award, and earning the British filmmaker a DGA Award and an Oscar for directing.
Books
Author Gwenda Young makes the case that from the silent era to the golden age, Clarence Brown deserves a place among the giants.
David Linde
The CEO of Participant Media asserts that conscientious content, artistic vision and commercial viability are not mutually exclusive.
On Venom, the Devil Is in the Details
On Venom, the devil is in the details for UPM Dana Robin
Ironing Out Wrinkles
1st AD Michael J. Moore's scheduling system worked like a charm on A Wrinkle in Time.
A Daily Polish After the Set Is Cleared
Associate Director Susan Faith Locke-Shapiro's work doesn't end once cameras stop rolling on The Daily Show.
Let's Get Physical
2nd AD/1st AD Michelle Gritzer on coordinating staged wrestling matches in GLOW
Director Morgan Sackett used a combination of in-camera and VFX techniques to bring multiple personalities within the same character to life.
Rupert Sanders' Flood of Color and Movement
For Rupert Sanders’ commercial for the Apple iPhone XR, the director mostly eschewed special effects to capture synchronized bodies in motion, and in camera.
Deep Dives
Underwater drones that probe unstable or dangerous sub-aquatic conditions gain traction among filmmakers.
Men in Black
During an alien birth on Men in Black, director Barry Sonnenfeld keeps the frame mostly fixed, allowing the audience to find the comedy.
Invented Worlds
When it comes to fantasy and futurism, directors’ imaginations truly run wild. We glimpse a few examples of the big screen’s ability to transport us to realms that
only exist in the movies.
Directors Patty Jenkins, Colin Trevorrow and Rupert Wyatt each navigated the leap from intimate to VFX-heavy productions in their own way.
It takes preparation, perseverance, patience and empathy for documentarians to gain their subjects’ confidence. Documentary directors Liz Garbus, Alex Gibney, Steve James, Matt Tyrnauer and Marina Zenovich share their modus operandi in getting people to open up.
Nisha Ganatra
For Late Night director Nisha Ganatra, willingness and tenacity have earned her a place in the spotlight.
The Big Picture, Condensed
Portable monitors allow directors to avoid video village and stay closer to the action
The commercial work of Elma Garcia is notable for its visceral impact and striking imagery.
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci, who passed away in November, came to prominence in the '70s with such films as The Conformist and Last Tango in Paris, and won the DGA Award for his towering 1987 epic The Last Emperor.
Piling up frequent flyer miles for The Romanoffs
1st AD Rebecca Strickland filmed all around the world, including on international waters, for The Romanoffs.
Scaling Black Panther to Epic Proportions
1st AD Lisa C. Satriano uses cover sets rain or shine on Black Panther.
Sam Esmail
Sam Esmail, who's used to wearing three hats on Mr. Robot, was able to concentrate on directing on the series Homecoming.
As recent films by Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins and George Tillman Jr. have shown us, the fissures of the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s continue to spread, providing dramatic fuel for their unique visions.
Director Nora Gerard and her team work hard to give viewers of CBS News Sunday Morning the impression of a relaxed pace and a thoughtful mixture of soft features and hard news.
Faced with TV technology that casts their films in a distorted light, DGA members attempt to influence a more faithful representation of their work.
Marielle Heller's Commitment to Character
Director Marielle Heller is a stickler for detail, which is driven by the inner life of her protagonists.
Demagogues, Charlatans and Hucksters
The maxim that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" is proven by history, providing particularly ripe subjects for filmmakers.
Damien Chazelle
Damien Chazelle revels in Taxi Driver's nightmarish mix of music, subjective imagery and De Niro in his prime.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
The three-time DGA award winner discusses cosmic injustice, what drives him, the art of collaboration and what comes next.
The protean director and DGA past president, whose work spanned genres and bridges the old and new Hollywoods, is far from the sad-sack hack depicted in the limited series Feud.
Troubleshooting with Duct Tape and a Fake Possum
Stage manager Chris Kelly problem solves on short notice for Saturday Night Live.
Glenn Weiss
Director Glenn Weiss, in tackling the granddaddy of awards shows for the fourth consecutive year, exhibits nerves of steel.
Triple Crown Vet Takes Races in Stride
Associate director Betsy Riley gets creative during Triple Crown races like the Belmont Stakes.
Fantasy and Reality Intersect in Chicago
In Rob Marshall's feature debut, his musical mastery reaches its apex in a pivotal production number.
Jason Reitman
As he prepares to unveil his latest film, The Front Runner, about Gary Hart's doomed 1988 presidential run, director Jason Reitman reflects on the film's biggest influence, Michael Ritchie's The Candidate.
DGA First-Time Episodic Director Orientation Program
For students and teachers in the DGA's First-Time Episodic Director Orientation Program, no detail is too small.
In uncertain times, directors Fede Alvarez, Ana Lily Amirpour, Susanne Bier, James DeMonaco, David Gordon Green, John Krasinski, Andy Muschietti, Jordan Peele and James Wan update and elevate a time-tested genre with works that invite audiences to confront their fears.
Helping Piece Together the Puzzle That is Mosaic
2nd AD John Silvestri loves solving problems on set.
Cuisine Art
For the lushly produced Chef's Table, directors David Gelb, Andrew Fried, Brian McGinn and Clay Jeter orchestrate a 'food symphony' of sights, sounds and psychology that sets it apart from kitchen competition shows.
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino directs Robert Clarke on the set of Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951).
Road Trip Gone Awry
The directors of Little Miss Sunshine deconstruct a crucial meltdown in the indie sensation of 2006.
Nikki Parsons, the director of the award-winning reality competition show So You Think You Can Dance, oversees the blistering pace required to produce the live show with preternatural calm.
Problem Solving
With Colette, director Wash Westmoreland attempts to dramatize what makes a writer tick.
For Zolli, the End Justifies the Means
2nd AD Dana Zolli ensures that communication remains clear when on location for The Sinner.
From East Harlem to the Universal Backlot
1st AD Gerard DiNardi has made a name for himself as a go-to horror AD.
Maximizing Limited Resources to Meet the Director's Vision
UPM Jennifer Radzikowski discusses the artistry of her work on The Florida Project.
Books
Director Ernst Lubitsch, who was idolized by Wilder and Welles, is brought into sharp focus.
Jon M. Chu's Life Lessons and Learning Curves
Jon M. Chu's rich, crazy education results in Crazy Rich Asians, his most personal film yet.
The End is Near
Earlier this year, there was a lot of tough talk traded back and forth between Washington and Pyongyang about nuclear arms, a subject that has inspired a few Hollywood doomsday scenarios over the years.
Nicole Holofcener and Robert Frazen
Nicole Holofcener and editor Robert Frazen arrive at the beats and cadences of her character-driven dramas with a shared understanding of the director's intent.
As the 50th anniversary of Easy Rider nears, Hollywood's eternal bad boy is examined in a new light.
Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater learned by doing, and over the course of his 30-year career, the Texas-based filmmaker has left his own unique stamp on the indie world and beyond.
Tool Kit Reboot
Three cutting-edge software programs help enhance image, story and continuity with computing power.
Morgan Neville
For indie documentarian Morgan Neville, the style should fit the subject.
Susanna Fogel's Action, With Heart
Susanna Fogel's sophomore feature, The Spy Who Dumped Me, is grounded in female bonding.
It's Rise and Shine With Grace and Frankie
On the set of Grace and Frankie, UPM Joan Van Horn has her routine ready to go.
Paper Trail that Saves Trees
Two script apps allow changes digitally without losing sight of previous drafts.
Books
The making of George Stevens' Texas-sized epic is recounted in Don Graham's meticulously chronicled book.
A Game Plan That Anticipates Unplanned Moments
CBS Sports production associate Amanda Rodriguez loves the unpredictability of live sports broadcasts.
Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Chicago Fire
2nd AD Stefan Rand is always prepared while on the Chicago Fire set.
No Detail is Too Small
Whether on a blockbuster Marvel film set or a smaller character-driven drama, 2nd AD Kristina Peterson traffics in minutiae.
No detail is too small for directors Alec Berg and Jamie Babbit in Silicon Valley's quest for authenticity.
Justin Simien uses cinematic language on Dear White People, which series directors find liberating.
American Masters
The directors of the American Masters series approach their trailblazer subjects on their own terms, with no stone left unturned.
Barry Levinson and Ellen Chenoweth
When it comes to casting, director Barry Levinson and casting professional Ellen Chenoweth rely on a combination of expertise and instinct.
The Big Reveal
Using multiple lenses, focal points, flashbacks and innumerable cuts, Jean-Marc Vallée completes the puzzle in the Big Little Lies season finale.
Vision Quest
Episodic television's current renaissance has more than a little to do with the increasingly cinematic approach to some of the medium's more ambitious series, some of which are glimpsed herein.
Miloš Forman
The recently departed Miloš Forman, who won a clutch of DGA and Academy Awards, might be the poster child for overcoming adversity.
Dan Attias
Dan Attias, who has directed more than 80 series since he joined the Guild in 1980, brings arduous prep and probing insights to the table as a key contributor to Peak TV.
Directors discuss finding the tricky balance between desperate drama and absurd humor on TV's latest wave of crime comedies .
Late-night talk shows are responding to a constantly shifting news cycle, and directors must think on their feet.
As streaming services proliferate and court A-list filmmakers, the DGA Quarterly asked feature directors and industry leaders how directors intend for their films to be exhibited and what defines a theatrical film experience in 2018?
Mimi Leder
A trailblazer in movies and television, director Mimi Leder has learned that knowledge is power, and tenacity is the key to success.
Dee Rees
Dee Rees revisits Lamont Johnson's obscure '80s sci-fi pastiche Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and revels in its scrappy invention and underdog spirit.
From the Gridiron to the Paint, Fishman Maintains the Flow
CBS Sports associate director Cory Fishman describes himself as a traffic controller.
Warner Bros.' Crown Jewel
One of WB's most prized contract players, Michael Curtiz directed such Golden Age classics as Casablanca and Mildred Pierce.
Commercial directors Grady Hall and Brett Froomer discuss whether six-second-long micro-commercials are a wave of the future or a passing fad.
Greta Gerwig's Search for Truth
With Lady Bird, her solo debut as a director, Greta Gerwig appeared to be an overnight sensation, but as an actress she’d been studying other directors’ work for more than a decade, and the attention to detail paid off.
Mel Brooks' The Producers
Fifty years ago, Mel Brooks’ directorial debut, The Producers, opened in New York and launched the career of one of cinema’s most outrageously funny auteurs.
Schwartz's Comfort Zone
For 1st AD Marty Eli Schwartz, making sure the actors feel comfortable is all part of the job.
Maintaining the Tightrope Between Scariest and Funniest
Stage Manager Jerri Churchill strives "to always be the most well-prepared person on the set."
For Zugschwerdt, Smoothing Wrinkles on Time Is Par for the Course
Time may not always be on her side, but 2nd AD Lisa Zugschwerdt makes the most of it.
Lost Epic
As the newly scaled down yet no less comprehensive Taschen book Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made demonstrates, Kubrick was nothing if not a completist.
Alma Har'el
Commercial director Alma Har’el on how she directed P&G's “Love Over Bias” spot for their Winter Olympics campaign.
Pamela Fryman
Director Pamela Fryman was tasked with directing no less than six comedy pilots by the time the broadcasters’ upfronts start in May. Here's how she did it.
The Killing Fields
As the Khmer Rouge rumbles into Phnom Penh in The Killing Fields, director Roland Joffé captures the fear and dread with constant movement.
Francis Lawrence and Jo Willems
Director Francis Lawrence and DP Jo Willems have been creative partners since their pop video days.
In their deceptively simple takes on the standup special, directors Liam Lynch, Shannon Hartman, Chris Robinson, Michael Bonfiglio, Stan Lathan and Jessica Yu approach their subjects from the inside out.
Eight years later, we find ourselves asking: "Why shouldn't net neutrality apply to the entire Internet?"
Directors Anthony Hemingway, Daniel J. Minahan and Lesli Linka Glatter walk the tightrope between reality and dramatic license with fact-based murder dramas.
Directors Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein, Asif Kapadia, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Alex Gibney and Bart Layton, who straddle the line between fiction and nonfiction, are storytellers first and foremost.
Extended Reality
Three state-of-the-art VR cameras enable filmmakers to shape virtual storytelling.
All About Eve on Ice
Director Pierre Moossa helps recount the drama of a women's figure skating upset at the recent Winter Olympics.
Iñárritu's 'Lumiére Moment'
As his recent VR installation Carne y Arena demonstrates, Alejandro González Iñárritu immerses the viewer in the experience of illegal immigration from Mexico into the U.S., bringing empathy to a divisive issue.
Following in the footsteps of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, networks like CBS, AMC and FX are getting into the custom streaming game, with exclusive content a primary selling point.
With Big Tech becoming increasingly invasive on our economy and private lives, we look at how antitrust battles of the past are relevant to the present, and the consequences of a monopolistic world on entertainment.
Given that in the new millennium, consumers access TV programming in myriad ways, we present a thorough rundown of how DGA members' content is delivered to viewers.
Pitch Perfect
The recent World Series showdown between the Houston Astros and the L.A. Dodgers had more than the requisite drama, and director Matt Gangl made sure it was captured from every angle.
Survival of the Fittest
The life-or-death struggle has been an integral part of drama since filmdom's origin, but when the bulk of the story involves simply staying alive, the stakes couldn't be higher.
The continuity of vision that a single-director approach can bring to a series is gaining steam—but it takes incredible stamina and resolve, according to directors Cary Fukunaga, Scott Frank, Pamela Adlon, Mary Harron.
Michael Apted
Michael Apted's deep documentary experience informs his quest for authenticity, and as the issue of creative rights loomed after Thunderheart, that awareness sparked a decades-long involvement in DGA leadership.
Kenneth Branagh and Patrick Doyle
Three decades of kinship have allowed director Kenneth Branagh and composer Patrick Doyle to work in cultivated harmony, dating back beyond Branagh's first feature, 1989's Henry V.
Beugg's "Magic Moment"
Staging a big dance sequence on a busy L.A. freeway was just the challenge UPM Michael Beugg had been waiting for.
Smith Contributes to a "Well-Oiled Machine"
Associate Director Maureen Smith loves traveling with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Overton Gets Real
2nd AD Jaysene Overton explains her unique way of finding background actors for difficult crosses on medical dramas.
Live Tapings Keep Hines on his Toes
Staging two live shows a week during seasons of The Voice is par for the course for stage manager Chris Hines.
James Burrows
Director James Burrows has been the sole director on Will and Grace from the very beginning, and continues to demonstrate on the reboot his ability to orchestrate with elegant economy.
Casino Royale
Martin Campbell's second Bond outing is action-packed, but a pivotal poker game between 007 and his arch nemesis gave the director pause.
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro shares his passion for John Frankenheimer's large-scale yet intimate WWII drama, The Train (1964).
Atlanta's Siren Song
With its wealth of experienced crews, physical looks and soundstage infrastructure, Georgia's capital is gaining stature as the production hub of the South.
Director Lily Olszewski and her team keep the country's most-watched morning telecast churning ahead of a hyperactive news cycle.
Reed Morano’s Hat Trick
The DGA and Emmy Award winning cinematographer-turned-director fuses the painterly with the emotional on her third feature film.
Viewfinders for the Digital Age
The tool most commonly associated with directors has been given various makeovers in recent years, as demonstrated by the latest apps from Artemis and Cadrage.
Problem Solving
Directors Joseph Kosinski and Hany Abu-Assad discuss working in extreme environments, and harnessing that authenticity, in the films Only the Brave and The Mountain Between Us.
As stage managers Gary Natoli, Garry Hood, John Esposito and Valdez Flagg navigate a set's innumerable moving parts, the clock is ticking and the pressure is on.
Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life
A peek behind the scenes of Frank Capra's timeless holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life.
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow's socially relevant cinema invites a more active engagement with the viewer.
