Steven Soderbergh
In a prolific career that has taken him from the indie landmark sex, lies, and videotape to mainstream hits like Erin Brockovich, the HBO movie Behind the Candelabra, and now the cable series The Knick, Steven Soderbergh has continually reinvented himself—all the while admirably serving the Guild.
Gail Mancuso
When opportunity knocked, Gail Mancuso walked through the door, and she’s been directing hit comedies like Roseanne, Friends, and Dharma & Greg ever since. With her recent Emmy for Modern Family, she became the first female director to win twice for comedy direction.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Brooklyn Nine-Nine ADs Tony Nahar and Kenny Roth and their team keep the set relaxed and ready to go. They might even make the show funnier.
Life (and Lots of It) Behind Bars
Orange Is the New Black
The popular Netflix series Orange Is the New Black challenges directors with a large ensemble cast, nude scenes, stunts, child actors, and even insects. It may be hard work, but it’s never dull.
Four Indie Directors Working on Studio Films
So your independent movie was a hit. What comes next? For some, it’s a leap to studio filmmaking. Here’s how four directors moved up, and what they found once they got there.
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich pushed the bounds of special effects by combining exploding models with digital images and live action in the still-rousing alien attack in Independence Day.
Dee Rees
After the success of her first film, Pariah, Dee Rees’ career is on track with a biopic about the legendary Bessie Smith—warts and all.
David Lynch
The mysteries of David Lynch are meant to be experienced, not solved. In works like Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, and Mulholland Dr., he created a dream world of dread and beauty unlike any other.
Jean-Marc Vallée
With Jack Nicholson as the volatile R.P. McMurphy and Louise Fletcher as his nemesis Nurse Ratched, Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest emphasized performance over style. And that’s still what impresses director Jean-Marc Vallée.
Jon Feltheimer
Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer is not pining for the way the business used to be. Instead, he’s energized by the prospects of new content, new markets, and new media.
Film Noir
Influenced by German Expressionism and Old World ennui, Hollywood directors—many of them European émigrés—created the look and feel of film noir to express the fears and desperation of postwar America. It’s a genre that never dies—though its heroes often do.
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Thomas Kuk
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.
David Webb
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.
Laura Benson
New York UPM
UPM Laura Benson has worked on several TV shows based in New York, including The Blacklist, The Big C, and Ugly Betty.
Storyboards by Tim Burgard helped Michael Mann re-create Muhammad Ali battling Ernie Terrell at the Astrodome in Ali (2001).
Creature Comforts
Where the Wild Things Are
Spike Jonze offers some acting tips to one of the beasts in Where the Wild Things Are (2009), an adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book.