On June 11, the DGA Special Projects Committee presented the twelfth installment in its Directing for Professionals series, which provides practical skills and techniques for Directors to work productively with their creative teams. Members gathered in the Los Angeles Headquarters Boardroom for Through the Lens: The Director/DP Dynamic, a segment focused on the collaboration of the Director and the Camera team.
After a welcome from DGA Special Projects Committee Directing for Professionals Subcommittee Chair Arthur Allan Seidelman, the attendees learned more about this subject from a panel of experts consisting of Directors John Badham, Michelle MacLaren and Betty Thomas, Directors/DPs Robert McLachlan and Tony Richmond, and DP Roy Wagner.
In a conversation moderated by Seidelman, the panelists explored a variety of topics including: how communication between the Director and DP is critical to preserve a Director’s vision and visual language, how to use the prep time for the Director and DP to get on the same page, and how to find room to add your own flair but still remain within the tone of an episodic show. The final hour of the seminar included an open forum where the attendees could ask the panelists questions on these matters and more.
About the Panelists:
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John Badham
A DGA member since 1970, Badham received two Emmy nominations for his directing on the ’70s series The Senator and The Law before his 1977 feature Saturday Night Fever became a worldwide hit. His 1983 features, Blue Thunder and WarGames, received four Academy Award nominations. His other credits include the features American Flyers, Short Circuit, Stakeout, Point of No Return, Drop Zone, and Nick of Time; the movies for television The Jack Bull and The Last Debate; and episodes of the series The Shield, Night Gallery The Event, Psych, and Blind Justice.
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Michelle MacLaren
MacLaren made her directorial debut with an episode of The X-Files while she was also serving as Co-Executive Producer of the series. She would go on to earn an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for her 2008 episode “One Minute” of Breaking Bad. Her other credits include episodes of Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, The Leftovers, and The Walking Dead; and acting as both Executive Producer and Director on the HBO pilot The Deuce. She has been a DGA member since 1992. |
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Robert McLachlan
McLachlan has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series for his work on HBO’s Game of Thrones. He also earned multiple ASC Awards nominations for his cinematography work on the series Millennium. His other cinematography credits include Ray Donovan, Final Destination, Final Destination 3, Willard, and Impolite. Making his directorial debut with the 1989 TV Short documentary Killer Whales in the Wild, McLachlan joined the DGA in 2008. |
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Betty Thomas
After launching her career as an Emmy Award-winning actress on the seminal series Hill Street Blues Thomas made a shift to directing and earned a second Emmy in 1993 for Directing in a Comedy Series for an episode of Dream On. She received a DGA Award for the HBO movie for television The Late Shift and another Emmy-nomination the film My Breast. Her other credits include the features The Brady Bunch Movie, Private Parts, Dr. Dolittle, I Spy, 28 Days, John Tucker Must Die and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel; as well as seven television pilots, numerous series episodes and a web series for YouTube’s WIGS Channel. Thomas currently serves as First Vice-President of the DGA and is a member of the Western Directors Council as well as numerous committees working with networks and studios to develop inroads for minority and women Directors. She joined the DGA in 1988. |
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Tony Richmond
An accomplished cinematographer whose career spans over six decades, Richmond has worked as assistant cameraman on such classic films as Terence Young’s From Russia with Love, Richard Lester’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, François Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451 and David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago. He lensed five films for Director Nicolas Roeg including Don’t Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Bad Timing. He also collaborated with Director Betty Thomas on the features John Tucker Must Die and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. A DGA member since 1983, Richmond also directed the feature film Déjà Vu. |
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Roy H. Wagner
A member of the American Society of Cinematographers and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Roy H. Wagner has been actively involved in the motion picture television industry for over 45 years. He won Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Cinematography for lensing for Richard Franklin’s 1987 pilot episode of Beauty and the Beast, “Once Upon a Time,” and for David Hemmings’ 1989 pilot episode of Quantum Leap, “Genesis: Part 1 - September 13, 1956.” Wagner also received the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Mini-Series for his work on Paul Krasny’s Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel. |
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Arthur Allan Seidelman (moderator)
Seidelman has directed more than 50 films and 23 episodic television series including Hill Street Blues; Magnum P.I.; Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law and Trapper John, M.D. His feature credits include The Sisters; Puerto Vallarta Squeeze; The Awakening of Spring; Walking across Egypt and most recently, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. Among his movies for television are A Christmas Carol: The Musical; By Dawn’s Early Light; The Summer of Ben Tyler; Grace and Glorie; Kate’s Secret; Miracle in the Woods; A Friendship in Vienna and Poker Alice. Arthur’s directing honors include two Emmys, five Emmy nominations, the Milagro Award for Best American Independent Feature, the Grand Prize from the New York Film and Television Festival, the Humanitas Award, Peabody Award, Western Heritage Award, three Christopher Awards, and a Writers Guild Award for I Love Liberty, which he co-wrote. Seidelman serves on the DGA’s Special Projects Committee and has been a DGA member since 1978. |
About this series:
The Directing for Professionals series is designed to keep members up-to-date on developments in the industry and deepen their understanding of their craft. Workshops and seminars on various film and television related topics are offered throughout the year.