Razor-sharp resolution and higher frame rates challenge directors to think out of the box.
Problem Solving
Resurrecting famous athletes in their prime is no mean feat for directors Brian Helgeland, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
Errol Morris
Director Errol Morris on Douglas Sirk’s The Tarnished Angels
The Food of Life
When food and drink play an epicurean role in movies, the result can have a Pavlovian effect.
John Avildsen
John Avildsen, who passed away June 16th, won the DGA Award for directing Rocky.
Jordan Peele
For first-time director Jordan Peele, laughs and gasps are interchangeable.
LEDs
LEDs are changing the lighting equation.
Todd Haynes and Ed Lachman
Director Todd Haynes and DP Ed Lachman liken their relationship to dance partners, in step to the same emotional rhythms.
Filming in the Right Key
The Do's and Don'ts of Directing Musical Numbers in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Joseph McBride
Joseph McBride, who has written magisterial biographies on John Ford, Frank Capra and Steven Spielberg, has put together a collection of his journalistic work through the decades.
Jerry London and Rhonda Collier
There's a sense of déjà vu in Jerry London's assessment of the smallscreen landscape when miniseries became all the rage.
In Live Programming, Adaptability is Key
Associate Director Ken Diego on the quick decision-making of the 2017 Oscars.
Bracing for the Unpredictable
UPM Jon Paré knows how to act in the face of Mother Nature.
A CBS Fixture Makes Sure the Trains Run on Time
Associate Director Gady Reinhold makes sure the trains run on time at CBS
When It Comes to Safety, No Stone Is Left Unturned
1st AD Carol Vitkay explains how she prepped for a house fire in How to Get Away With Murder
Directors talk about coaxing famous athletes out of their comfort zones by performing off the field
Directors Nicole Holofcener, Gillian Robespierre, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton discuss how intimate family dramas about dysfunctional families continue to assert their place at the big-screen table.
As we approach the late filmmaker's 90th birthday, directors Jonathan Glazer, Nicholas Winding Refn and others wax poetic on why the legendary perfectionist behind 2001 and Barry Lyndon still matters
With The Looming Tower, directors Alex Gibney, Craig Zisk, Michael Slovis, John Dahl and Ali Selim retrace Al-Qaeda's path to 9/11
Director Paris Barclay talks about the industry, his leadership role and how the Guild has progressed during his presidency.
The West Wing
Thomas Schlamme guides us through the culminating moments of the finale of The West Wing's second season, often described as one of the greatest moments in television history.
The Duffer Brothers
As the Duffers prove, everything old is new again.
Event series directors Reed Morano, Ron Howard, Ryan Murphy, Gus Van Sant, and Jean-Marc Vallée discuss their creative visions.
Vision Quest
Cutting-edge tools benefit workflow ease, visual playback and image-capture range.
Through their work with actors, directors Ulu Grosbard, Jerry Schatzberg and Michael Ritchie raised the bar on realism during Hollywood's '70s renaissance.
Need for Speed
Edgar Wright directs an action-movie musical fueled by his love of heist movies and crime thrillers.
Michelle MacLaren
Unwilling to back down from a challenge, Michelle MacLaren leaves no "rock left unturned" when it comes to achieving her vision on such shows as Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones.
Jeff Nichols and Adam Stone
Director Jeff Nichols and cinematographer Adam Stone eschew conspicuous camera movement for stately objectivity.
Have Expertise, Will Travel
2nd AD Matt Haggerty always has his passport ready.
Have Bun, Will Audition
2nd AD Jason Graham recounts a memorable experience setting background on Girls.
When the Circus Arrives, a High-Wire Act Ensues
For UPM Deb Dyer, nothing on the set of P.T. Barnum biopic The Greatest Showman was ordinary.
Quick Learning Curve Required for Reality Show Pro
AD Anna Moulaison-Moore has mastered the quick learning curve necessary for reality competition shows.
1st ADs Michele "Shelley" Ziegler, Joseph Reidy, Tommy Gormley and Bob Wagner do their best to allow their directors minimum distraction and maximum creativity.
In this Age of Anxiety, directors Alec Berg, Mark Cendrowski, Jonathan Krisel, Steve Levitan, Beth McCarthy-Miller, Melina Matsoukas and Ken Whittingham talk about the current state of TV comedy, which ranges from blatantly slapstick to uncomfortably anxious.
Christopher Nolan mixes formalism and spontaneity to create a 'you are there' experience with Dunkirk.
For This is Us, directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa aim for emotional catharsis while reining in the 'schmaltz'.
Problem Solving
A prison riot is accomplished with maximum prep and knowing the lay of the land on Ric Roman Waugh's Shot Caller.
Problem Solving
Jeffrey Reiner juggles multiple perspectives in The Affair.
Demonstrably Demme
In the wake of Jonathan Demme's passing in April, we take a visual tour through his bracingly eclectic film canon.
Chicago's Burgeoning Production Scene
A 30% tax incentive, top-notch soundstages and crews, and eye-catching locations make the windy city an attractive alternative.
Ed Sherin
Remembering Ed Sherin, DGA National Vice President and Honorary Life Member
Hip hop continues to reverberate with deep-dive sagas that blend fact and lore from directors Seith Mann, Ed Bianchi and Benny Boom
The new series from Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood, reflects the racial strife prevalent in today’s headlines.
Silver Linings Playbook
Director David O. Russell deconstructs the riveting third act of his acclaimed 2012 serio-comedy Silver Linings Playbook — a dance competition sequence with high stakes for all involved.
Patty Jenkins
Patty Jenkins, while in post on her own comic book opus, Wonder Woman, waxes nostalgic on the Richard Donner film Superman.
Problem Solving
Director Lev Spiro places an actor's health above all else while filming Orange is the New Black.
Problem Solving
A delayed start and severe weather work in director Doug Liman’s favor on The Wall.
Rhythm and Blues
The music biopic, with its rise/fall/redemption dramatic arc, is a ripe subject for directors.
Selling Cars with Compassion
Commercial director Craig Gillespie opts for nuance over broad strokes in Saatchi & Saatchi's Toyota campaign.
Floating on Air
We examine three drones and their capabilities to affordably heighten the director's canvas.
Directors such as Bill Condon, Jon Favreau and Kenneth Branagh breathe live-action life into animated Disney classics.
A celebrated filmmaker right out of the gate, Sam Mendes juggles movies and theater with the virtuosity of a wunderkind, and the experience of a seasoned pro.
A thirtysomething Reunion
Four thirtysomething cast members—Timothy Busfield, Peter Horton, Melanie Mayron and Ken Olin—discuss how the landmark series shaped their careers as directors.
Denise Di Novi
A veteran producer makes her directorial debut, and gets closer to the action in the process, with Unforgettable.
TV directors speak out on their role in the process even as remote online methods threaten to push them "out of the room."
As pros Eytan Keller, Brian Smith and Paul Starkman attest, the action on cooking competition shows is frantic and the directing is far from cookie cutter.
Can’t Miss Viewing
Director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, The Promise) on why he’s watching Queen of Katwe.
Can’t Miss Viewing
Director Niki Caro (North Country, The Zookeeper’s Wife) on why she’s watching Transparent.
Logan director James Mangold explains how to reinvigorate the superhero genre.
Going Rogue in London's Underground
1st AD Toby Hefferman on the "biggest challenge" of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Growing Pains Mixed with High Maintenance
UPM Gwen Bialic's atypical work routine helps her move seamlessly from project to project.
Emphasizing the Team as a Guiding Principal
2nd AD Courtney Franklin prioritizes a team mentality.
For Reames, there's nary a break in the action
For Associate Director Allison Reames, each day brings a new, fast-paced challenge.
Sofia Coppola and Anne Ross
For The Beguiled, Director Sofia Coppola and Production Designer Anne Ross talk color schemes, mood boards and the value of actual locations.
Sidney Poitier
On the occasion of Sidney Poitier's 90th birthday, his directorial achievements take center stage.
We’re talking bleeding-edge cameras—particularly two new models from Red and Lytro—that could promise to help directors take image capture to the next level.
Game of Thrones
Miguel Sapochnik's "Battle of the Bastards" episode of Game of Thrones rivals epic big-screen confrontations, as the director gives us the blow-by-blow on the choices and inspirations behind his battle royal.
Tom Ford
Director Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals) muses about Peter Bogdanovich’s astute choices on the timeless The Last Picture Show and why the film continues to resonate for him personally.
In Memoriam: Arthur Hiller, DGA past president seen here on the set of The Hospital with George C. Scott
Kelly Reichardt
For Kelly Reichardt, her cross-country roadtrips inform her creative process.
Wiz of a Stage Manager
Stage Manager Annette Powlis is always prepared for live shows.
Fresh Off the Boat directors relate to their characters' need to belong.
Ang Lee
Tech talk with Director Ang Lee.
Problem Solving
U.K. director John Madden discusses working in tight quarters on Miss Sloane.
Problem Solving
Director Peter Berg talks about the importance of community trust on Patriots Day.
In the cover story of our newly redesigned DGA Quarterly, Directors Ava DuVernay, Hiro Murai, Steven Zaillian, Christine Gernon, Peter O'Fallon and Marcos Siega sound off on forging a series template for some of the most buzzed-about shows in the Platinum Age of Television, and why sometimes rules are meant for breaking.
The DGA and Emmy award winner has directed more than 200 episodes of Saturday Night Live, and counting.
Documentary Now!
It’s a thin line between reverence and parody for the directors of Documentary Now!
Alexander Payne
For Alexander Payne, reality is the spice of life, with films populated with ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and a mordant humor that's grounded in the flaws and foibles of protagonists whose lives are spiraling out of control.
Director Denis Villeneuve and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson discuss their modus operandi as they team up on their fourth film, Blade Runner 2049.
Can’t Miss Viewing
Director Michelle MacLaren (Westworld, Breaking Bad) on why she’s watching You’re the Worst and Atlanta.
Can’t Miss Viewing
Director Stephen Gaghan (Syriana, Gold) on why he’s watching Mr. Robot.
Directors bring comic book heroes to vivid life for television.
In magnifying their subjects, filmmakers also hold up a mirror to society.
Backup Plans Fit for a Superhero
1st AD Lars Winther fights inclement weather on Marvel films.
Animal Logic on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Associate Director Jeri-Ann Wong talks to the animals on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Maintaining Order in the Court on People v. O.J.
1st AD Chris Della Penna loves the challenge of the job.
Garth Davis
Director Garth Davis opts for emotional immediacy.
Joe Martin
Joe Martin, the maestro behind NBC’s Olympics swimming coverage at Rio, addresses how his team captured lightning in a bottle in the rivalry between Lilly King and Yulia Efimova.
As the DGA celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, we decided to poll our members to see what they consider the 80 greatest directorial achievements in feature films since the Guild's founding in 1936.
Tricia Brock’s directing career got off to a slow start, but once she knew what she wanted to do, she pursued it fiercely—on network, cable, and now, the Internet.
Jodie Foster
In her 50-year career as an actor, Jodie Foster has learned a few things about leadership. As the director of three features, episodic TV, and the upcoming Money Monster, she doesn’t tell cast and crew what they want to hear—she tells them the truth.
Damien Chazelle
With Whiplash and the upcoming throwback musical La La Land, film-savvy director Damien Chazelle is exploring the intersection of real life and cinematic life.
Giving Back
Stage Manager Bill Miller is always busy—and that's just how he likes it.
Horse Sense
Danielle Rigby’s love of all things equine has made her a better assistant director.
UPM on the Move
UPM Louise Rosner's 20-year career has taken her all over the world.
Planet of the Apes
Tim Burton offers a sly performance tip to Helena Bonham Carter on Planet of the Apes (2001).
Photo Essay
From Méliès to Spielberg, directors have long wondered what life would look like in the future. With the help of production and costume design, here’s how directors visualized the shape of things to come.
Niki Caro’s films—from Whale Rider to the upcoming Nazi-era drama The Zookeeper’s Wife have dealt with strong women testing their courage and strength. She should know.
Although Roots was a massive hit and cultural milestone when it was first broadcast in 1977, the saga of an African-American family from slavery to modern times was ready for a more contemporary treatment by a new generation of directors.
Richard Linklater
Early in his career, Richard Linklater was inspired by the sweeping style, conflicted characters, and unabashed emotion of Vincente Minnelli’s Some Came Running.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
For the introduction of Johnny Depp’s iconic character, director Gore Verbinski created a surrealistic playground. Here’s how he did it.
As the technology emerges and becomes more affordable, directors are venturing into virtual reality as a new way of storytelling—with the viewer in the middle
Photo Essay
50 years ago, the New Hollywood was redefining the medium and echoing the tumult of the times.
Susanne Daniels
YouTube Global Head of Original Content Susanne Daniels is developing new programming for subscribers. Will the famously free service now challenge other SVOD platforms?
Stevens Family
The story of the Stevens clan—from George to George Jr. to Michael—spans the 80-year history of the Directors Guild. It is not only a legacy of indelible films, but one of respect for service and responsibility.
80th Anniversary Edition
In quotes from previous issues, assistant directors, UPMs, associate directors, and stage managers, past and present, reflect on doing their jobs.
Photo Essay
Guild Lifetime Achievement Awards celebrate the remarkable careers of feature, television, news, and sports directors. Here are some of them creating their unique body of work.
Paris Barclay
Robert Altman’s Nashville, a brilliantly orchestrated tapestry of national malaise, never gets old. That’s why DGA President Paris Barclay has returned to it over and over again—for inspiration and a guide to great directing.
Jay D. Roth
In his 20 years as national executive director, Jay D. Roth has helped navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing industry. As the DGA celebrates its 80th anniversary, he ruminates on the past and future of the Guild.
In the 1970s a handful of female directors got a shot at making features. It didn’t change things, but it was a start. Film critic and historian Carrie Rickey looks at their accomplishments—and legacy.
A Look Back at the Guild's Accomplishments
For the anniversary of the DGA, we present a timeline covering many of the high points and accomplishments of 80 years of Guild history. It’s the events and people that make the Guild what it is today.
80th Anniversary Edition
No two indie directors see things in the same way, but they all have a vision. Excerpts from 10 years of stories capture their passion.
The Thin Man Goes Home
Director Richard Thorpe discusses the subtleties of a scene with Asta on the set of The Thin Man Goes Home (1945).
80th Anniversary Edition
Directors have been describing iconic scenes from their films for years in these pages. In excerpts from those stories, they explain how they created some of cinema’s most famous moments.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven, with Amanda Wyss, upended the room for a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Six Feet Under
For the daring finale of Six Feet Under, director Alan Ball killed off the beloved characters he’d spent five years creating. He explains why it was the perfect ending—and how he pulled it off.
Ted Sarandos
After changing the way people watch television, Netflix is moving into features in a big way. Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos talks about the future of the company—and the industry.
In an excerpt from his latest book, Richard Schickel takes an intimate look at Howard Hawks—and what may be "the best filmography in the history of American cinema."
Zetna Fuentes hadn’t exactly planned on becoming a director. She just followed her heart from daytime soaps to primetime dramas—with an assist from the Guild.
Taylor Hackford’s great enthusiasm for music, dance, and life comes through in such far-ranging films as An Officer and a Gentleman, Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll, and Ray. And while practicing his craft, he has energetically served the Guild for 30 years--including two terms as president.
Pacific Rim
In storyboards by Rob McCallum, man and beast clash at sea in Guillermo del Toro’s homage to Japanese monster movies, Pacific Rim (2013).
John Lee
The director of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday offers a step-by-step guide on how to win over actors and influence producers on the set. It’s easy, really.
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck started working together when they were still in film school. With their latest picture, Mississippi Grind, they continue their pursuit of regional stories.
Live and Well
Kate Louise Moran worked her way up from a temp job at London Weekend Television, joined an associate director training program, and went on to have a long career in live TV.
