On March 25, DGA Award-winning Director Lesli Linka Glatter discussed her career during a special evening in the Guild’s New York boardroom hosted by the Eastern Directors Council Focus on Women Committee.
In a conversation moderated by the Focus on Women Committee Co-Chair Laura Belsey (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Glatter spoke about her path to becoming a director; her creative process in approaching a script; and her other projects, including her DGA-nominated work on Homeland and her DGA Award-winning work on Mad Men. The audience also reviewed handouts of the script, storyboards and Glatter’s notes from her DGA Award-nominated Homeland episode “The Star.” The discussion was illustrated by clips from her work on Homeland and Mad Men. The evening ended with a Q&A where Glatter answered questions from the audience, some of whom have or still work with her, followed by a reception.
Glatter launched her directing career through the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. Her first short film, Tales of Meeting and Parting, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action. Her extensive filmography includes the feature films Now and Then and The Proposition; the movies for television Into the Homeland and The Promise; the pilots for the series Pretty Little Liars and Gilmore Girls; and episodes of other series including The Newsroom, The Walking Dead, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex, Justified, Nashville, Boss, True Blood, The Good Wife, Weeds, House, The West Wing, ER, and Freaks and Geeks. She also was the Co-Executive Producer/Director the seriesThe Chicago Code, The Playboy Club, and Citizen Baines. She is currently the Co-Executive Producer/Director of HBO series The Leftovers and will be returning to the award winning Showtime series Homeland as Executive Producer.
Her numerous honors include a Cable ACE Best Picture nomination and a Humanitas Award nomination for her 1994 movie for television State of Emergency; DGA Award nominations for her direction of the 1991 Twin Peaks episode “32006” and the 2013 Homeland episode “The Star;” both DGA and Emmy Award nominations for her direction of the 2012 Homeland episode “Q&A;” and an Emmy Award nomination and a DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series for the 2009 Mad Men episode “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency.” She also recently received the Caucus Foundation Award, and will receive the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal from the American Film Institute at the AFI Awards in June 2014.
A member of the DGA Board, Glatter also currently serves on the Western Directors Council, the PAC Leadership Council, and the Diversity Task Force. She also currently serves as an advisor for the Sundance Directors Lab. She has been a member of the Guild since 1985.
The members of the EDC’s Focus on Women Committee are: Directors Laura Belsey and Rosemary Rodriguez (Co-Chairs), Maggie Greenwald, Annette Haywood-Carter, Nicole Kassell, Linda Laundra, Martha Mitchell, Sarah Pirozek, Lara Shapiro, and Rose Troche.
The Committee would like to remind members that while their events are designed with a special focus on women directors, all DGA members are welcome to attend.