by David Geffner

		Director/Executive Producer Michael Pressman. Click picture for larger view.

Pressman got his start in television via his partnership with one of the medium's most dominant writer/producers, David E. Kelley. Although he was a runner-up (to friend Ron Lagomarsino) to direct the pilot episode of Picket Fences, the creative connection forged in the interview was so strong, Kelley offered him a spot as co-executive producer. Pressman teamed with Kelly for four years on the Emmy Award-winning drama, directing the series premiere and a dozen episodes. He also directed and produced the pilot to Chicago Hope.

The collaboration was a landmark in Pressman's career. Working as a visual conduit for David E. Kelley's ideas, and contributing many of his own, Pressman blazed a trail — as both director and co-executive producer — that would lead straight to his most current collaboration with David Hollander on The Guardian.

While The Guardian's creative team knows how essential the director's role is in broadening, interpreting, and maintaining the look and feel of an episodic series, omissions such as that in the Times piece help fuel a long-held myth that TV directors are not integral parts of the creative team and that they serve at the whims of the all-powerful writer/producer/creator. As Michael Pressman's career proves — nothing is further from the truth.

"I see the job of executive producer on The Guardian as an extension of directing, and I rely heavily on the show's directors to help me through that process," notes Pressman. "For me, the job of producing an episodic series had to evolve from the director's point of view because that's how I started my career — having directed six feature films in ten years right out of film school. In working with David Hollander, I give his ideas form. Turning words and concepts into action is the director's job in every single entertainment medium I've worked in. Why should series television be any different?"

Michael Pressman has dramatic expression in his genes. He grew up with a mother who was an original member of Martha Graham's dance troupe, and a father who directed Jason Robards in his acting debut on Broadway. No wonder then, that after graduating from Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Pressman had acting in his sights. He spent two years studying drama at Carnegie-Mellon University, before following his directing idol, Alexander Mackendrick (The Sweet Smell of Success and The Ladykillers) west to Cal Arts, where Pressman received his BFA in film. He put his dream of acting aside, and pursued film directing.

"By the time I hit my early 30s, I had done five studio movies and a low-budget independent feature for Roger Corman," Pressman recounts. "I made the move into television because I couldn't push through the type of material I wanted to direct in features. I did four or five very interesting MOW's that offered a lot of freedom. Then I did about ten that were not interesting at all — this was in the '80s, before the advent of cable. By the early '90s I saw the writing on the wall — TV movies were all disease-of-the-week type stuff, and I knew I needed to make another change. That was around the time I met David Kelley."

Pressman's creative bond with Kelley was a "magical symmetry" that changed the course of his career. "David was looking for a film director to articulate his material," Pressman notes. "What was unique about our partnership was that so much of the show running — the hiring of directors, the handling of the on-set relationship with the actors and the material — fell into my domain. David basically wrote all the episodes in the first year and I had a fantastic team to make the scripts come alive. What developed was a very special family, and it led to my producing and directing the pilot for David's next show, Chicago Hope."

		Actors Simon Baker (left) and Dabney Coleman in an episode of The Guardian. - (Photo: Michael Yarish/CBS ©2001 Worldwide Inc.) Click picture for larger view.

Making shows, or maintaining the consistency of a dramatic series like The Guardian, began with the elements Pressman and Hollander introduced in the pilot episode, but did not end there. Gauged by his work on Picket Fences, Pressman feels the real strength of a show is in the quality of the episodes. He calls the pilot a "blueprint" for the addition of layer, depth, intensity, and experimentation that happens in episodes well on down the line.

The Guardian is the story of Nick Fallin (Simon Baker), a young corporate attorney in Pittsburgh whose blunders with drug use land him probation in child advocacy law and social services. The pilot episode, directed by Pressman, was shot in Toronto, with a single day's work being done in Pittsburgh. Like many new shows, the network only gave The Guardian's creative team the money for "half a pilot," in effect saving a million dollars so CBS could hedge their bets if they didn't like the "presentation." The Guardian team proceeded to shoot the pilot in nine days, as opposed to a typical 12-day schedule (adding on three weeks of prep). They jettisoned nearly one-third of the script's expositional back-story, adding a layer of mystery to the lead character that has clearly connected with viewers. Surprisingly (even to them), they produced enough material in nine days for a fully finished pilot episode.