Creative UPM
UPM Meredith Zamsky spent her first years on the job in New York, but moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and worked on popular shows such as Castle and The Office.
Pond-Hopping AD
1st AD Richard Styles spends lots of time traveling across the Atlantic from the U.K. to American locations like Oklahoma, Atlanta, and Beverly Hills.
Directing Costume Dramas
Directors have long collaborated with designers to transport actors into the past in glorious costume dramas. Beneath the wardrobe, there is always a story to tell.
Paul Weitz
King Vidor’s humanity and feeling for ordinary people come alive in his silent masterpiece, The Crowd. Paul Weitz reflects on what makes the film by the DGA’s first president a classic.
With A Dry White Season in 1989, Euzhan Palcy became the first black woman to direct a Hollywood studio film. She has been fighting the system ever since, and leading the way for a new generation of black female directors.
Not only does having a single director on a miniseries assure a unified vision, it can help the logistics of a complicated production. We asked five solo directors to describe their experience doing it all.
Debra L. Lee, chairman and CEO of BET Networks, says with audiences for television becoming more diverse, so should directors—and the talent is already out there.
With the landscape of pilots evolving—from traditional to backdoor to the Internet—directors are dealing with new business and creative decisions. Here’s how a group of versatile pilot directors solved their problems.
It’s the season for big movies and big hits—and the occasional sleeper. Here are directors living large in a selection of shots from some good old summertime films.
The Sound of Music
Robert Wise confers with Bil Baird’s marionettes on the set of The Sound of Music (1965).
While working the sometimes treacherous water locations on Baywatch, Ken Wada learned staying safe is a team effort.
In the late-'90s Eve Adair was one of the only DGA associate directors in Nashville working in variety television, due mostly, she says, to a series of happy accidents.
Not many ADs who have worked on four Martin Scorsese features can say they owe their career to their janitorial services. But that's how 1st AD Chris Surgent got his foot in the door.
When Lisa Cholodenko first saw Bob Rafelson’s masterpiece in film school, it was a class in psychological realism. The lesson of openness between director and actor informs her work today.
Sandra Restrepo Considine has worked on live concerts, comedy acts, and variety specials. Now as director of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, she and her team have it all under one roof—every day.
The director’s unlikely journey from a Texas border town to NYU film school, to working as an assistant to Nora Ephron and Martin Scorsese, pays off with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Storyboards by Jim Cornish show CGI crystal balls spilling from shelves as Harry and friends escape the Hall of Prophecy in David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
From the drug hallucinations of Trainspotting to the teeming streets of Mumbai in Slumdog Millionaire and the solitary mountain ordeal of 127 Hours, Danny Boyle has brought humanity and a unique visual flair to unexpected places. Who knows what he’ll find inside the head of Steve Jobs in his upcoming bio of the Apple co-founder?
Director Rosemary Rodriguez has excelled in directing all sorts of dramatic television, but where she really feels at home is on the set of her own films.
He spent much of his career trying to salvage troubled productions. But in his centennial year, Welles’ glorious experiments are still thrilling to anyone who cares about directing.
Actor, activist, and international celebrity, Angelina Jolie Pitt was surprised how much she’s loved being behind the camera for three serious-minded films—and counting.
The director rallied Hollywood to preserve the option to shoot on film. And it’s not just about the art—it makes good business sense.
For the opening of Austin Powers in Goldmember, the third film in the franchise, director Jay Roach had fun playing with audience expectations and created an actual action scene—starring Tom Cruise—until the real Austin silliness takes over.
Michael Lombardo
HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo reflects on the industry’s changing business model and how directors have contributed to the new wave of quality television.
Episodic TV from the last 15 years
Television today—in all of its forms—may be better than ever. From The Sopranos to Fargo, here are directors working on some of the seminal series since 2000.
Peter Gunn
Blake Edwards shows a stuntman how to take a fall in Peter Gunn (1958-1961).
Atlanta AD
Rick R. Johnson talks about what it’s like being a 1st AD on a variety of projects, from family features like, D3: The Mighty Ducks to hit TV dramas like Being Mary Jane.
Tactful UPM
Leslie Waldman discusses how she went from studying to be a teacher to becoming a veteran UPM on series such as Gilmore Girls, Weeds, and The Middle.
Big Easy AD
Eric Fox Hays discusses working in Louisiana on such shows as Common Law, Star-Crossed, and NCIS: New Orleans.
Greg Nicotero, Ernest R. Dickerson, & Michael E. Satrazemis on directing AMC's The Walking Dead.
Daniel Sackheim, John Dahl, & Kevin Dowling on directing FX's The Americans.
Trent O'Donnell, Fred Goss, & Jay Chandrasekhar on directing Fox's New Girl.
Saturday Night Live
In putting together Saturday Night Live, one of television’s most iconic shows, director Don Roy King and his team have to deal with enormous changes at the last minute. Here’s what really goes on behind the scenes.
James Hayman, Oz Scott, & Leslie Libman on directing CBS' NCIS: New Orleans.
Industry
With Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, and many others following suit, subscription video-on-demand is the new wave for content. But is it supplanting television as we know it, or a boon to production? It’s still too early to tell.
Eric Appel
What happens when you’re in the middle of directing an episode and the show gets canceled? Director Eric Appel says look on the bright side—you’ll be home in time for dinner
First-Time Directors
Breaking in as a first-time director in episodic television is never easy. It takes talent, persistence, and a helping hand. We interviewed some recent newcomers to see how they got started.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Storyboards by Charles Ratteray lead the vampire Spike to a heroic death as the Hellmouth collapses in Joss Whedon’s finale to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2003).
Lesli Linka Glatter
Lesli Linka Glatter has brought a sense of urgency and psychological depth to such series as The West Wing, ER, Mad Men, and Homeland—and won two DGA Awards along the way. Yet she still finds time to serve the Guild and be an advocate for diversity.
A Lifetime in Television
With his bold innovations in pilots for such landmark series as Hill Street Blues, Moonlighting, Star Trek, and Remington Steele, Bob Butler brought a new sense of realism to dramatic television.
A Lifetime in Television
With 1,000 episodes of TV, including pilots for such iconic comedies as Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory, Jimmy Burrows has helped directors define the genre.
Brad Silberling, Edward Ornelas, & Uta Briesewitz on directing The CW's Jane the Virgin.
The Sopranos
Eight years after it aired, the finale of The Sopranos continues to be hotly debated. David Chase explains how he created the excruciating tension of the last scene. What he won’t say is what happened at the end.
I Love Lucy
It may seem old-fashioned by today’s standards, but as the first multi-camera series filmed live in front of an audience, I Love Lucy revolutionized how sitcoms were made—and created a blueprint for strong directors.
Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula
Fox Searchlight Co-Presidents Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula talk about the challenges of the marketplace and making movies with a vision.
Cary Fukunaga
In the towering TV series True Detective and in his features, Cary Fukunaga researches like crazy so that once he gets to the set he can really let fly.
Werner Herzog
For almost half a century, Werner Herzog has been circling the globe capturing extraordinary images for both documentaries and features. Look closely and you can see the wonder of it all.
Karen Gaviola
Karen Gaviola learned her craft as an AD and has now directed almost 100 TV episodes. For her, it’s all about exercising different muscles.
Jonathan Demme
Always a bit ahead of the curve in his 40-year career, Jonathan Demme pioneered the psychological thriller in The Silence of the Lambs, caught a band at its peak in Stop Making Sense, and tackled social issues in Philadelphia. For his next act? Meryl Streep as a rock star.
The Towering Inferno
Firefighters attempt a daring rescue in a blazing elevator in a scene from John Guillermin’s The Towering Inferno (1974), as shown in storyboards by Joseph Musso.
Elementary
Director-producer John Polson and his crack team of directors help Sherlock Holmes and a female Watson solve cerebral mysteries in modern-day New York. It may be Elementary, but it’s never simple.
Jill Soloway
Jill Soloway took the genre into new territory with her groundbreaking transgender series, Transparent. The content might be different, but the emotions are real.
Marco Polo
With the 13th-century adventures of Marco Polo, a skilled group of directors gets a chance to make the kind of grand-scale epic rarely seen today. But not for theaters—it’s for Netflix.
Adventurous AD
Bruce Moriarty explains how his experiences training horses prepared him in becoming a skilled 1st AD.
Stage Bound
From Radio City Music Hall to the Oscars to Peter Pan Live!, Stage Manager Lynn Finkel discusses the excitement and pressure of working in live television.
Solid 2nd
Second AD Tony Eng discusses how his experiences being a DGA trainee on ER helped pave the way to working on such diverse TV shows as Liv and Maddie and How to Get Away with Murder.
The Passionate Friends
David Lean (center) shot exteriors in the French Alps for The Passionate Friends (1949), his first film set outside of England.
Depicting the machinations of filmmaking
With so much raw material all around them, directors can’t resist the temptation to depict the machinations of filmmaking—both on the set and in studio executive suites. The result is often great entertainment.
Neil LaBute
Neil LaBute pays tribute to the precision and boldness of Mike Nichols’ vision in Carnal Knowledge—a film he admits he has borrowed from freely.
The Bourne Ultimatum
With this rooftop chase in The Bourne Ultimatum—all jolting camerawork and spiky editing—Greengrass redefined the punch and power of action filmmaking.
Jon Feltheimer
Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer is not pining for the way the business used to be. Instead, he’s energized by the prospects of new content, new markets, and new media.
Ali
Storyboards by Tim Burgard helped Michael Mann re-create Muhammad Ali battling Ernie Terrell at the Astrodome in Ali (2001).
Where the Wild Things Are
Spike Jonze offers some acting tips to one of the beasts in Where the Wild Things Are (2009), an adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book.
Film Noir
Influenced by German Expressionism and Old World ennui, Hollywood directors—many of them European émigrés—created the look and feel of film noir to express the fears and desperation of postwar America. It’s a genre that never dies—though its heroes often do.
David Lynch
The mysteries of David Lynch are meant to be experienced, not solved. In works like Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, and Mulholland Dr., he created a dream world of dread and beauty unlike any other.
Dee Rees
After the success of her first film, Pariah, Dee Rees’ career is on track with a biopic about the legendary Bessie Smith—warts and all.
Thinking Big
1st AD David Webb discusses how his early interest in political science and journalism helped pave the way to working on such films as Argo, The Ides of March, and Milk.
New York UPM
UPM Laura Benson has worked on several TV shows based in New York, including The Blacklist, The Big C, and Ugly Betty.
Reality AD
1st AD Thomas Kuk says he loves the unpredictability of non-scripted television, working on dozens of reality shows, including Punk’d, Fear Factor, and Stars Earn Stripes.
Jean-Marc Vallée
With Jack Nicholson as the volatile R.P. McMurphy and Louise Fletcher as his nemesis Nurse Ratched, Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest emphasized performance over style. And that’s still what impresses director Jean-Marc Vallée.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Brooklyn Nine-Nine ADs Tony Nahar and Kenny Roth and their team keep the set relaxed and ready to go. They might even make the show funnier.
Steven Soderbergh
In a prolific career that has taken him from the indie landmark sex, lies, and videotape to mainstream hits like Erin Brockovich, the HBO movie Behind the Candelabra, and now the cable series The Knick, Steven Soderbergh has continually reinvented himself—all the while admirably serving the Guild.
Gail Mancuso
When opportunity knocked, Gail Mancuso walked through the door, and she’s been directing hit comedies like Roseanne, Friends, and Dharma & Greg ever since. With her recent Emmy for Modern Family, she became the first female director to win twice for comedy direction.
Four Indie Directors Working on Studio Films
So your independent movie was a hit. What comes next? For some, it’s a leap to studio filmmaking. Here’s how four directors moved up, and what they found once they got there.
Orange Is the New Black
The popular Netflix series Orange Is the New Black challenges directors with a large ensemble cast, nude scenes, stunts, child actors, and even insects. It may be hard work, but it’s never dull.
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich pushed the bounds of special effects by combining exploding models with digital images and live action in the still-rousing alien attack in Independence Day.
Playing Games
Stage Manager Jonathan Marks has worked on some of the most successful live and live-to-tape shows on TV, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Price is Right.
AD on the Move
Eric Henriquez has traveled all over America as a 1st AD—working in as diverse cities as New York City, Baltimore, and New Orleans.
All-Around AD
1st AD Michele Panelli-Venetis' natural gift for organizing led her to a 30-year career working on films as diverse as Alvin and the Chipmunks and Endless Love.
Coming of Age Movies
Coming of age is a subject that never gets old. From sexual awakening to peer pressure to work responsibilities, it’s an endless source of material. In a collection of rare set shots, we see how generations of directors have handled it.
The Newsroom
With rapid-fire dialogue and complex visual schemes, The Newsroom was no easy assignment for director-producer Alan Poul and his team of directors. But no matter how big the stories, it's always about the characters.
Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy admires the storytelling skill and deep emotion of Steven Zaillian's Searching for Bobby Fischer, a film that's had a lasting influence on his work.
Nicholas Ray
Godard famously once said, "the cinema is Nicholas Ray," and for a remarkable decade from 1948-1958, it was—before he flamed out in true American fashion.
The World of Henry Orient
Director George Roy Hill kicks up his heels while making The World of Henry Orient (1964) in New York.
Moulin Rouge
Having Nicole Kidman swing from the rafters in an early scene from Moulin Rouge (2001) required detailed planning by director Baz Luhrmann, with an assist from storyboard artist David Russell.
Donna Langley
As chairman of Universal Pictures, Donna Langley talks about the state of the industry and how Hollywood can do more to help women.
Steve James
Steve James has captured revealing personal moments in documentaries like Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters. With a new film about Roger Ebert’s last days, he continues his exploration of lives in transition.
Mitch Hurwitz
Mitch Hurwitz, the director and creator of Arrested Development offers some choice—and not so choice—words about meeting the demands of the job.
Nicole Holofcener
In films like Enough Said, Friends With Money and Lovely & Amazing, Nicole Holofcener has demonstrated a fearless talent for creating stories so achingly personal they have universal resonance. The joke’s on everyone.
Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater has always been fascinated by showing how lives change over a long period. In Boyhood, his latest and most ambitious film, he cast a young boy and watched him grow up—for 12 years.
Female Feature Film Directors
The numbers are appalling. In 2013, only nine percent of DGA features released in theaters were directed by women. To inspire, encourage, and hopefully promote change, we interviewed some of those who succeeded in getting their films made. Here are their stories.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Wes Anderson gets around in style in The Royal Tenenbaums.
Raider's of the Lost Ark
A mysterious stream of energy is returned to the Ark in Ed Verreaux's storyboards for Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Sidney Lumet
In his 50-year career, Sidney Lumet combined social issues with complex characters to make crackling entertainment. As time goes by, his body of work looks even more impressive-and unique.
Richard Shepard
For a director, getting an actor to try a radical new look is not always an easy process. Say, Jude Law in mutton chops?
James Gray
With carefully crafted, character-driven films like Two Lovers and the upcoming The Immigrant, Director James Gray has evoked a classical Hollywood style. And, no surprise, he prefers film to digital.
Films from 1939
With 476 films released, and many of them classics, 1939 is often considered the pinnacle of Hollywood filmmaking. To celebrate that year’s 75th anniversary, we look back at directors creating some of the high points—from Mounument Valley to Kansas.
First Place
Mark Little went from managing a helicopter courier firm to a 20-year career as a 1st AD, working with directors such as Brett Ratner, Jay Roach, Thomas Carter, and the late George Hickenlooper.
Second in Command
2nd AD Hope Garrison thrives on big challenges, which makes her an ideal 2nd AD -- working on such diverse productions as Glee, Mud, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Musical AD
From variety, comedy, concerts, awards shows to the Olympics and even the Super Bowl, musicality has always been a key part of Associate Director Sandra Restrepo Considine's 20-year career.
Marc Forster
Marc Forster revisits Alan J. Pakula’s ’70s-era conspiracy film, The Parallax View, and finds it as creepy today as when it was made. He explains how the director created a most disquieting mood.
