Television
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“What’s the Ripple Effect?… It Was the Most Complicated Script I’ve Ever Shot”: David Barrett on Directing the Time Loop Episode of Star Trek: Discovery
A couple years ago, I was in a hotel room flipping channels when I came across an episode of the popular CBS series Blue Bloods, an ensemble family drama in the form of a procedural anchored by Tom Selleck. I was struck almost immediately by how stylistically expressive the episode was; it was clear that the director had thought through a precise means of conveying each character’s perspective in a distinctive way, assigning specific focal lengths, camera moves, and color and lighting strategies to each protagonist. It was the kind of subtle but dynamic approach to visual design one finds […]
by Jim Hemphill on Feb 14, 2018 -
“My Handiest Trick is to Watch as Many Previous Episodes as You Can — With the Sound Off”: Mary Lou Belli on Directing NCIS: New Orleans
I’ve written elsewhere about my admiration for the filmmaking on NCIS: New Orleans, a procedural that channels the spirit of Rio Bravo-era Howard Hawks to combine laid-back charm and camaraderie with kinetic, expertly choreographed action sequences. Under the guidance of producing director James Hayman, whose “Aftershocks” episode from season three is a clinic in Hitchcockian suspense, NCIS: New Orleans has assembled one of the best rotating companies of directors in episodic television: James Whitmore, Jr., Stacey K. Black, Rob Greenlea, and Bethany Rooney are just some of the superb helmers who have done fine work on the series over the […]
by Jim Hemphill on Sep 7, 2017 -
“Television Has Been Good in That It’s Paid the Bills”: Ernest Dickerson on Double Play, The Wire and Spike Lee
Ernest Dickerson’s new film Double Play, an adaptation of the acclaimed Dutch-language Caribbean textbook standard by Curacaoan author Frank Martinus Arion, received its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The novel uses a game of dominoes as a framework to look at the unrest on the Caribbean island during the tumultuous transition from Dutch colonial rule to independence. The film adaptation stars Lennie James, Colin Salmon and Louis Gossett Jr. as men with different personalities but an all too similar interest in women. Director Dickerson rose to fame for his glorious cinematography. He will forever be associated with Spike Lee, with whom he began […]
by Kaleem Aftab on Feb 7, 2017 -
“When I Shoot Film Today The Set Seems to Move Faster”: DP Nancy Schreiber on Moving from Film to Digital Throughout Her Career
When director of photography Nancy Schreiber receives the Presidents Award at the 31st annual ASC Awards this Saturday, she’ll make history as the first woman to be honored with the award. It’s an appropriate – some might say overdue – recognition of an innovator who has consistently broken new ground in the fields of documentary, narrative features, and television. An early proponent of digital technology (she won the cinematography prize at Sundance in 2004 for her mini-DV work on November), Schreiber is also a fierce advocate for celluloid who creates stunning, expressive images regardless of the format. Her range is second to […]
by Jim Hemphill on Jan 31, 2017 -
Recommended on a Friday: Manchester by the Sea, Uncle Howard, Off the Rails, Daughters of the Dust, J’Accuse, Pitch
Kenneth Lonergan’s masterful Manchester by the Sea is the high-profile opening of the week, and one strongly recommended by all of us at Filmmaker. The writer/director is our current print issue cover, with James Ponsoldt’s interview now online as well. In his intro, Ponsoldt wrote: Lonergan’s films all feature stand-out performances, and the constellation of actors in Manchester by the Sea — Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol and Affleck — are beautifully cast. Their family could be your family. The Chandlers’ struggle to find a new normal in the wake of tragedy is surprisingly funny, human, messy […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 18, 2016 -
“This is a Show about Dread”: Nick Antosca on the SyFy Series, Channel Zero
Although the Netflix series Stranger Things has received more mainstream attention, the Syfy series Channel Zero is arguably more unsettling and less predictable, and executed with a more determined vision. With six episodes this season (“Candle Cove”) and six in production for 2017 (“The No-End House”), the series has more in common with the French horror series Beyond the Walls (Shudder) in terms of its willingness to allow for slowness and its non-clichéd approach to characters. Both shows suggest the increasing prominence of, for lack of a better term, “weird fiction” — stories that treat horror as a kind of […]
by Nicholas Rombes on Nov 4, 2016 -
Why Louis CK’s Horace and Pete is the Most Important TV Show of the Decade (and Maybe the Best)
The penultimate episode of Louis CK’s independent television series Horace and Pete, self-released via the comedian’s website over the past ten weeks, ends with a quote from the late Garry Shandling: “The world is too noisy and distracted to probably ultimately survive. Everyone needs to shut the fuck up. The answers are in the silence. Monks set themselves on fire to protest and to make this point. Just consider it.” Watching the episode upon its release, this quote gave me chills. And not just because it was a haunting encapsulation of CK’s narrative ambitions with Horace and Pete — a […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Apr 6, 2016 -
Nine Tips for Pitching Your TV Series
With the arrival of the Golden Age of Television, many indie-slanting stories are finding a home in episodic series. And if you’re one of these independent filmmakers with a hot series concept, you might find yourself in the least “indie” situation possible: pitching a network executive. But don’t be intimidated — as more and more non-traditional TV formats become runaway hits, networks’ doors are wide open to new ideas and innovative visions. If you can find a way onto the network exec’s couch, the following tips — culled from recent industry events, like the IFP’s Screen Forward, as well as […]
by Christianne Hedtke on Dec 16, 2015 -
Distributors, End the 20-Year License Term! Producer Mike Ryan Talking TV vs. Film and More at IFP Screen Forward
Earlier this summer, veteran producer Mike Ryan — an Independent Spirit “Producer of the Year” nominee as well as one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” in 2007 — sparked a conversation with his Filmmaker article, “TV is Not the New Film.” Acknowledging the declining role of cinema in the broader culture amidst the rise of episodic television, Ryan spent the bulk of the piece detailing strengths of the film medium that are specific to its form. He called on filmmakers to embrace these formal qualities or else just go make TV instead. Ryan’s declarations sparked passionate agreement from cinephiles […]
by Anisha Jhaveri on Sep 25, 2015 -
TV is Not the New Film
As much as I love Breaking Bad, The Wire, Mad Men and Twin Peaks, as great and as groundbreaking as those shows were, they still are not cinema. The recent explosion of quality long-form cable series has taken the TV form to a new level of artistry and craftsmanship. A show like Mad Men is not only thrilling because of its commentary on its era, but because of the zeitgeist energy created by everyone watching the show, talking about it and sharing opinions on social media. Today, perhaps more than ever, a new season of a quality show becomes a […]
by Mike S. Ryan on Jul 23, 2015
