Director Ed Bianchi discusses his 45-year directorial career in commercials and episodic television, highlighting his commercial work for Eastern Air Lines, Pepsi Cola, and American Express, as well as his episodic work on Boardwalk Empire, The Wire and The Get Down.
Jeremy Kagan (The Chosen, The Journey of Natty Gann, Crown Heights) discusses his 40-plus year career as a director of feature films, TV movies, and episodic television, and his active involvement in the DGA including serving as the Chair of the Special Projects Committee.
Michael Schultz recalls his career through four decades of directing, beginning in the theater, successes with Cooley High and Car Wash, and his prolific work in episodic television.
Penelope Spheeris discusses her career as a filmmaker, directing documentaries like The Decline of Western Civilization and studio films such as Wayne's World. Spheeris talks about growing up in her father’s traveling carnival, as well as major influences in her life, including Janis Joplin and punk rock music.
Henry Chan (A Different World, Moesha, Fresh Off the Boat, 100 Days) discusses his 30-plus year career directing episodic television and feature films, his beginnings as an editor, and his involvement in the Asian American Committee.
Veteran feature and documentary film director and past-president of the DGA Michael Apted discusses his 45-plus year directorial career, highlighting his work on the Seven Up! documentary series, Coal Miner’s Daughter and Nell, among other notable projects. (Part 1 of 2)
Jerry Schatzberg discusses his 50-plus year career as a director of such films as Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970), The Panic in Needle Park (1971) and Scarecrow (1973); and working with Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Faye Dunaway.
Chuck Workman discusses his career as a director of the Academy Award-winning short film Precious Images (1986), feature-length documentaries Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014) and Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990), and his early work as an editor of numerous commercials, feature film trailers and Academy Awards montages.
Director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) discusses his iconic career; beginning in the mailroom of a television station to winning the DGA Feature Film Award and becoming a premier member of the “New Hollywood” wave of filmmaking that revolutionized the industry.
Melvin Van Peebles discusses his career with his son, director and actor Mario Van Peebles, including starting to direct in France, his award-winning film The Story of a Three Day Pass, and kicking off the blaxpoitation genre with his independently financed and produced Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
Gary Shimokawa shares with interviewer Michael Zinberg his experiences over thirty years of working in television on shows such as All in the Family, Laverne and Shirley, and The Golden Girls.
Garry W. Hood discusses his 40-year career as a stage manager from his start in local Tennessee television production on Hee-Haw to work on variety programs including Dancing with the Stars and the Olympics; award shows such as the Grammys and the Academy Awards; and live specials like Grease Live! and Hairspray Live!
Victoria Hochberg discusses her career directing episodic television (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Sex and the City), movies for television (Jacob Have I Loved, Sweet 15), and her involvement in the founding of the DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee.
French director Bertrand Tavernier examines his 50-plus-year career, touching upon The Clockmaker (1974), Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975), Death Watch (1980), and Round Midnight (1986); and working with actors Philippe Noiret, Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel, Isabelle Huppert, Dexter Gordon, and Tommy Lee Jones.
Carroll Ballard discusses his directorial career, highlighting his work with children and animals in the feature films The Black Stallion (1979), Fly Away Home (1996) and Duma (2005).
Veteran musical and variety director Walter Miller (Primetime Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, Country Music Awards) discusses his more than 60-year career, from the beginnings of television in the 1940s, up through the 21st century.
Garry Marshall discusses his career as a writer, producer and director on shows like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, and on feature films like Beaches (1988), Pretty Woman (1990), and The Princess Diaries (2001). Marshall also discusses his service with the DGA, working to protect the director’s creative vision.
Director Steve James recounts career highlights including the groundbreaking documentary Hoop Dreams and the six-year-long process to make the film, which led to directing narrative films like Prefontaine and critically-acclaimed documentaries like The Interrupters and Life Itself.
Anita Cooper-Avrick discusses her 36-year career stage managing television programs ranging from and The People’s Court to Mr. Belvedere and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; her AD/SM/PA Council West participation; and her extensive Guild involvement.
Director John Landis recounts his journey through the film business, starting as an 18-year-old mail boy at 20th Century Fox to directing blockbuster comedies like National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and Coming To America.
Norman Jewison shares stories from his more than forty-year career beginning as a live television director before transitioning to direct genre-bending feature films that entertained and challenged audiences, such as The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, and Moonstruck.
Multihyphenate filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon) shares stories from his long career as a director, writer, producer and actor during the “New Hollywood” era.
Miloš Forman discusses his career from the difficulties making films like Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball under the Soviet
regime in his native Czechoslovakia, to directing award-winning films like like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus with the creative freedom he found in the United States.
Director Don Roy King discusses Saturday Night Live, starting out at local stations, and his diverse body of work directing news, variety, talk, reality and live theatrical Broadway performances.
Alan Myerson (Steelyard Blues, Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, The Larry Sanders Show) recounts his 30-plus year career directing feature films and episodic television, his involvement with Second City, and the formation of the world-renowned improvisational troupe, The Committee.
Director and writer Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street, Finnegan Begin Again, Crossing Delancey) shares insights and stories from her career directing independent features and movies for television.
Director Robert Altman describes his working philosophy, often comparing filmmaking to painting, and discusses the sources of his storytelling and directing techniques he used on films like M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and The Player.