The Voice
Dealing with more moving parts than almost any show on TV, the directorial team on The Voice captures life-changing moments as competitors discover their true voice.
Roy Price
By monitoring what his vast viewership wants to see, Amazon Studios head Roy Price is creating original series for the Internet Age.
Tim Story
After the early success of Barbershop and Fantastic Four, Tim Story has experienced the ups and down of a director’s life. Now with Ride Along and Think Like a Man Too, his career is on the rebound.
Lee Shallat Chemel
In her 30-year career in television, Lee Shallat Chemel has proven adept at staging comedy and working with actors. But perhaps most importantly, she learned to have fun on the set.
Chicago Fire
Director-producer Joe Chappelle and a fine-tuned directorial team balance some of the biggest, most daring visual effects on TV with everyday human drama on Chicago Fire — and all this in the dead of winter.
David O. Russell
David O. Russell loves observing the quirky, unpredictable rhythms of human behavior. It's no wonder that in films like American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter he captures the teeming intensity of real life.
Suzanne Smith
Suzanne Smith is the only woman directing pro football and NCAA basketball. She credits DGA mentors with helping her to reach her goal.
Lance Acord
In directing some of the most acclaimed commercials in recent years, Lance Acord goes for a casual feel that's anything but easy to achieve.
Michelle MacLaren
Michelle MacLaren went from doing almost any job on the set to directing some of the most brutal episodes of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. For her, the rougher the better.
Paul Feig
Woody Allen’s second film, Take the Money and Run, delighted a young Paul Feig. Even today it defines his sense of what you can get away with in comedy.
Holiday Films
With lost kids, dysfunctional families and too much food, the holidays have always been a perfect backdrop for comedy, drama and even action. Here's how some directors have celebrated the occasion.
William Wyler
William Wyler has often been excluded from auteurist circles, and by extension from serious film study, which, as Gabriel Miller argues, is a gross oversimplification.
Bob Fosse
Teetering between exhaustive and exhausting, Fosse brings us the definitive portrait of a complex man and talented director.
Wes Anderson
It’s easy to generalize the work of director Wes Anderson as “artificial,” but in his new book, Matt Zoller Seitz finds the substance in Anderson’s signature style.
Meet Me in St. Louis
Vincente Minnelli directs Margaret O’Brien and Joan Carroll in the Halloween scene from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).
Alien
Storyboards for Alien (1979) drawn by Ridley Scott, with his handwritten notes, show how the director visualized the first encounter with the extraterrestrial monster.
John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes’ work was emotionally raw and intentionally untidy—and continues to influence directors with its passion and purpose.
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro has combined his love of strange creatures, ghosts and Gothic horror stories with a deep literary sensibility to create genre films uniquely his own.
Tom Hooper
Hooked on directing at an early age, Tom Hooper used his experience in soaps and the theater to create the intimate details of The King’s Speech and the grand gestures of Les Misérables.
Titanic
The kiss on the ship's bow in Titanic gave the film its emotional core. James Cameron explains how he used natural and man-made elements to create the complex scene.
Streetwise AD
In just a single decade, 2nd AD Francisco Ortiz has filled up his dance card with enough award-winning directors to last a lifetime.
SM Live
Chris Hines describes stage managing variety shows as a constant balancing act with a variety of tasks and challenges coming your way.
Hit Woman
1st AD Anne Berger credits directors Michael Watkins and Michael Dinner on Justified for teaching her to schedule big stunt scenes with special effects in a fraction of the time they’re done.
Seith Mann
Seith Mann’s steady rise in television owes much to his natural talent and his ability to stay calm in the face of obstacles.
Seth Gordon
The director of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Horrible Bosses explains why making documentaries is ideal training for directing comedies.
Amy Berg
As the director of the documentary West of Memphis and now her first feature, Every Secret Thing, Amy Berg has learned to observe and let the story unfold.
Megan Clarken
Megan Clarken, Nielsen executive vice president of global product leadership, talks about the company’s plan to count mobile devices starting with the fall 2014 TV season.
The Following
As characters drop like flies in the hit TV series The Following, director-producer Marcos Siega and his team create an authentically tense and scary atmosphere. Even the blood is directed.
The Birds
Alfred Hitchcock directs some of his fine feathered friends on the Bodega Bay set of The Birds (1963).
Horror Films
Fright—in all of its forms—has always been an essential part of the moviegoing experience. No wonder directors have figured out so many ways to horrify an audience.
West Side Story
Saul Bass’ storyboards helped Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins get West Side Story (1961) off to a rousing start on the streets of New York.
John Badham
In John Badham's latest book he culls from his nearly 40-year history in the industry to provide invaluable first-hand insight for vets and novices alike.
Doug Wilson and Jody Cohan
Wilson’s new memoir is a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of what it was like to bring viewers “the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat,” week in, week out.
Whether it’s a pill-popping math genius, a washed-up wrestler, or a haunted ballet dancer, Darren Aronofsky finds a way to get inside his characters’ heads. His latest challenge in Noah is making the biblical disaster story come to life.
Boardwalk Empire
In an extraordinarily creative environment, director-producer Tim Van Patten and a team of highly skilled veteran directors recreate the glamorous, seedy and seductive world of Prohibition-era America in Boardwalk Empire.
Mimi Leder
In her diverse and accomplished career, Mimi Leder has brought a sharp eye and fluid camera to big-budget features and emotionally charged TV series. For her, it’s all about what the characters need.
U.S. Tennis Open
Bob Fishman, assisted by a small army of associate directors, has been directing the U.S. Tennis Open for years. But with an impeccable eye for intimate details, he’s still searching for great emotional moments.
Stanley Kramer
Following World War II, a host of directors, led by Stanley Kramer, began tackling the hot-button issues of their day. We celebrate Kramer’s centennial with a look back at a time when movies mattered.
The Shawshank Redemption
Frank Darabont had audiences cheering as Tim Robbins escaped from prison in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). The director explains how he set him free.
Top of the World
With a career that includes sterling art house indies and mega tentpole movies, Michael Lerman has seen the full horizon of the AD’s craft--and the view has never been less than incredible.
On Location
New York City-based Joaquin Prange says he entered the film business with the full intention of being a cinematographer, but "got hooked" working as a location manager.
At Base Camp
In her nearly 20 years as a 2nd 2nd AD on a string of hit TV shows, Alicia Lewis has made “base camp” a safe haven in often roaring seas.
Dennie Gordon
As the first American woman to direct a Chinese production in China, Dennie Gordon had to cross the cultural barrier. Now she’s a director in demand 6,000 miles from home.
Jamie Babbit
Breaking in with the indie feature But I'm a Cheerleader, prolific TV and film director Jamie Babbit got off to a quick start—and hasn’t slowed down since.
Lena Dunham
As the star of her HBO series Girls, Lena Dunham has become a lightning rod for all sorts of cultural issues. But behind the camera she’s a director learning her craft.
Rick Cotton
As former NBCUniversal executive vice president and general counsel, now head of its worldwide anti-piracy unit, Rick Cotton has been an industry leader in battling Internet theft. He reports on the latest from the front.
David Nutter
David Nutter has directed 19 pilots and an unprecedented 17 have been picked up for series. How does he do it? By following his instincts, respecting his collaborators, and sticking to stories that move him.
Jack Shea
The late Jack Shea served the Guild for nearly 50 years. Our national executive director fondly recalls his contributions—as a president and a person.
Alfonso Cuarón
Alfonso Cuarón learned to direct in his native Mexico, traveled to Hogwarts for Harry Potter, and a dystopian future for Children of Men. For his latest excursion, Gravity, he goes spacewalking.
Steve McQueen
After training as an artist, Steve McQueen has turned his camera on the struggles of life with the darkly beautiful Hunger and Shame. He continues the descent with his first American film, 12 Years a Slave.
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson started out making low-budget splatter movies in his native New Zealand and moved on to explore new cinematic worlds in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. But no matter how far he’s gone, he’s always made it seem real.
Noah Baumbach
François Truffaut’s New Wave classic Jules and Jim has lost none of its freshness and sense of innovation for Noah Baumbach. In fact, he borrowed some of its techniques for his latest film.
Filming Sports
With the built-in drama of competition, it’s no wonder directors have long been attracted to the world of sports. In a collection of shots, here are some of the triumphs—real and fictional—they’ve captured on film.
Moscow on the Hudson
Paul Mazursky shows Robin Williams how to blow in Moscow on the Hudson (1984).
Jaron Lanier
Who Owns the Future? is a cautionary tale, warning of an economic cataclysm and eradication of the middle class if the concept of “free” information keeps to its current trajectory
Alan Casty
Alan Casty tackles the often frustrating paradoxes of a man whose fundamentally American films possess a darkness that reveal the complex ideology of their volatile director.
Peter Rainer
Critic Peter Rainer gives us a history of contemporary cinema; an insightful reflection on the evolution of the industry and the filmmakers who helped shape it.
Edited by Peter Biskind
Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles had lunch together reguarly in 1983 and Jaglom began taping their conversations—right up until Welles’ death.
The Ten Commandments
Cecil B. DeMille used epic staging and what was then state-of-the art special effects to show Moses parting the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments (1956), with an assist from storyboard artist Harold Michelson.
Preston Sturges
No one has put a spin on this crazy world quite like Preston Sturges. In a few short years, he created a benchmark for smart comedy that still stands today.
Staging Sports
Over the last 20 years, Associate Director Dominick Tringali has been paid to see some of the most legendary moments in New York sports history.
Surfing AD
Assistant Director Carla Bowen does what it takes to ensure a smooth production-even if it means sitting on a surfboard out in the ocean for six hours.
Nancy Tellem
Longtime network executive Nancy Tellem, now president of entertainment and digital media for Microsoft, talks about the expanding Xbox entertainment platform and what that might mean for directors.
Ken Kwapis
The director of the pilot and finale of The Office reflects on the unconventional beginning and wistful ending of the popular series.
Allegra Clegg
UPM Allegra Clegg enjoys the challenge of working on complicated films. Beneath her sunny demeanor is a keen negotiating sense.
Saturday Night Fever
John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever helped create the disco craze of the late ’70s. But nostalgia aside, the climactic dance contest was a precisely directed piece of filmmaking.
Mark Cendrowski
In sitcoms as in science, timing is everything. On The Big Bang Theory, director Mark Cendrowski carefully calculates how to make the jokes work—and has fun doing it.
Anthony Hemingway
Director Anthony Hemingway started his career as one of the youngest ADs in Guild history, eventually helming numerous episodic shows and serving as director-producer on Treme. But it’s his attention to the human element that has defined his style.
Noam Murro
At least not for Noam Murro, who has won two DGA Awards for groundbreaking commercials and conquered tricky special effects in his upcoming feature, 300: Rise of an Empire. But the one thing he hopes all his work has in common is heart.
Robert Zemeckis
With films like Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and three performance-capture features, Robert Zemeckis has earned a reputation as a technology pioneer. But more than anything, he's just a director looking for new means to tell good stories.
The Good Wife
Executive producer-director Brooke Kennedy and her team of directors smoothly manage to find the sly humor and elegant look of The Good Wife. That’s what makes it more than just another legal drama.
Jay Sandrich
Jay Sandrich modestly credits quality scripts and talented casts for the success of such beloved TV series as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Cosby Show and Soap. But it took a great director to put all the pieces together.
Raoul Walsh
From the silents through the studio days, Raoul Walsh perhaps made more movies than anyone, yet is largely forgotten today. In a personal appreciation, Richard Schickel considers the director’s contribution to film history.
James Harris on Stanley Kubrick
James B. Harris produced three films with his friend Stanley Kubrick. In this interview, he offers a rare glimpse of life on the set with Kubrick— not as a legend but a working director.
House of Cards
House of Cards is Netflix's first original series. But the real difference is that David Fincher and a team of five directors are calling the shots.
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is rightly considered a pioneer of the New Hollywood movement that exploded onto American screens in the late ’60s and ’70s.
Nat Segaloff
In a business where you’re only as good as your last film, it is surprising to learn that the final works of cinema’s greatest directors are often shrouded in mystery and relegated to the outskirts of their oeuvres.
Jeremy Kagan
Each awards season, the Directors Guild of America’s nominees for best feature film gather for an in-depth discussion of their work at the annual Meet the Nominees Symposium.
Michael Rabiger and Mick Hurbis-Cherrier
Rabiger and Hurbis-Cherrier’s firsthand experience allows them to describe the day-to-day of directing in simple, uncomplicated terms, appealing to both the novice and seasoned pro.
Apocalypse Now
Storyboards by Alex Tavoularis and Tom Wright map out Col. Kilgore’s attack on a beachfront in Vietnam while blasting “Ride of the Valkyries” in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Robert Aldrich shows Bette Davis how to step into a scene on the set of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor went to film school, but he picked up his practical knowledge on acclaimed TV series like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones. Now he’s learning about green screen on Thor: The Dark World.
Sofia Coppola
As much as any contemporary director, Sofia Coppola has captured the feeling of young people adrift in a seductive world. With The Bling Ring, she continues her intimate exploration of lives in transition.
M. Night Shyamalan
M. Night Shyamalan was captivated by Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show and how the plot is secondary to tone and texture. He’s even tried to do it with his own films.
Superman
The success of Richard Donner’s Superman depended on making the flying scenes seem real. Here’s how he pulled it off before digital effects made it look easy.
Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks, one of the founders of the Guild, had a long and varied career ranging from pioneering aerial films to screwball comedies and rugged Westerns. A collection of vintage shots shows him creating Hollywood history.
Kim Fields
Director Kim Fields started out as a child actor on the ’80s sitcom The Facts of Life. Eventually that experience led her to a successful career behind the camera.
Jake Kasdan
Jake Kasdan, the director of the New Girl pilot, explains why pilot season is a savage, archaic, and flawed system that brings out the worst in people—but sometimes a director’s best work.
Les Blank
Documentary director Les Blank has followed his eyes, ears and stomach to capture the sights and sounds of American regional culture for over 50 years. His body of work is a unique and joyous record of how people live.
Jennifer Salke
President of NBC Entertainment Jennifer Salke reflects on the precarious state of network television, the challenge of creating hit shows, and building greater diversity for directors.
Late Night AD
Associate Director Kathy Fortine likens her job on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to an air traffic controller. “I have to make sure the landing gear is down, the lights are on, and the runway is clear.”
AD on the Go
New York-based Julie Bloom says her favorite part of being a 1st AD is visiting places she’s never been.
New York Indie
As an AD in the busy production world of New York, no one gets more out of less than Doug Torres.
From Silents to Spielberg
If there were an Ironman award for production professionals, Moore would have won hands down. His career began in 1916 as a child actor.
Do-It-All AD
Richard Cowan, a film school dropout from Vancouver, Canada, says becoming a 1st AD by the tender age of 25 was a dream come true.
Lynn Shelton
Working quickly with a micro-budget and a sympathetic cast and crew, Lynn Shelton has churned out four films in four years, including her latest, Touchy Feely.
Buster Keaton
As a director of almost geometric precision, Buster Keaton created the template for physical comedy. With a new Blu-ray box set, his genius looks as fresh as ever.
Women Directors on TV
Most people in the industry agree the number of female directors in episodic TV is appalling. We asked showrunners, network executives and DGA members to weigh in on how to solve the problem.
Covering Hurricane Sandy
Amidst the indescribable damage of Hurricane Sandy, local news directors had to be the calm in the eye of the storm. The stories they broadcast bore witness to the tragic events.
2nd in Command
O’Keefe says the art of staging TV comedies has changed since she first came into the industry, in the late ’90s, when the DGA training program told recruits they would need pagers.
Stage Bound
In a 25-yearlong career, Stage Manager Arthur Lewis has worked on live broadcasts of the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Olympic Games.
Patty Jenkins
Patty Jenkins had always had a taste for crime and comedy. Going from Monster to Arrested Development was no big deal.
