• DGA Annette Powlis
  • DGA Lars Winther
  • DGA Jeri Ann Wong
  • DGA Chris Della Penna
  • DGA Quarterly On the Job Lynn Finkel
  • DGA Quarterly On the Job Tony Eng
At Work With

Short profiles of Guild members in all categories sharing their experiences at work.

DGA Quarterly Magazine Summer 2020 At Work With Jennifer Reiss and Jason Melius
Summer 2020
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.

DGA Quarterly Magazine Fall 2019 At Work With Shawn Pipkin-West
Fall 2019
Changing Drivers in Midstream

1st AD Shawn Pipkin-West brainstorms simple solutions for seemingly complex problems.

DGA Quarterly Summer 2019 At Work With Leo N Bauer
Summer 2019
The Advantage of Slowing Things Down

1st AD Leo N. Bauer take his time on set.

DGA Quarterly Spring 2019 At Work With Michael J Moore
Spring 2019
Ironing Out Wrinkles

1st AD Michael J. Moore's scheduling system worked like a charm on A Wrinkle in Time.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2019 At Work With Rebecca Strickland
Winter 2019
Piling up frequent flyer miles for The Romanoffs

1st AD Rebecca Strickland filmed all around the world, including on international waters, for The Romanoffs.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2019 At Work With Lisa Satriano
Winter 2019
Scaling Black Panther to Epic Proportions

1st AD Lisa C. Satriano uses cover sets rain or shine on Black Panther.

DGA Quarterly Magazine Fall 2018 At Work With Gerard DiNardi
Fall 2018
From East Harlem to the Universal Backlot

1st AD Gerard DiNardi has made a name for himself as a go-to horror AD.

 DGA Quarterly Spring 2018 At Work With 1st AD Marty Eli Schwartz
Spring 2018
Schwartz's Comfort Zone

For 1st AD Marty Eli Schwartz, making sure the actors feel comfortable is all part of the job.

DGA Quarterly Magazine At Work With Carol Vitkay
Fall 2017
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

DGA Quarterly Spring 2017 At Work With Toby Hefferman
Spring 2017
Going Rogue in London's Underground

1st AD Toby Hefferman on the "biggest challenge" of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

DGA Lars Winther
Fall/Winter 2016-17
Backup Plans Fit for a Superhero

1st AD Lars Winther fights inclement weather on Marvel films.

DGA Chris Della Penna
Fall/Winter 2016-17
Maintaining Order in the Court on People v. O.J.

1st AD Chris Della Penna loves the challenge of the job.

Danielle Rigby
Spring 2016
Horse Sense

Danielle Rigby’s love of all things equine has made her a better assistant director.

DGAQ Fall 2015 On the Job With Richard Styles
Fall 2015
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.

DGA Quarterly On the Job with Ken Wada
Summer 2015

While working the sometimes treacherous water locations on Baywatch, Ken Wada learned staying safe is a team effort.

DGA Quarterly On the Job with Christopher Surgent
Summer 2015

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.

DGAQ On the Job Rick R. Johnson
Spring 2015
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.

DGAQ On the Job Eric Fox Hays
Spring 2015
Big Easy AD

Eric Fox Hays discusses working in Louisiana on such shows as Common Law, Star-Crossed, and NCIS: New Orleans.

DGA Quarterly On the Job Bruce Moriarty
Winter 2015
Adventurous AD

Bruce Moriarty explains how his experiences training horses prepared him in becoming a skilled 1st AD.

DGA Quarterly On the Job with David Webb
Fall 2014
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.

DGA Quarterly On the Job with Thomas Kuk
Fall 2014
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.

Eric Henriquez
Summer 2014
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.

Michele Panelli-Venetis
Summer 2014
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.

Spring 2014
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.

Winter 2014
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.

Fall 2013
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.

Summer 2013
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.

Spring 2013
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.

Spring 2013
New York Indie

As an AD in the busy production world of New York, no one gets more out of less than Doug Torres.

DGA Quarterly Spring 2011 Micky Moore
Spring 2011
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.

Winter 2013
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.

Fall 2012
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.

Fall 2012
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.

DGA Quarterly On the Job With Shelley Ziegler
Spring 2012
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.

On the Job
Summer 2012
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.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2012 On the Job Peter Kohn
Winter 2012
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.

DGA Quarterly Fall 2011
Fall 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Summer 2011 On the Job Daisy Gerber
Summer 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Summer 2011 On the Job Charles Washburn
Summer 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Spring 2011 Ridgeway Callow
Spring 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Spring 2011 Advent of TV
Spring 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2010-11 Chico Day
Winter 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2010-11 Eric Stacey
Winter 2011
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.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2010-11 Arthur Jacobson
Winter 2011
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.

Summer 2010
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.

Scottie Gissel
Winter 2010
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.

DGAQ On the Job With - Jeff Okabayashi
Winter 2010
Adventures of an AD

After switching majors from engineering to film, this AD has fulfilled childhood dreams of chasing pirates and launching rockets.

Fall 2009
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.

Summer 2009
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.

Spring 2009
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.

Winter 2009
Raising the Bar

Having spent the majority of her life on set, Blymyer finds herself now making the move from 2nd AD to 1st.

Winter 2009
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.

DGA Quarterly Summer 2008 On the Job With
Summer 2008
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.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2007-08 On the Job Porter
Winter 2007/2008
1st AD to the Rescue

Known for his laid-back rapport with the crew, the Samoan-born Porter will still dash through burning buildings or wade through farm refuse to keep the production on track.

DGA Quarterly Fall 2007 On the Job Hausman
Fall 2007
Home on the Range

A former stockbroker at Merrill Lynch, Hausman calls himself a "repeat customer" for directors such as Milos Forman, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, and Sydney Pollack.

DGA Quarterly Summer 2007
Summer 2007
Windy City AD

Choosing filmmaking over the family restaurant, this AD helped cement Chicago's straight-shooting image on-screen in films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Home Alone.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2006 On the Job Abby Singer
Winter 2006
The Shot Known 'Round the World

Though his shot precedes him, the longtime AD, UPM, and producer gets a kick out of how his name has become standard production slang.

DGA Quarterly Winter 2006 On the Job Dick McWhorter
Winter 2006
AD to the Rescue

Working as a messenger boy at Columbia in January 1936, McWhorter attended the DGA's first public meeting at the Hollywood Athletic Club.

DGA Quarterly Magazine Fall 2006 On the Job Carol Green
Fall 2006
AD With a Plan

After moving to LA after college (a trip given to her by her parents), Green enrolled in the DGA Training Program and began building her two decade career in television.

DGA Quarterly Magazine Summer 2006 On the Job Reidy
Summer 2006
Movie Lover

Like his boss, Scorsese's 1st AD is an avowed cinephile, mentally storing the images he comes across at MOMA, Film Forum and Lincoln Center for visual references later.