Liz Plonka (l) and Kelly Hommon - photo by Brian Davis

Hommon was on board first, hired by the show’s creator Carlos Mencia and producer Robert Morton to direct the show for the antic, outspoken Latino comic. As the program caught on and the budget increased, the single-camera work got more ambitious, ranging from man-on-the-street improvisations to parody sketches with full sets and costumes.

Midway through the first season, the job was split in half; Hommon goes out with the crew to create the single-camera material, while Plonka, a longtime director on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, handles the in-studio segments. Though their paths rarely cross, “we give our support to each other when we pass in the hall,” says Hommon.

Hommon loves the creative challenges of the constantly changing sketch work. “A lot of it is found comedy—we go out with a structure and a concept, and I set up a situation for Carlos to react to,” says Hommon. “You find out on a Thursday what you’re shooting on a Friday.”

While the world of late-night comedy is notoriously male-dominated, both in its staffing and its target demographic, these women have managed to beat the odds and carve out careers working on top shows. Plonka started in New York as a production secretary, then moved up to AD work on variety shows and stand-up specials for HBO and FX. “It’s important when you’re in the trenches to be able to laugh while you’re doing your job,” she says. Her big break on Conan came via Don Ohlmeyer, then NBC West Coast president. She had AD’d for him and he was looking for a new director for Late Night. The gig lasted seven years, from 1995 to 2002. “I’m blessed that I don’t have a lot of downtime,” says Plonka, who also fills in on The Tonight Show.

Hommon started out directing television news in Detroit and broke into variety shows when The Tony Orlando Show was produced live in the Motor City. She then moved to L.A., and forged a diverse career that has included producing and staging the 1992 fundraiser for Bill Clinton at which Barbra Streisand performed (“that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of,” she says). Hommon has also handled the audio and video portions of the Vanity Fair Oscars party at Morton’s and directs single-camera segments for Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Hommon credits Mencia’s open-mindedness for removing obstacles to the “statistical oddity” of having a show whose two directors happen to be women. “Carlos looks at people and says, ‘what do you have to contribute as a human being?’” Hommon says. “I think it’s encouraging that the show is successful. That has to say something to somebody.”

Carol Green - photo by Patrick Harbron

“They promised that if it got picked up, they’d move me up to 1st.” Instead of taking the position, she said, “Call me if it gets picked up.” They did. Green got the gig as 1st AD, and the show went on to garner 23 Emmy nominations in its two-season run. “This was a show that was so good even the dolly grips read all the scripts,” she says.

One of the most memorable production days on the Georgia-based, early ’60s civil rights drama involved 500 extras protesting the integration of a college campus. “Some people brought their kids to the set because they wanted them to see how things were. I remember sitting on the sidelines, thinking, ‘This is really good, in a twisted kind of way.’ But it was kind of strange, rehearsing extras to scream racist epithets, and have people walk through that.”

Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Green was watching Annie Hall at a movie house in Pittsburgh, where she was majoring in theater at Carnegie Mellon, when she noticed the credit “DGA Trainee.” She called the Guild to find out more. Upon graduation, she boarded a plane for Los Angeles (the trip was a gift from her parents) to take the entrance exam for the DGA Training Program.

She was chosen to be among a group of 10 trainees who rotated among shows at Universal Studios. The experience gave her a solid foundation in the basics—as well as a network of contacts that has helped her keep up a career for more than 20 years, most recently with stints as 1st AD on Crossing Jordan and House.

Her time on I’ll Fly Away inspired her in another way. For the past two years, Green has been collaborating with a writing partner to create her own TV pilot. While she waits to see what happens next in her career, she’s working as a 1st AD on Ugly Betty, an ABC nighttime drama based on a hit Spanish-language telenovela.

“I always had a plan,” she says of the road she’s traveled. “And I’ve been very, very fortunate.”

Irv Blitz - photo by Brian Davis

Irv Blitz:
Still Life with Food

From an early career shooting still-life food and beverage ads out of his SoHo studio, Blitz made the transition to creating moving images for television commercials in the early ’90s.

“Tabletop is essentially still life on a multi-dimensional level,” says Blitz. Intimate camera moves, specialized lighting, visual effects, music and editing combine to create a sophisticated message that plays out in the blink of an eye to sell products like Aquafina water, McDonald’s salads, or C&H sugar.

“People ask me if I want to go larger, and I say, ‘No, I want to go smaller,’” remarks Blitz. “There’s something in that micro world that fascinates me.”

Blitz says it can take 30 people to shoot a cup of coffee. “You have people focusing on the beans, the steam, the lights, the camera. It’s such a coordination of efforts, and I really love the teamwork.”

Then there are the lettuce leaves and water bubbles. They have to be coaxed into letting go of their inhibitions and putting on a show that creates a hypnotic and elevated—if fleeting—experience for the notoriously distracted television viewer.

“It’s a performance, and it can be nerve-wracking. You can prep up to a certain point, with storyboards and shot lists, but then you have to get in there and do it—discover the angle or the lighting that sets it apart and gives it a point of view.”

Much of the fluidity of movement particular to his work is something he traces to his obsession with ballet and modern dance. “It does something for me on a subconscious level that relaxes my mind,” he says. “Somehow it gets into my soul, and it comes out in my work.”

Bringing freshness to the presentation of products as familiar as cosmetics and credit cards remains a constant challenge, but Blitz says the job can offer surprising highs. He remembers working with renowned Chinese watercolorist Ning Yeh on a commercial for Weyerhaeuser. “It was a very micro world, with the camera focusing on the tip of his brush moving across a giant sheet of watercolor paper. Choreographing our movements to each other became instinctual. He knew what I needed, I felt where he was going to go. It was an amazing experience, and they happen sometimes.”