Yojimbo
Akira Kurosawa directing Yojimbo (1961), about a town divided by two warring gangs in 19th century Japan.
David Luhrssen
His name does not conjure the almost automatic word association that comes with discussing film’s most legendary directors, but Rouben Mamoulian has remained something of a mystery. Until now.
Mike Goodridge
In this fourth installment focusing on the craft of filmmaking, Mike Goodridge profiles 16 of the world’s most respected directors, as well as five influential filmmakers who shaped the medium’s first century.
Michael Goldman
Over the past 40 years, Clint Eastwood has gone from being ‘The Man with No Name’ to one of the industry’s most respected filmmakers.
Hard Boiled
In his groundbreaking and influential Hong Kong feature Hard Boiled, John Woo created a style and template for modern action movies.
There Will Be Blood
Shots for an oil well explosion and rescue are detailed in storyboards by Kevin MacCarthy for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood.
Troy Miller
Troy Miller, the director of the opening short films for the Academy Awards explains what it's like asking George Clooney to kiss Billy Crystal, and other embarrasing moments.
A Global Community of Filmmakers
Directors have always been part of a global community of filmmakers. We present a photo gallery of international directors at work who have profoundly influenced the craft.
Don Mischer
Don Mischer has been capturing great moments in popular culture—the Oscars, Olympic opening ceremonies, Super Bowl halftime shows—on live TV for more than 35 years. For his pitch perfect work he has won more DGA Awards than any other director
Bruce Rosenblum
Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros. Television Group, considers the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.
Law & Order: SVU
Jean de Segonzac and a host of directors have kept Law & Order: Special Victims Unit fresh, fast-paced and inventive for 14 seasons. It may be familiar but it’s never routine.
Homeland's Michael Cuesta
With handheld cameras and a subjective style that gets under your skin, Michael Cuesta has turned Homeland’s cat and mouse game into a suspense-filled ride. Voyeurism never looked so good.
The Colbert Report's
Jim Hoskinson
Even in an election year, with more details, graphics and odd characters to worry about, The Colbert Report's director Jim Hoskinson never misses a beat.
All The President's Men
Alan J. Pakula talks about directing All the Presidents Men, adapted from a 1976 story in the DGA's Action magazine.
Born on the Fourth of July
Oliver Stone explains how he staged a demonstration at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Born on the Fourth of July.
Jorn Winther
Jorn Winther directed the original Frost/Nixon interviews and captured the fallen president’s confession for the record. Even he was surprised by what happened.
Political Films
American movies have been portraying politicians on screen since the populist heroes of John Ford and Frank Capra. But it wasn’t until the advent of TV that filmmakers learned to capture the drama of the game.
Politics in Film and Television
Directors have long been fascinated by the workings of Washington. Here are some of them telling America's story in a collection of behind the scenes shots.
Thomas Schlamme
Not only did director-producer Thomas Schlamme create the signature "walk and talk" style on The West Wing, he has also been a powerful advocate for the rights of episodic directors.
Directing Political Conventions
CBS News director Eric Shapiro has been covering big political events for 40 years, none bigger than this years national conventions.
State of the Union
Frank Capra goes over the ballot with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in State of the Union (1948).
Richard Schickel
An intimate appraisal of the films that made Steven Spielberg an icon.
Jessica Yu
Jessica Yu didn’t go to film school and started out making eclectic documentaries. Though she has moved into TV and features, she still tries to keep it personal.
Howard Berman
California Congressman Howard Berman talks about issues facing the entertainment industry.
Bob Goodlatte
Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte talks about issues facing the entertainment industry.
Rod Lurie
The director of The Contender and Commander in Chief has directed six presidents in all. Here’s what he’s learned on the campaign trail.
48 Frames Per Second
With The Hobbit trilogy Peter Jackson will introduce audiences to a 3-D film shot at 48 FPS. Depending on the response, it could open a whole new dimension for directors.
Armando Iannucci
With the satirical feature In the Loop and HBO series Veep, British director Armando Iannucci proves you don’t have to be American to understand inept politicians and unctuous underlings.
Election Coverage
Mayer’s devil in the details approach is never more tested than during a presidential election year, when the “circus” that is a nightly newscast hits the road for debates and conventions.
Politically Correct
1st AD Josh King, whose partial resume includes movies starring Mike Myers, Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy, says running comedy sets is rarely all fun and games.
Set Diplomat
On the set of the recent USA Network miniseries, Political Animals, 1st AD Richard Coad's biggest challenge was uniting crews from a trio of production centers in the most diplomatic way.
Milos Forman
In Vittorio De Sica’s charming Miracle in Milan, the poor literally rise above it all. Milos Forman explains why the film touched him so deeply in his youth.
Jay Roach
Jay Roach looks at how Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd foreshadowed today’s political culture—and influenced his own films.
David Thomson
A history of the motion picture industry—from its inception to Inception—an inspired study of its place in 21st century culture.
Nick Bamford
A straightforward, no-nonsense, hands-on television directors textbook which applies as much in the U.S. as the U.K.
Betsy A. McLane
An account of the genre's history as context for the current state of documentary films, while considering the future of non-fiction films.
John Frankenheimer
In his six decade career, John Frankenheimer was fascinated with the machinations of politics and approached it from all angles—and it never looked the same.
Chris Bonura's storyboards helped director Robert Zemeckis meld archival and new footage in Forrest Gump.
Grimm Director Norberto Barba
Battling "wesen" and solving mysteries in the wilds of Portland, may not be for everyone. But in Grimm, director/producer Norberto Barba makes it look easy.
William Friedkin
William Friedkin first saw Citizen Kane more than 50 years ago and has never looked at films the same way again. He explains how Orson Welles used the tools of the trade to create a masterpiece.
Nicolas Winding Refn
With violent films such as Bronson and Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn says he’s making movies that arouse him.
New York City Filming Locations
Since the early days of filmmaking, New York has been the world’s biggest back lot. Here’s how some directors used the city to help them tell their story.
Directing the Olympics
The coverage of the Olympic Games will feature more hours on more platforms than ever before. Here's how Bucky Gunts and other top sports directors in the world capture the action.
Space Travel and Aliens
Starting with the silent era to modern CGI, space travel and aliens have always been a new frontier for directors to explore. As these behind-the-scenes shots show, the only limitation is the filmmaker’s imagination.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Roger Spottiswoode uses storyboards to plot James Bond's escape from a Bangkok skyscraper in Tomorrow Never Dies.
Tom Mankiewicz & Robert Crane
A self-effacing portrait of Hollywood insider Tom Mankiewicz, loaded with vibrant anecdotes.
Agnieszka Holland
Warsaw-born Agnieszka Holland has been directing politically and culturally charged features for more than 40 years-and more recently, American TV.
Midnight Express
Alan Parker recalls directing one of the most famous and violent scenes in the Turkish prison drama Midnight Express.
AD in Court
Working for 15 years as an associate director on Judge Judy has definitely influenced Karen Beck. Why else would she be willing to fess up to a gaffe she made decades ago as a booth PA that even her AD never managed to solve?
Sam Peckinpah
With the orneriness of a cowboy, Sam Peckinpah chronicled the dying days of the Old West in films like The Wild Bunch and Ride the High Country. His take on values and violence is still influencing directors today.
Hello, Dolly!
Director Gene Kelly gives Barbra Streisand a few pointers on the set of Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Warner Archive Collection
The enterprising Warner Archive Collection offers unsung films by major directors.
Patricia Riggen
Patricia Riggen may be the only Mexican-born woman directing feature films in Hollywood.
James Christie
A compelling study of Richard Donner, an ebullient, ballsy risk-taker who was a director even before he was aware of it.
Garry Marshall
A memoir chronicling the five-decade career of film and TV director Garry Marshall.
Alain Silver and James Ursini
A compilation of biographies, filmographies, and film-by-film analyses written by the who's who of film historians focusing on 30 key directors who helped shape the film noir genre.
New Media
Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia's new Internet Channel WIGS is creating Web content for the female audience.
Mark Waters
The director of Mean Girls and Mr. Popper’s Penguins explains how playing sports prepared him for the toughest game of all—directing comedy.
Breaking Bad
With a distinctive visual style and lots of locations, Breaking Bad is a challenging show for directors. Fortunately, a great team is in place to help them.
Tom Bernard & Michael Barker
Co-presidents Tom Bernard & Michael Barker have steered Sony Pictures Classics through the choppy waters of indie film for 21 years with a combination of business savvy and a respect for directorial vision.
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks spills the beans about directing some of the most outrageous and hilarious comedies ever made. He's not joking (well, just a little).
Michael Mann
Thieves, assassins, mad men, whistle-blowers, and gamblers have all populated the extreme adventures of Michael Mann's films. For more than 30 years, with style and precision, he has examined the richness of human experience.
Andrew Sarris 1928-2012
Film critic Andrew Sarris expanded the appreciation of movies by advocating the “auteur theory,” which holds that a director’s voice is central to great filmmaking. Reposted here is an article he wrote for DGA Quarterly in 2006.
Zhang Yimou
Once forbidden to travel outside his homeland, acclaimed director Zhang Yimou was recently in the U.S. to talk about his latest international epic. Does that mean a thawing in cinematic relations with China? Maybe. Maybe not.
Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky
Berlinger and Sinofsky’s trilogy followed the trial, conviction, and ultimate freeing of the West Memphis Three for 17 years. It’s a classic story of how talent, perseverance, and the power of film can change lives.
David Dobkin
David Dobkin, the director of Wedding Crashers and The Change-Up shares ten tips learned through trial and error-not divine inspiration.
Bennett Miller
In Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, the story is not the main attraction. Bennett Miller explains how it’s the filmmaker’s restrained style that casts a sublime spell.
Millicent Shelton
As an active episodic TV director going from show to show, Millicent Shelton has a sometimes crazy schedule. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
Capturing the Beat
With the emergence of youth culture in the ’50s, rock ’n’ roll became an important element—and sometimes the subject—of features and documentaries. Here are some directors capturing the beat.
Directing Modern Family
Working at a breakneck pace and with creative solutions, directors have made the everyday humor and documentary style of Modern Family seem like real life—only funnier.
Blue Bloods
With hundreds of extras, elaborate stunts, and numerous locations, the directorial team on the cop show Blue Bloods has plenty to think about. Making sure the subway is running on time is the easy part.
Spider-Man 2
In storyboards by Chris Buchinsky, Spidey battles Doc Ock on a speeding train in the climax of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2.
The Right Stuff
Director Philip Kaufman explored American heroism in the early days of the space program in his 1983 feature The Right Stuff. In this DGA Quarterly: Shot to Remember sequence, Kaufman reveals how astronaut John Glenn earned his stripes.
Love and Death
Woody Allen plans his strategy with Napoleon (James Tolkan) in Love and Death, the director’s 1975 spoof of Russian novels.
Hometown AD
Her love for spontaneous filmmaking began on the streets of her hometown Baltimore, where she worked on her first feature as a production assistant on Barry Levinson's Avalon.
The VFX UPM
It took a degree in television from Emerson College, a three-year internship at Entertainment Tonight, and working for free as a PA in the Roger Corman moviemaking factory before Perritano set her sights on being a unit production manager. Since then she's never looked back.
Virtual AD
That old cliché—timing is everything in the film business—rings true with 1st AD Handel Whitmore, who says he’s not sure where he might be if not for a Utah snowstorm.
Fritz Lang
In a career that spanned the history of cinema from silent to sound, dodged the Nazis, and navigated the studios, Fritz Lang proved himself a master craftsman—and artist—for the ages.
Paramount and Universal Classics
As both Paramount and Universal Studios celebrate their centennials this year, it’s a fitting time to remember some of the directors who helped give the studios their identity.
Resourceful AD
Some are born to it, and others just fall in. For 1st AD Justin Muller it was the former. His grandmother was one of the first women film editors in Italy and his grandfather was head of publicity for MGM Italia.
Presidential SM
Garry Hood has spent the last three decades as the head stage manager for the biggest award shows on TV. Even Michael Jackson (while being escorted to the restroom at the Kennedy Center) asked Hood how he managed to stay so calm during a live show.
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan prefers film to digital, shoots with one camera, and doesn’t believe in 3-D. The director who resurrected Batman, made time go backward in Memento, and deconstructed dreams in Inception speaks his mind.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
A magical dreamscape memoir of the acclaimed director's boyhood and coming-of-age as the son of movie star Geraldine Fitzgerald, and making his way in the worlds of theater, film, and television.
George Stevens, Jr.
In this series of conversations held at the American Film Institute all aspects of work are discussed with men and women working in pictures, beginning in 1950 to Hollywood today.
Annette Insdorf
Closely analyzing his films to date, Insdorf links Kaufman's versatile cinema by exploring the recurring and resonant themes of sensuality, artistic creation, and manipulation by authorities.
Mitch Singer
As chief digital strategy officer for Sony Pictures and leader of an industry-wide digital consortium, Mitch Singer talks about how the UltraViolet cloud could revolutionize home entertainment.
Superbowl Commercials
Since 1984, commercials have been as much a part of the Super Bowl as the football game itself—and sometimes better. But few of the millions of viewers realize that behind all the great ads are directors doing their most creative work.
Waterlogged AD
First Assistant Director Peter Kohn laughs when asked what it is with him and water. "I have spent a fair bit of time around islands," he admits.
Leo McCarey
With an improvisational style fashioned from silent films, Leo McCarey coaxed great performances from some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Yet his role as a master of American film comedy is often forgotten.
Jurassic Park
CGI dinosaurs came alive for the first time in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park with an assist from storyboard artist David Lowery.
Feature Directors Panel
The feature directors panel on the morning of the annual awards has become one of the Guild's most popular events.
Game Shows
Produced by the same company, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune are two of the longest-running hits on TV. The challenge for its directors—Kevin McCarthy and Mark Corwin—is keeping it fresh and entertaining.
Independent Filmmakers
Independent directors have helped create an industry and a staggering range of films over the last 30 years.
Internet Theft
Based on his recent book, Free Ride, author Robert Levine explains why it may soon become easier for consumers to buy content on the Internet than steal it.
Movies for Television
Some of the best films of the last 20 years have been made-for-television.
Guild Past Presidents
In the last two decades, Guild presidents have continued the fight for economic and creative rights.
Guild Diversity Committees
Over the past 30 years, Guild diversity committees have advanced the cause of women and minority members.
Excerpts from DGA Interviews
For the last six years, the Quarterly has interviewed some of the most prominent directors in the business. Here are excerpts from each of them.
Modern Family
Director Jason Winer gives up a few inches to Kobe Bryant on the set of Modern Family.
By Melvin Donalson
An account of black film in America, beginning with the movies of Melvin Van Peebles and Gordon Parks, among the first African-American films to be seen by a large national audience.
The Buddy System
Former actor Dency Nelson has been a TV stage manager for some 35 years and has worked more than two dozen Oscar telecasts.
New York State of Mind
UPM Carol Cuddy has worked to get New York City location managers recognized by the Guild and helped engage the mayor’s office when it revoked movie parking permits.
British Know-How
One of Hollywood’s most sought after 1st ADs is Adam Somner, whose résumé before he even crossed the Atlantic included some of the most revered names in the British film industry.
By Mary G. Hurd
Mixing biographical information with an overview of each career, Women Directors & Their Films identifies the commonalities and distinctions between the many female directors who’ve come to prominence.
By James Mottram
A respectful and multileveled account of the generation of filmmakers spawned (in the main) by the Sundance Film Festival under the auspices of Robert Redford.
By Rebecca Keegan
A nuanced take on the director, benefiting from personal access to the man himself and almost every co-worker that could find, as well as family members and people who’ve known him since he was a lowly effects and landscapes artist.
By Kristin Thompson
A multi-angle saga of the “once in a lifetime” making of Peter Jackson’s magisterial The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
By Bethany Rooney and Mary Lou Belli
Written by two top female TV directors, this is an indispensable handbook for the aspiring TV director and should find its place in the curriculum of any film school in the land.
