Television Directors have various tools that they may use to help them plan, communicate, and collaborate to achieve their creative vision. On July 31, more than 300 DGA members learned different techniques and approaches to blocking and shot listing for multi-cam and single cam shows during the Director Development Initiative (DDI) online workshop, The Fundamentals of Blocking and Shot Listing.
The online event featured Directors Ben Hernandez Bray (Walker), Morenike Joela Evans (Grey's Anatomy) and Jeremy Podeswa (3 Body Problem) in a conversation moderated by Director Anu Valia (She-Hulk) where all shared their “personal ethos” and how their individual approaches to blocking and shot listing is informed by their backgrounds and previous directing experiences.
During the conversation, Podeswa highlighted how in his television directing experience, “once you’ve done the homework, you can be quite agile on set.”
Bray and Evans emphasized Podeswa’s point by revealing what their own prep processes looks like and gave tips on how to be flexible on the set, with examples of when it made sense for them to pivot from their originally planned shot lists.
All three panelists spoke about the importance of understanding story and provided strategies and tools that they use to visualize the story through their shot listing and blocking. They noted that as television Directors, it is critical to help push the story forward, and to do this most effectively, Directors should know their scripts well, trust their instincts, strive to build positive relationships on set and be collaborative.
DGA Members can watch the full video from
Director Development Initiative events by clicking here.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
 Ben Hernandez Bray
Bray’s directorial credits include the feature film El Chicano; and episodes of Walker, The Lincoln Lawyer, Cruel Summer, Big Sky, S.W.A.T., 9-1-1: Lone Star, Queen of the South, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Arrow and Roswell, New Mexico. His stunt coordinator/stunt performer credits include DGA Award-nominated features such as Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born and David O. Russell’s American Hustle; and DGA Award-winning features such as Ben Affleck’s Argo and Joel & Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men. He has been a DGA member since 2005. |
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 Morenike Joela Evans
Evans’ directorial credits include the movie for television Deadly Dispatch; the pilots for the series Saturdays and Act Your Age; and episodes of Grey's Anatomy, That Girl Lay Lay, iCarly, Bunk'd, Secrets of Sulphur Springs, Quantum Leap, Warped!, The Neighborhood, Guilty Party, Family Reunion and Diary of a Future President. She was nominated for an Emmy for an episode of Raven's Home. She has been a DGA member since 2019 and has served as a leader of the African American Steering Committee’s The Learning Tree Fellowship Directing Program. |
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 Jeremy Podeswa
Podeswa’s directorial credits include the feature films Fugitive Pieces, The Five Senses and Eclipse; the movie for television After the Harvest; episodes of the mini-series Into the West and Little Bird; and episodes of The New Look, 3 Body Problem, The Handmaid's Tale, True Detective, The Newsroom, Here and Now, True Blood and Six Feet Under. He is a three-time DGA Award nominee for episodes of Station Eleven, Game of Thrones and The Pacific. He was Emmy-nominated for his work on Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and The Pacific. A DGA member since 2001, Podeswa has served as an interim Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Committee and as a member of the DGA Negotiations Committee and as an alternate on the Eastern Directors Council. |
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 Anu Valia (moderator)
Valia’s directorial credits include the feature We Strangers; the pilot for Big Door Prize; episodes of She-Hulk, The Afterparty, And Just Like That, Shrill, Love Life, Never Have I Ever, MixedIsh, AP Bio, Love Victor, At Home with Amy Sedaris, First Wives Club, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens and The Other Two; and the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Jury Award-winning short film, Lucia. Valia joined the DGA in 2018.
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About the Director Development Initiative:
The Director Development Initiative is designed to provide current information on the Director’s craft in order to further the Guild’s goal to increase diversity and inclusion in the industry.