"It was an accident [losing so much of the back-story]," notes Pressman, "that turned out better than we could have imagined. That theory of planned accidents has become the visual motif of the show. I urge the directors we bring in to keep both eyes open for these unexpected details and textures. Chaotic spontaneity is what makes the look of The Guardian so resonant."

Pressman's methods are clearly at work in a key scene from the pilot episode. Nick is overwhelmed by his first day in child custody court and runs from the proceedings as they are still in progress. Chased down outside by the child's social worker, the two face off in an emotional exchange on a Pittsburgh street that is packed with pedestrians and vehicles.

"We took planned accidents to the extreme," observes Pressman. "I used multiple cameras with 300mm lenses, and a camera on a Steadicam for a wide angle. We had control of the streetlights for the timing of the sequence, we had controlled backgrounds, and we shot the scene from every corner for a documentary feel. When you watch the scene, the camera is in every place it wants to be, and your reaction is: how did they get it there?"

		Director Michael Pressman during the filming of his1996 feature To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday. Click picture for larger view.

"Our cinematographer, Jacek Laskus, was discussing a scene with the director, Jeremy Kagan, about where to place the B camera," Pressman explains. "We always use an A&B camera, which is something we established on the pilot. Jeremy said to Jacek that he was just going to 'send the B camera fishing.' I knew instantly that was the phrase I wanted Jacek to use with the directors we bring in. The B camera will be constantly fishing for the planned accident in a scene we've carefully staged, blocked and rehearsed."

Given the pilot episode's East Coast look and locations, it was a challenge to duplicate the show's visual textures on a stage in Los Angeles, where the show is now ensconced. "I would love to be able to accomplish what they do on NYPD Blue and what we did on Chicago Hope — do pieces of a handful of episodes on location," Pressman says. "I'd love to be able to go back to Pittsburgh for three or four days and get enough material to keep the exterior look alive."

Until CBS gives the go-ahead, Pressman's team must create the show's "pilot look" on The Guardian's interiors. "Our wonderful production designer, Maia Javan, designed the set with many windows that feature views of Pittsburgh," the director notes. "Since we established Nick's various worlds in the pilot — corporate uptown law office versus custody court and the social advocacy offices — we try to highlight those differences on a stage in Los Angeles."

Maintaining a consistent "look" from pilot to series is just one creative challenge for Pressman, the man who works most closely with each episode's director. "What I look for in credentials of the director is someone who has a background in theatre, and has an understanding and sensitivity to the needs of the actor," Pressman said.

Pressman took that idea to the extreme last spring. He returned to the stage after a 30-year absence and acted with his wife, theatre and TV actress Lisa Chess, in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at the Tamarind Theatre in Hollywood.

"It felt like throwing myself in the ice-cold Atlantic Ocean. At first freezing, but after a few moments, exhilarating," Pressman said. He recommends acting for the director as a tool to understanding the actors' needs. As executive producer he tries to build the creative family, thus attempting to diminish the ego needs by concentrating on the exploration of the work.

"Simon Baker sets the stage as an intuitive actor who understands his character from the inside," he said. "One must be open to his process of questioning and exploring through rehearsal to be able to direct the show." Pressman has created "a wonderful ensemble of actors, all excited and challenged to go to work." Dabney Coleman, who plays Simon Baker's father is getting his opportunity to show his true colors as a serious and "brilliant" actor.

"The chemistry between Coleman and Baker is magical; a troubled relationship injured by the events of the past, but held together by love and the need. We planted the seeds in the pilot, and now we — Hollander, the actors, and myself — are taking the time to let it grow organically.

"The full arc of a series allows everything, and everyone, to change, grow and get better. We're always crossing those kinds of bridges to make the show deeper, stronger, better each time out.

		Pressman and cast and crew of Picket Fences backstage at the Emmys. Click picture for larger view.

"This show, like all the shows and movies I've ever done," he explains, "is the result of a team effort, a collaboration among equals who play off each other's talents to make the drama better."

Table of Contents     Top of Page