Saving Private Ryan
Steven Spielberg explains how he staged the massive D-Day invasion in Saving Private Ryan—and without storyboards.
Rocky
In Rocky, John Avildsen's guerilla filmmaking on the streets of Philadelphia for perhaps the most famous training sequence ever might not have been possible without a great new invention-- the Steadicam.
Reality TV Directors
Directors bring a unique set of skills to reality TV in an attempt to capture the magic of the moment.
Directing Football
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, families will gather for food and — in many cases — a little televised football. From the first primitive broadcast in 1939 to the Super Bowl and Skycams, directors have helped invent football on TV. Please enjoy this story from the DGA Quarterly archives about how they bring the action to viewers at home.
Morning News
Morning news shows are increasingly a challenge for the director's team.
Guild History
Two films commissioned for the 75th anniversary commemorate the history of the Guild and the creative accomplishments of its members.
Directing Seinfeld
Two directors--Tom Cherones and Andy Ackerman--helped make Seinfeld one of the most influential shows of time.
Award Winning TV Directors
DGA Award winners in comedy and drama showcasing how the range and quality of television has expanded in the last 20 years.
Directing House
Greg Yaitanes has directed 30 episodes of House, M.D., more than anyone else. Along the way he has streamlined shooting and coming up with creative solutions to production problems--right up until what might be his last show.
Rodrigo Garcia
Although Rodrigo Garcia has specialized in small-scale, intimate portraits of modern women, his latest film, Albert Nobbs, is a period piece set in Dublin. But for him, it's still about the story.
Susanne Bier
Danish director Susanne Bier won an Oscar for In a Better World, but her international style may be seen as too commercial in Europe and too artsy for Hollywood. The reality is somewhere in between.
Beth McCarthy Miller
Shooting a live episode of the comedy series sounded like a good idea on paper.
David Frankel
The director of The Devil Wears Prada reflects on the valuable advice he got from cast and crew while making the film—whether he wanted it or not.
By Marilyn Ann Moss
A biography of maverick director, Raoul Walsh.
By Guy Magar
Autobiography from veteran feature and action TV director Guy Magar.
Jeffrey Meyers
A definitive biography of the larger-than-life career of legendary director John Huston.
By Steven J. Ross
A history of the relationship between Hollywood and Politics.
Inception
The dreamscape of Christopher Nolan's Inception was filled with odd angles and spinning rooms such as this one. Storyboards helped the director realize his vision for 500 visual effects shots.
James Burrows
James Burrows, the legendary director of Taxi, Cheers, Will & Grace, and numerous other hits says you never know what’s going to happen on the set—and that’s what makes it fun.
In the Background
In her 15-plus years in network television, 2nd AD Suzanne Saltz has pretty much seen it all, including those bygone days of single-camera shows.
Taking Care of Business
Kathleen McGill's early years in production accounting cleared the path for her success as a unit production manager.
The Night of the Iguana
John Huston runs lines with a feathered friend during the filming of The Night of the Iguana (1964) in Mexico.
Filmmakers from 1965-1989
Directors broke new ground from 1965-1989 — politically, socially, and sexually. These were no longer your father's pictures. Here's a cross section of some of the most memorable work of the period.
An Appreciation
As chairman of the DGA’s Special Projects Committee for 24 years, Robert Wise guided the invaluable program and enriched the lives and careers of Guild members.
Independent Voice
After winning acclaim for his unlikely hit Precious, Lee Daniels is trying to figure out where he fits in a business that usually doesn’t value stories about 400-pound black girls.
Mel Brooks
Because Mel Brooks’ films are so full of outrageous gags and scabrous humor, his skill as a director is often overlooked. A reassessment is due.
Jaws
Steven Spielberg looks over the script for Jaws (1975) while shooting on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard.
The Industry
When pay cable TV was in its infancy, the Directors Guild stood up to HBO, and after an eight-year battle, secured the creative and economic benefits members enjoy today.
Matt Loeb
IATSE president Matt Loeb looks at the challenges facing the industry and the people employed in it.
by Patrick McGilligan
Nicholas Ray made movies about drug addiction, feminism, Mc-Carthyism, conservation, and ethnography years before anyone else.
by Robert Kolker
The most acute and perceptive critical study of some of the finest films and directors of the Hollywood New Wave of the 1970s.
Star Wars
George Lucas mapped out where he was going in Star Wars with storyboards for everything from the opening credits to the climactic battle between the evil empire and the rebel forces.
by James Monaco
A snapshot of Hollywood at the high noon of the American New Wave, this is a delightful time machine of a book showing us what was actually there before the steady encrustation of myth had taken hold.
Robert A. Daly
As head of CBS in the ’70s and CEO of Warner Bros. for almost 20 years, Robert A. Daly oversaw an industry in transition. He looks back at the business as he knew it.
by Richard Schickel
This epic, wide-ranging conversation between two people who together may know more about movies than anyone else in America offers nothing but pleasure
by Douglass K. Daniel
We get to see beyond Brooks' barking autocrat and observe what several friends and co-workers call "the mischievous twinkle in his eye."
by James Sheldon
If there’s an emblematic career that showcases the entire history of television from its postwar inception to the late '80s, it must be James Sheldon's.
Paving the Way
As one of the first female assistant directors in Hollywood, Daisy Gerber has been called a lot of things, but studio big shot was not among them.
New York Trained
Even with career highlights like working on The French Connection, Sophie’s Choice, and Naked City, William “Bill” Gerrity says receiving the DGA’s Frank Capra Achievement Award in 1983 was his greatest moment.
Charlie Star Trek
Charles Washburn, would never have come to Hollywood if not for experiencing the same racial bias in Chicago that blacks in the industry had endured for so many years.
Blaxploitation
With sexy urban stories not seen before on American screens, blaxploitation pictures wowed a new audience in the ’70s. Behind the flashy clothes and cool music, directors helped create the genre’s unmistakable style.
New Hollywood in the Late 60s and 70s
Following the lead of the French New Wave, a restless generation of directors took Hollywood by storm in the late ’60s and ’70s, reflecting the climate of the country.
Hill Street Blues
Before Hill Street Blues arrived in 1981, cop shows were tame by comparison. Using a realistic, in-your-face style, the directors helped pioneer a look and feel that has inspired countless crime series.
Gil Cates
Through changing times, for more than 50 years Gil Cates has been a steadying force and voice of reason in the Directors Guild.
Internet Theft
We asked a writer to search the Web and report on how shockingly easy it is to find illegal films. They could even be yours.
Reds
Somehow Warren Beatty persuaded a major studio to let him make Reds, his passion project about John Reed and the Russian Revolution. The director describes how he shot a climactic confrontation between art and politics.
Big Shot
Anyone who has ever been on a set has heard his name. Besides his work as an AD and UPM and his contributions to the Guild, Abby Singer is best known for the shot he invented.
The Bill of Creative Rights
When Elliot Silverstein challenged the editing of a TV show, the DGA fought and won the battle for creative rights.
The Effect of the Blacklist
Amidst the rumblings of the blacklist, the Guild's membership met on Oct. 22, 1950 and battled over whether to recall its president. It turned out to be a crucial moment in Guild history.
Advent of TV
As television arrived in the late ’40s and ’50s, the job of directing TV was defined. For young directors, it was the time of their lives.
John Rich
John Rich is a legendary figure in TV comedy, but equally important are his contributions to the Guild in 50 years of tireless service.
The RTDG-SDG Merger
The merger of East and West Coast directors in 1960 led to many of the benefits members enjoy today.
Film Noir
Film noir thrived in the dark of postwar America. But from the first flashing neon to the last crazy camera angle it was a director’s medium.
Tom McCarthy
Trained as an actor, Tom McCarthy hadn’t planned on becoming a director. But then inspiration struck and after three successful features, including Win Win, he’s hooked.
The Twilight Zone
Doug Hayes finds the actors on The Twilight Zone a tad stiff.
Nuts and Bolts AD
Callow was among the original ADs to join the Guild in 1938 and became one of the savviest nuts and bolts production pros in the industry.
An Appreciation
The Guild's youngest president was also a master craftsman and an unforgettable character, as a budding filmmaker recalls.
The SDIG-DGA Merger
The commercial and documentary directors in the SDIG were initially fearful of being swallowed by the West Coast directors, but a happy merger was finally reached in 1965.
Fred Silverman
Former head of ABC and longtime TV executive Fred Silverman reflects on the medium’s coming of age.
Groundbreaker
The first black member of the Screen Directors Guild and the second black stage manager to work in network television, Franklin was as determined as he was skilled.
Internet Theft
Internet theft has clearly had a serious economic impact on mid-budget and large studio movies, but it’s independent films that may be damaged the most.
Todd Haynes
In his idiosyncratic career, Todd Haynes has followed his muse rather than the money.
Bethany Rooney
Inspired by The Beatles, a young director tries to be positive. And it works!
Spartacus
Famed title artist Saul Bass’ storyboards for Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus.
Sidney Lumet
Rarely does a book fully live up to the promise of its title, but Lumet’s memoir-cum-manual tells us in vivid and splendid detail how he does what he does.
Stephen B. Armstrong
The emblematic figure among the New York TV directors who made the journey to Hollywood in the 1950s, Frankenheimer refined his technique in live broadcasts before millions of viewers.
by Marilyn Ann Moss
As the son of theatrical tent-show performers, former DGA president George Stevens truly grew up with Hollywood.
by Delbert Mann
Former DGA president Delbert Mann was the first of the generation of Television directors to make a successful trek West to Hollywood.
by Jeanine Basinger
The undisputed master of three genres—film noir, psychological Westerns, and big-budget historical epic—Mann accumulated a majestic body of work.
Robert Wise
A careful re-viewing of Robert Wise’s work reveals the imprint of an artist.
Todd McCarthy & Charles Flynn
A landmark assessment of the independent sector of American filmmaking in the postwar decades, a teeming bestiary of risk takers, gore pioneers, and still-underrated auteurs.
by Elia Kazan/Richard Schickel
Kazan’s epic account of the century and his life is as magnificent an achievement as many of his plays and movies, and possibly the best autobiography ever written by a movie director.
by Nat Segaloff
Renowned primarily for detonating the 1970s Hollywood Renaissance with 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, Penn’s life was full of achievements no less potent and pace-setting.
Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Kasdan considers how Stanley Kubrick pulled off a daring mixture of tones in Dr. Strangelove.
Filmmakers from 1945-1965
Some of the most prominent directors from 1945-1965, seen in rare on-set shots, deal with new challenges on the job.
Honoring Our Own
In 1949, the Guild launched its annual awards. Then as now, the idea was for directors to honor their own.
In the Heat of the Night
Norman Jewison explains how he captured the tension of the civil rights era in one explosive scene in In the Heat of the Night.
Errol Morris
The form and tools of documentary filmmaking have changed over the years, but what motivates Errol Morris is the pursuit of truth.
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Little Miss Sunshine's Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris explain why George Cukor's Holiday is the model of the romantic comedy for them.
Frank Oz
The director of Death at a Funeral considers how Bob Hope and Bing Crosby could get away with anything in their Road films.
Directors in World War II
The Guild and many prominent directors volunteered their creative talents to help win World War II.
Frank Capra's Fight
When President Frank Capra boldly threatened to boycott the Academy Awards in 1939, the Producers Association finally accepted the Guild.
Serious Westerns
In an excerpt from a 1971 story in the DGA's Action magazine, John Ford and cast and crew reminisce about the making of Stagecoach.
Pioneering Women
Any look at the history of directing should include Alice Guy-Blaché, Dorothy Arzner, and Ida Lupino. Not because they were women, but because of their contribution to the craft.
Take a look back at how the labor struggles of early Hollywood led to the founding of the DGA.
D.W. Griffith
Griffith's career will always be controversial but his pioneering contributions to the language of film are undeniable.
Gone With the Wind
Storyboards by William Cameron Menzies detail the burning of Atlanta scene from Gone With the Wind.
Kevin Brownlow
Nearly forty years on from its original publication, Kevin Brownlow’s The Parade’s Gone By... still packs quite the Proustian punch, with its chorus of then venerable, now long-dead legends of the silent era reminiscing on experiences that even then were 40 years in the past.
Joseph McBride
Drawing on three decades of research, Searching covers Ford's directing, history as a co-founder of the Directors Guild, politics, and his wildly contradictory personality, valiantly attempting to separate Ford’s many masks from his actual visage.
Patrick McGilligan
In his exhaustive biography of the shadowy, half-forgotten yet indomitable African-American film pioneer Oscar Micheaux, McGilligan deftly assembled the sterling research of scholars of early black filmmaking into a compelling account of a quixotic life.
Todd McCarthy
Hawks, a cofounder of the Directors Guild, was unusual in scrappy, knockabout early Hollywood; as an educated rich kid from Pasadena, he was slumming in what was still seen as a disreputable industry.
Gene D. Phillips
Exiles in Hollywood looks at Fritz Lang, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, and Otto Preminger, analyzing the profound effect they had on American popular cinema after leaving UFA Studios.
Raoul Walsh
For a personal insight into the buccaneering, freebooting youth of Hollywood, you can’t do better than the memoirs of the man behind the eye patch.
Otto Friedrich
A rollicking account of mid-century Hollywood, City of Nets opens with the movie industry at the pinnacle of its success (1939) and ends 10 years later with the chaos of the HUAC hearings, the rise of television, and the Supreme Court’s antitrust decision.
David Robinson
Originally published in 1985, Chaplin: His Life and Art offers a full immersion in the previously impenetrable method of Chaplin as a director.
Early Filmmaking
In the early days of filmmaking, directors were constantly expanding the possibilities of the young medium. In this selection of rare set shots, their sense of discovery is almost palpable.
Deliverance
Using a skeleton crew and real actors, John Boorman captured the physical challenge of navigating rapids in Deliverance.
Steven J. Ross
Steven J. Ross, chairman of the history department at USC, looks at the labor conditions that contributed to the founding of the Guild.
Exquisite Summer
Josef von Sternberg delivers an important message on the set of Exquisite Summer.
Gentleman AD
The first Mexican-American admitted to the Guild (in 1937), Day was known for his professionalism - so much so that C.B. DeMille told him he'd never do a picture without him.
Blowing in the Wind
With one letter of reference and a British taxi, Stacey arrived in LA from England and worked his way up to AD, a profession he chose because it paid $5 more per week than DP.
New York to Hollywood
Starting out cleaning lights at Biograph Studios, Jacobson worked his way up to 1st AD with on-the-fly solutions like substituting iced tea for whiskey to keep W.C. Fields sober.
King Vidor
King Vidor helped bring directors together to form the Guild and became its first president during the early, perilous years. His legacy as a great filmmaker and fighter for directors' rights continues today.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing presents an encouraging new business model for the entertainment industry, but it will require vigilance to protect intellectual property and compensation.
Ingmar Bergman
In a 1960 magazine article, Ingmar Bergman wrote how a film begins for him—with a chance remark, a few bars of music, a shaft of light across the street. His respect for the magic of movies remains an inspiration for directors today.
Mabel Walker Willebrandt
A key strategist in the final rounds of the battle to establish the Guild was its attorney, Mabel Walker Willebrandt, who arranged for the pivotal hearings before the National Labor Relations Board in Washington and also drafted the Basic Agreement of 1939, the Guild’s first contract with the studios.
Apps for Filmmakers
New apps for the iPhone and iPad designed for filmmakers.
The Farrelly Brothers
With outrageous sight gags and biological misfires, the Farrelly Brothers pushed the bounds of modern comedy. But in films like There's Something About Mary and Fever Pitch they're also romantics.
Anne Fletcher
With hits like 27 Dresses and The Proposal, Anne Fletcher has gone from a choreographer in demand to a director who knows the score. But for her, it’s the story that still counts.
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan called himself a "desperate beast" in his quest to get the deepest emotions out of his cast. And in an extraordinary career that revolutionized screen acting, he usually got what he was looking for.
The Seven Year Itch
Billy Wilder directs Marilyn Monroe in the famed street scene from The Seven Year Itch (1955).
Plugged-In AD
"I must be an adrenaline junkie," admits Julie Gelfand, "because being an associate director in live television is not for everyone."
UPM on the Move
"No stone left unturned" is more than a nice cliché to describe UPM Garrett Grant’s approach to his job—it’s the crazy truth.
UPM Making Magic
As Miller says, being a UPM is all about making magic—within the network budget, of course. She points to a sign in her office (from a stint on The All New Mickey Mouse Club) that reads: Anything Can Happen Day.
Ridley Scott
In over 20 films, including Blade Runner, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, Ridley Scott has seen things you wouldn’t believe—and made them real.
Internet Theft
In July, U.S. Immigration and Customs agents seized seven major websites. Here’s the blow-by-blow account of how it went down.
Lynne Ramsay
After eight years, British director Lynne Ramsay returns with a new film and another disturbing story.
Todd Holland
Veteran television comedy director Todd Holland wonders if failure is more valuable than success. After all, that’s what his mother told him.
Directing Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers may have been crazy, but he was also a great comic actor. Directors and others remember the highs and lows of working with him.
Michael Powell
Michael Powell’s vivid palette comes alive in a magnificent restoration of his classic The Red Shoes.
Transformers
Storyboards for Michael Bay’s Transformers visualized the battle between man and machine.
Claudia Puig
Why the recent decline in film critics isn’t necessarily a good thing for directors.
Woody Allen & Juliet Taylor
Woody Allen’s closest collaborator for over 35 years has been his casting director Juliet Taylor. Who knew?
Nicholas Carr
Just as it has transformed our ways of doing business, of communicating with one another, and entertaining ourselves, the Internet, says Carr, by reference to countless neuroscientific studies, is also changing our brains, and not necessarily for the better.
Merrill Brockway
Merrill Brockway belongs to that bustling generation that returned from World War II, earned its education on the GI Bill (his at Princeton), and then moved into an optimistic postwar future where the maps were not yet drawn.
Scott Eyman
Eyman reminds us how DeMille's rise in early Hollywood not only paralleled the industry's ascent to global prominence, but was inextricably intertwined with it.
Gwynne Edwards
Luis Buñuel, like many great international filmmakers, still dwells, to a considerable extent, on the far side of a linguistic and cultural barrier. What we have until now lacked, however, is a study that relies primarily on Spanish-language sources, extensively researched and translated by the author.
Biz Stone
Twitter co-founder and creative director Biz Stone considers the impact of tweeting on the entertainment industry.
Entourage 1st AD
Gary Goldman has been the 1st AD on Entourage since the TV series started. We asked him to keep a diary for the last show of season seven.
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Alejandro González Iñárritu analyzes Kurosawa’s Ikiru and explains how it influenced his latest film, Biutiful.
Octopussy
John Glen explains how he shot a plane flying through a hangar in the heart-pounding opening of Octopussy.
Julian Schnabel
Long captivated by Raging Bull, Julian Schnabel considers how Martin Scorsese
was able to make something so savage so beautiful.
John Fithian
John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, talks about the future of moviegoing as we know it.
The Graduate
In The Graduate, Mike Nichols captured not only the delicate mental state of his anti-hero, but the despair of the nation’s youth. The director looks back at how he shot one of the film’s most iconic, dreamlike sequences.
Zack Snyder
John Boorman presented a vision of heroism and bloodletting in Excalibur that captivated a young Zack Snyder. The director of 300 and Watchmen explains how it influenced his own mythical moviemaking.
Josh McLaglen
Movies were the family business, and as 1st AD Josh McLaglen has tamed some wild sets. But his greatest feat may have been helping to advance the art of performance capture on Avatar.
LA in Movies
Directors do love Los Angeles, and frequently use it as a backdrop-and even character-in their movies. We assembled a collection of behind the scenes shots of filmmakers at work on locations all over the City of Angels.
Beetle Juice
Geena Davis battles Alec Baldwin in Tim Burton's Beetle Juice.
Moving Up
A former theater stage manager in San Francisco, Koster - a 1st AD on Private Practice who spent time as 2nd AD on JAG - says the stage is Spanish and film is Portuguese.
2nd to None
Jennifer Truelove says she still remembers the moment when she told herself there was no way she would ever want to become an AD.
Hospital Worker
The self-described “short-timer” (some General Hospital department heads have logged more than 20 years) says she’s the director’s voice and ears on the set.
Sanaa Hamri
Sanaa Hamri was the only girl in her high school in Morocco. But becoming a director seemed perfectly natural to her.
Andy Fickman
The director of Race to Witch Mountain and Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical wonders what makes a director a director. Maybe it's the chair.
Setting Precedents
When Josef von Sternberg's 1931 film An American Tragedy departed from Theodore Dreiser's novel, the author sued to protect his work. Dreiser lost, and the precedent-setting case established the right of studios and filmmakers to pursue their own vision.
Safety on the Set
The problem of long hours and worker safety is perhaps as old as the industry. Despite greater awareness, education, and various cautionary measures, it remains a complex, hard to solve issue.
John Huston
John Huston's restless nature animated all of his films. With a brilliant restoration of The African Queen, as well as his other films on DVD, the director's adventurous spirit endures.
The Sound of Music
Storyboards for the "Do-Re-Mi" number in The Sound of Music show how Robert Wise carefully orchestrated the scene.
Peter Weir
Starting out in an Aussie industry that barely existed, Peter Weir has traveled the world looking for the revelatory moment and deeper truth. In films like Master and Commander and Dead Poets Society, he found people who—like himself—never play it safe.
Nigel Andrews
The film critic for The Financial Times applauds minimalism.
Dave Kehr
The DVD columnist for The New York Times considers why modern comedy has for the most part abandoned the long shot.
James Naremore
Naremore's close-reading and contextualization of the film make Sweet Smell of Success seem like a heroic victory over its producers' own worst instincts and an even more remarkable achievement than we already believed.
Nick Dawson
Time and again, Ashby stresses his desire to remain hands-off in his direction of actors and their instincts. Ashby may have been hands-off but, in the end, only Ashby carried the entire movie in his head.
Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, James Ursini, and Robert Porfirio
Weighing in at 500 pages, this venerable compendium subscribes to the idea that noir pertains to tone and features profiles of a wide array of films.
Creating 3D Television
Manufacturers are marketing 3D TV sets in hopes that content will follow. In the meantime, directors are learning the ropes with sports and live concerts.
Directing True Blood
How do you incinerate a vampire at sunrise, and twist a head 180 degrees? These and more otherworldly challenges are met head on by directors on the gothic TV series True Blood.
Anne Sweeney
Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, says we live in challenging times. That's why she's excited to come to work every day.
Fatal Attraction
The mayhem at the end of Fatal Attraction was one of the most startling and talked-about climaxes of its day. Adrian Lyne explains how he built the scene’s suspense, step by fateful step.
Spike Jonze
Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion is a legendary piece of visual filmmaking. Spike Jonze studied it for Where the Wild Things Are, and explains how Ballard effortlessly tells a rousing story with few words.
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich left a family fortune for a rough and tumble career in Hollywood. He became an industry leader, president of the Guild, and made some very good movies--and one masterpiece.
Pamela Fryman
With its single-camera sensibility on a multi-camera show, How I Met Your Mother has tons of moving parts. Director Pamela Fryman relies on her talented team to help her put all the pieces together.
David Yates
Harry Potter may have the magic, but for the last six years David Yates has been calling the shots at Hogwarts. While simultaneously filming the last two adventures, the director pauses to look at the Potter process.
Orson Welles
Orson Welles is best known for two undisputed masterpieces—Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. But he continued to make interesting, innovative (if troubled) films around the world.
The Pink Panther
Blake Edwards makes himself at home with his stars Capucine and Peter Sellers on The Pink Panther (1963.).
AD With a View
As an Associate Director for The View, Naylor experiences "a huge adrenaline rush" working in live television.
Accidental UPM
Filling in for a friend on pregnancy leave was this UPM's entry into a two-decade career working in film production.
Star Power
Her youth spent playing competitive volleyball, Levisohn is well prepared for the teamwork necessary to stage manage live awards shows.
Piracy by the Numbers
Figures don't lie. Here's why Internet Theft constitutes a critical problem for the industry.
From PC to TV
More and more new devices are speeding the movement of content from your computer to your TV set. Has the wave of the future finally arrived?
Deep Packet Inspection
With Internet theft and online crime on the rise, deep packet inspection is one effective tool to protect rights and intellectual property. Without it, the Internet as we know it could crash.
Nicholas Stoller
The director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall says alternate takes are not just for the indecisive. To prove his point, he looked back and dug up some you may not have known about.
Directing Sinatra
Working with temperamental, high-profile stars is never easy for a director, but Frank Sinatra took it to a new level. The war stories are legendary. Here are some of the best.
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood is one of the best-known directors in the world. A box set from Warner Bros., as well as existing discs, offer a chance to rediscover his amazing body of work.
Gladiator
Storyboards by Sylvain Despretz for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator burst through the panels and suggest the intensity the director will ultimately deliver to the action.
Ang Lee
Born in Taiwan, schooled at NYU, and trained in the trenches, Ang Lee broke new cultural ground with universal stories like Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But the one thing he won’t do is repeat himself.
Terrence Rafferty
More and more new devices are speeding the movement of content from your computer to your TV set. Has the wave of the future finally arrived?
Edward Jay Epstein
Edward Jay Epstein's The Hollywood Economist proves a more reader-friendly follow-up to his previous book on film economics, The Big Picture.
Gene D. Phillips
Gene D. Phillips’ Some Like It Wilder is a critical-historical biography, with Wilder’s work very much taking primacy over his personal life.
Mark Griffin
Vincente Minnelli was a contradictory man, says Mark Griffin in his enlightening new biography of the director.
Peter Cowie
Peter Cowie celebrates Kurosawa's centenary with this exquisitely packaged, image-laden homage to the writer-director and his work.
Lisa Cholodenko
After success with High Art and Laurel Canyon, Lisa Cholodenko deliberated on what to do next. With The Kids Are All Right, she set out to do a personal film that can still be commercial.
Marketing Movies
After working on a film for years, the last hurdle for directors is selling it to an audience. But sometimes that’s a process they have to fight to be a part of.
Net Neutrality
Andrew Keen cuts through the rhetoric and explains the concept of net neutrality and why its a critical issue to the entertainment industry and to the protection of DGA members’ work.
Micky Moore
You want an epic life story? Try Micky Moore's near-century of activity in the movie business, first as a child star in silent films, then 20 years later as an in-demand AD and second unit director for auteurs like Cecil B. DeMille, George Cukor, John Sturges, and Steven Spielberg.
Vincent Brook
In Driven, author Vincent Brook traces the role Jewishness played in the movies and sensibilities of UFA Studios figures such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann, Billy Wilder, and Edgar Ulmer.
Iron Chef
The American version of the popular Japanese series, Iron Chef, actually makes a spectator sport out of cooking.
Richard A. Barney
Whereas many filmmakers would seek to play down the contradictions in their work, Lynch does just the opposite in this book of compiled interviews edited by Richard A. Barney.
Digital Cameras
Panavision's Genesis and the independently made RED ONE are two of the hottest digital cameras around. We asked directors about the pros and cons of each.
The Deer Hunter
Michael Cimino's nail-biting Russian roulette sequence captured the horror of war perhaps like none other before. The director explains how he created the excruciating tension.
Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua watches Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and talks about his personal connection to the film.
Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau made his screen debut as a hipster in Swingers, but as a director has lost none of his joy for storytelling.
Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick came to America and directed Sweet Smell of Success, one of Hollywood's darkest films. But when his curious career stalled, he became a respected film professor for two decades.
Film School Generation
Spurred by social changes in the mid-'60s, a new generation of directors pushed the boundaries of American filmmaking, producing some of the most provocative, exciting movies since Hollywood's heyday.
The Milky Way
Spanish director Luis Buñuel's inadvertent comment on the trials of being a film director.
Staging Skits
While sitting in the audience of The Tonight Show as a 14 year-old, Rissolo's attention was captured by those behind the cameras.
Tall Texan
A veteran of Six Feet Under and True Blood, this graduate of the DGA's Assistant Director Training Program jokes she's the go-to AD for shows about death, dying, or the undead.
Adventures of an AD
After switching majors from engineering to film, this AD has fulfilled childhood dreams of chasing pirates and launching rockets.
Friday Nights Lights
Directors and their teams on Friday Night Lights find some novel solutions for shooting at a breakneck pace.
Alex Gibney
How has Alex Gibney managed to turn hard-hitting subjects like Enron and the war on terror into award-winning documentaries?
Bill D'Elia
The director of Chicago Hope fondly remembers working with the late Senator Kennedy on his only TV series appearance.
Linda Mendoza
Being pigeonholed isn't for Linda Mendoza-neither as a Hispanic woman or single- vs. multi-camera TV director.
Golden Age of Television
The golden age of television presented exciting opportunities for a generation of young directors. A new box set revisits the art and innovations of early movies made for TV.
Psycho
In this new column, the Quarterly presents Alfred Hitchcock's original storyboards for the famed shower sequence in Psycho.
Werner Herzog
For 40 years, Werner Herzog has been what he calls "a good soldier of cinema," traveling the globe in search of "ecstatic truth." The wandering director talk about the journey.
Scott Foundas
The former critic for LA Weekly pays tribute to the French New Wave and wonders what happened to that spirit in American filmmaking.
Gabriel Miller
Despite twelve best director nominations and three wins, Wyler resisted the title of "auteur," instead preferring to recognize the contribution of his collaborators. As the interviews in this book (which span from 1939 to Wyler's death in 1981) reveal, he felt the director should shape himself to the picture's needs.
James Schamus
James Schamus, chief executive officer of Focus Features and producer and/or writer of all of Ang Lee's films, looks at the specialty film business and sees a world in flux.
Singin' in the Rain
Fifty-seven years after it was made, Singin' in the Rain remains the high-water mark of American musicals. Stanley Donen remembers shooting the iconic sequence where Gene Kelly blissfully ignores the weather.
Rob Zombie
Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange entranced rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie when he was a kid. Taking another look, he stil sees a film that's like no other.
Costa-Gavras
With films like Z and Missing, Costa-Gavras almost single-handedly invented the modern political thriller and influenced a generation of directors.
The Piracy Problem
The author of The Cult of the Amateur refutes the notion that all creative work on the Internet should be free, and urges the film industry to aggressively combat digital theft.
The Piracy Problem
Digital theft poses the most serious threat to the livelihood of Guild members. This primer explains why.
John Ford
Underdogs, families in trouble, and men at war inspired John Ford to create movies of grandeur, grace, and, yes, beauty. Here he is capturing the inherent decency of people in flims from his unparalleled body of work.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Don Siegel puts his cast in a most unusual position in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Song Stager
A former vocalist and music major, Digilio's role as stage manager on The View gaver her an opportunity to sing with a Beatle.
1st Adventures
Comparing his job to that of a flight attendant's, this 1st AD maintains that each film can make for a bumpy ride.
Previsualization Technology
Previsualization is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for directors on large-scale films. But could it also benefit indie directors?
Newshound
Having worked as an associate director in both news and sports broadcasts, Cabral admits he still get goosebumps covering a breaking event.
Paul Feig
The director of The Office and Arrested Development offers some helpful hints that may improve your life on the set. First of all, dress ofor the occasion.
Activist Documentaries
With the decline of investigative journalism on TV and in newspapers, social activist documentarians are filling the holes. It's not always glamorous but getting the story has its own rewards.
Directors and DPs
When the collaboration between directors and DPs is clicking, there is almost a non-verbal communication. We checked in with a few longstanding teams to see what makes them work.
Victor Fleming
With special 70th anniversary editions of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, the time is right to reassess the career of the underappreciated Victor Fleming.
Ron Howard
Ron Howard grew up working in the business but he may be the least jaded man in Hollywood. After directing 20 movies in almost every genre and winning two DGA Awards, he still hasn’t lost his youthful enthusiasm for telling stories.
Jeannette Catsoulis
A reviewer for The New York Times wonders what's missing from today's romantic comedies from a woman's perspective.
Charles Finance & Susan Zwerman
Finance and Zwerman have assembled an essential guide for both tyros entering the industry and established directors who want to feel more comfortable working in this brave new world of VFX.
Mitchell Zuckoff
Resembling an Altman movie, dozens of figures (including the director himself) yak, yarn, kvetch, and carp in this epic oral biography put together by Zuckoff.
Werner Herzog
Detailing the production history of Fitzcarraldo from the director's point of view, Conquest includes a history of the first, abandoned production, which featured Jason Robards, Mick Jagger, and Mario Adorf in its cast.
Miguel Arteta
Making quirky comedies with Sad-Sack heroes like Chuck & Buck and Youth in Revolt, Miguel Arteta has learned to trust in his own goofy instincts.
Locations for Law & Order
UPMs and location managers cover the waterfront—and every other part of New York City—to find unique sites for the three long-running Law & Order series. The trick is keeping it fresh and not tripping over each other.
Lauren Corrao
Lauren Corrao, president of original programming and development for Comedy Central, talks about directing comedy and what you can get away with on cable TV.
AD's and Child Actors
Child actors working on TV comedies just want to have fun. It's the 1st and 2nd ADs who make sure they get the job done.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Amy Heckerling recalls how she got the most out of her young cast, including Sean Penn as the legendary stoner Jeff Spicoli, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
John Waters
John Waters rhapsodizes about The Girl Can't Help It, and is not shy (surprise) talking about what he "stole" from it.
Tyler Perry
By not listening to traditional industry wisdom about how things should be done, Tyler Perry has invented his own brand of comedy-as well as his own brand.
Blake Edwards
Inspired by the silent clowns, Blake Edwards created The Pink Panther franchise and some of the craftiest comedies to come out of Hollywood. But sight gags, mistaken identities and flying pies were not his only tricks.
Working on Comedies
Over the years, it's the director's vision that has made many kinds of comedy come to life. In rare set shots, we capture filmmakers working on some of the most amusing movies ever made.
Animal House
John Landis works with a unique creature on one of the most successful comedies ever made.
Natural-Born AD
A veteran of Home Improvement and One Day at a Time, this 1st AD has had almost as many yucks behind the camera as when the red light went on.
Versatile Second AD
Having worked on hit comedies such as The Office and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Gonzales credits his success to having filled a variety of roles in the industry.
UPM Animal Instincts
A lifelong animal lover, Michele considered vet school before finding her niche in talking animal films such as Dr. Doolittle 2 and the Garfield and Alvin and the Chipmunks franchises.
Jay Roach
After directing three Austin Powers films and two Meet the Parents pictures, Jay Roach still doesn’t think of himself as a funny guy. But he sure knows how to make people laugh.
Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith, who pioneered gleefully vulgar comedies with films like Clerks and Chasing Amy, reflects on how he learned his craft.
Steven Soderbergh
Even on some premium HD cable networks, films are being mutilated. And the Guild's national vice president is mad as hell about it.
Larry Charles
Directing Bob Dylan on Masked and Anonymous presented a unique wardrobe problem.
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin is usually remembered for the oversized character he created. But he was also a director of sublime gifts, as his beautifully restored films on DVD confirm.
Phil Hall
Throughout Phil Hall's survey, one is repeatedly struck by how many movies were independently produced: Griffith’s Intolerance, entire specialist markets ranging from “race movies” to Yiddish-language productions, and even James Cameron’s first Terminator.
Tom Reilly
Assistant director Tom Reilly's labor of love, a lifetime’s experience generously distilled into practical advice for assistant directors—tyros and old hands alike.
Steve Organ
In these interviews, well chosen by editor Steven Organ, Lean also addresses the perceived divide between his early, intimate British work and his later, expansive inter-national epics.
Nick Dawson
Finally a biography of Hal Ashby, who made a series of remarkable movies during the 1970s before falling into disfavor and dying at 59. Ashby is the lost man of the Hollywood Renaissance.
Collaborating on Comedy
Judd Apatow and a group of like-minded directors have created a run of raunchy films that have turned R-rated comedies into big business.
Sitcom Roundtable
The Quarterly brings together six of the most accomplished sitcom directors to discuss the creative and commercial side of making funny shows.
Directing The Late Show
After years of working on the Late Show, Jerry Foley and his team instinctively understand David Letterman's quirky humor. And it's a good thing they do.
Harold Ramis
In this article, Director Harold Ramis (1944 - 2014) shares his humorous perspective on what he learned about directing while acting for other directors.
David Shaheen
David Shaheen, head of JP Morgan Chase's Entertainment Group, reflects on what impact the economic crisis might have had on the industry and the $8 billion the bank has loaned it.
The Directing Team of Days Of Our Lives
Facing budget cuts, stage manager Francesca Bellini De Simone and the directorial team of Days Of Our Lives continue to churn out a quality product at breakneck speed.
The Perfect Storm
Wolfgang Petersen explains how he created the giant waves and rolling emotions for the dramatic climax of The Perfect Storm.
Barry Sonnenfeld
Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye changed the way Barry Sonnenfeld looks at movies. Watching it again, he marvels at the diretor's stylized take on the Raymond Chandler novel.
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron continues her quest for the well-crafted comedy with Julie & Julia about super chef Julia Child. But, as she says, it's not as easy as it looks.
David Fincher
Director David Fincher worked closely with his composer and sound designer to achieve the haunting score for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Ingmar Bergman
With psychologically acute and philosophically challenging films, Ingmar Bergman helped the art-house picture. In The Ingmar Bergman Archives, we glimpse the director creating his remarkable body of work.
Oliver!
Carol Reed Conducts a performance from young Mark Lester in Oliver!
Capitol News Director
Sleeping in his car before a presidential inauguration is all in a day's work for this news director.
AD on the Line
As a 1st AD, Robinson sees his job as balancing the needs of the crew with the director, actors, and department heads and walk a political tightrope every single day.
UPM on the Range
A native of Mountainair, NM, Walpole's background in architecture and photography and his experience as a grip, editor, camera assistant, and actor made him a natural fit for UPM.
Nancy Meyers
Nancy Meyers has captured the rhythms of modern relationships in films like Something's Gotta Give and What Women Want. In her latest picture, she again finds food for thought.
Rebecca Miller
Rebecca Miller has specialized in personal films about people in transition. Her latest picture, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, gracefully takes a young woman into her past.
William A. Wellman
In his raucous, unpredictable and often brilliant career, William A. Wellman, one of the Guild's founders, churned out crackling entertainments in nearly every genre.
Brian Lowry
The TV critic for Variety reflects on why TV series directors don't get the credit they deserve-and why they should.
Tony Bill
Having been "on more sets than a lot of rental equipment," Bill is well-qualified to provide outsiders with this compendium of film lingo, made more complete with anecdotes involving names like Sinatra, Coppola, Malick and Spielberg.
Robert Cornfield
Robert Cornfield edits Kazan on Directing, a deftly assembled collection of the great director’s instructions to his theater and film collaborators. Included are character biographies, costume suggestions and staging setups, as well as brutally frank postmortem examinations of his work.
Tony Verna
A memoir by the man responsible for instant replay in sportscasting, Instant Replay includes some energetic score-settling with CBS as well as stories involving Mother Teresa, Presidents Reagan and Bush and Dick Clark.
Hervé Dumont
Including a foreward by admirer Martin Scorsese, this biography (written in 1993 but finally translated from French) rescues the early Hollywood director from obscurity.
Directing In Treatment
Capturing the intense emotion but limited movement of therapy sessions in HBO's In Treatment presents a challenge to the show's directors. Here's how they solve it.
Commercial Directors
Directors who helped revolutionize the advertising industry in the '60s with iconic commercials look back at their times and what they created.
Directing Reality TV
Tony Croll and his team capture the hectic life of America's Next Top Model where anything can happen next—and usually does.
Emanuel Levy
Levy's in-depth biography makes a convincing case for a revival of interest in the maestro's glorious body of work.
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow profiles the former auto racer, who Steven Spielberg once complimented as "one of the great chameleons. We honor his movies and don't know him - because he did his job so well."
Glenn Lovell
Lovell's evenhanded biography of John Sturges fills yet another gap in our knowledge of postwar Hollywood, tracing the life and work of the director of such films as The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape.
Richard Koszarski
The Rutgers film professor's richly detailed history is a New Yorker's passionate and unabashedly city-proud reclamation of film production in NYC, a ceaselessly eye-opening work of Gotham-based cultural anthropology and archeology.
Bonnie and Clyde
With the climactic scene in Bonnie and Clyde, Arthur Penn forever changed how violence was portrayed on screen. He explains how he created his brutal ballet.
Webisodes
Directors are having fun creating content for the web-but are they making any money? Five Guild members relate their experiences.
Les Moonves
Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS, talks about the challenges of the Internet and why network television is indispensable.
David O. Russell
Since high school, David O. Russell has been a big fan of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Now he takes a closer look at how all the pieces fit together.
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow has always been a director with a lot of energy. In her new war film, The Hurt Locker, she takes her high-wire intensity to new heights.
Road Movies
Hitting the road - for fame, fortune, or to stay one step ahead of the law - has been a staple of American films for over 80 years. Here are some shots of directors creating those odysseys.
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Former DGA President George Stevens looks over some unusual head shots for The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
Greg Mottola
Greg Mottola always wanted to make serious movies. He still does, but with Superbad and the upcoming Adventureland, he's doing it with comedies.
Raising the Bar
Having spent the majority of her life on set, Blymyer finds herself now making the move from 2nd AD to 1st.
Dennis Dugan
Sometimes trying to make funny movies will leave you talking to yourself.
At the Ballpark
Twohie, a Queens native (and Mets fan), has spent seven seasons - over 525 games - as an AD for the New York Yankee broadcasts in the Bronx.
Alfred Hitchcock
New and improved DVDs of Hitchcock classics and rarities demonstrate the enduring appeal of the director's work.
Southern Comfort
The Wilmington-based UPM says it's difficult for outsiders to resist North Carolina's laid-back atmosphere when they come down to shoot.
Directing James Bond
For 47 years and 22 films, James Bond has escaped countless close calls thanks to the deft hand of its directors. We caught up with the eight surviving filmmakers to find out how they've kept 007 alive all these years.
Stephanie Zacharek
The critic for Salon.com wonders why there's so much camera shaking going on.
UPMs At Work
UPMs have to deal with the financial realities of a production while helping the director execute his vision. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski's life has had more drama than a Shakespearean tragedy. But in his nearly 50-year career as a director, he has created some of the most unsettling images and haunting films ever made.
Brian Grazer
Producer Brian Grazer talks about how he hires a director, the importance of vision, and why visiting the set is meaningless.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin recalls with amazing detail how he directed the horrifying climatic scene of The Exorcist.
Ed Zwick
Everyone loves Annie Hall, but according to Ed Zwick it's more than just a charming movie. He explains how it revolutionized romantic comedies.
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini created a visual style that was unmistakable in the history of cinema. In rare set photos, we capture the Maestro at work crafting some of his unforgettable images.
The Bride of Frankenstein
James Whale runs some lines with a very unusual star in The Bride of Frankenstein.
AD in the City
After serving as an interpreter for a Japanese bank commercial shot in New York City, Kawakami worked his way up the ranks with a little help from good timing.
Commercial Pressure
As UPM for commercial director Dante Ariola, Hill compares each shoot to childbirth-you need a short memory or you wouldn't do it again.
Idol Manager
A veteran of the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and MTV Movie Awards, Williams likens her role as stage manager to that of "den mom."
Indie Cutbacks
Cutbacks and a shrinking market have left the indie world in a quandary. So what's a director to do?
Directing the Olympics
The Beijing Olympics was the most watched event in U.S. TV history. Here's how the directors captured the drama of competition with split-second decisions.
Gina Prince-Bythewood
After scoring a hit with Love & Basketball, it's taken Gina Prince-Bythewood eight years to make her second feature, The Secret Life of Bees. She explains what happened.
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann directed Westerns, film noirs and epics-all with his signature psychological intensity.
Gore Verbinski
It took a swashbuckling director like Gore Verbinski to go off to the four corners of the world to film the two sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean back to back.
Milos Forman
Since coming to America after the Czech Spring in 1968, Milos Forman has been committed to making movies about individuals fighting for their rights in films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus and The People vs. Larry Flynt.
John Anderson
A veteran critic considers how screen comedy has changed since the days of Preston Sturges-and not for the better.
Alex Cox
A conundrum among independent filmmakers, Cox has always done things his way. Appropriately, then, X Films communicates a tangible sense of filmmaking as adventure, more how-to than autobiography.
Robert Relyea with Craig Relyea
In this bracingly foul-mouthed and highly compelling memoir, producer/AD Robert Relyea recalls the last gasp of buccaneering, big-budget Hollywood filmmaking.
David Thomson
Possibly the greatest movie-related bathroom book of all time, "Have You Seen...?" has 1,000 alphabetical entries, each with a well-honed five hundred words that will have you running to your Netflix queue or yelling in dissent.
Greg Olson
The world is not short of books about David Lynch, but none till now matches Greg Olson's complex, keen-eyed but sympathetic biography.
Adam McKay
The director of Talladega Nights and Step Brothers wonders what's happened to the glamorous life-and if it ever existed.
Directing The Daily Show
With all that's going on in The Daily Show any given day, it's a wonder the set is so calm. In part, that's because Chuck O'Neil and his team keep everything running on schedule.
Chad Hurley
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley considers how the Internet site is trying to convert all those hits into a plan to make money.
James L. Brooks
William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives is a film that has remained lodged in James L. Brooks' head and heart for all these years. He explains its inexorable appeal.
Musicals
The Hollywood musical has been declared dead countless times, only to rise up again singing and dancing. We take a look at the genre in its various incarnations over the years.
Help!
Richard Lester dresses for the occasion on Help! as he directs the Beatles in the Bahamas.
Windy City AD
Working on tabletop food commercials and network dramas, Harris says he'd rather work with a group of infants over a tray of deli meats any day and that there's a right way to AD beer.
Local News Beat
Whether it's broadcasting a policeman's funeral with a storyteller's eye for service and glory, or covering the 2008 Democratic primary, Zucker's passion for local news shines through.
UPM on the Run
A former AD, this UPM has managed to balance her work and personal life as a mother by managing the LA units on major projects, including Sex and the City.
Luxury Movie Theaters
New luxury theaters are featuring high-end amenities. But does this enhance or detract from the moviegoing experience?
Karyn Kusama
Karyn Kusama got off to a great start with Girlfight but descended into studio hell with Aeon Flux. As she rebounds with a new film, she reflects on lessons learned.
Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan tried to shoot as much as he could the climatic chase in Batman Begins in camera. He explains how he did it.
Garry Marshall
The director of The Princess Diaries and Pretty Woman writes about his unconventional methods for keeping things loose on the set.
Political Films
Hollywood has cast a cynical eye on the political process for years. We survey our changing national attitudes as reflected in films.
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel is best known as a film critic, but he has been making documentaries about movies for almost as long as he's written about them. His latest-and most ambitious-is a five-part history of Warner Bros. studio.
Gus Van Sant
Few directors have had a more varied and unpredictable career than Gus Van Sant. His latest passion project is the story of slain and openly gay San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk.
James Cameron
Although he continues to be a master of special effects and new technology, James Cameron's focus is on storytelling, not flash. In the midst of shooting Avatar, his eagerly anticipated epic, he is exploring the potential of a digital 3-D feature.