Directing and Producing for Television, 3rd Edition

chapter one

Introduction

The most important thing about being a director is having a job.

—Eric Von Stroheim

I have begun this book with this quotation, attributed to Eric Von Stroheim, because I once heard that the first thing you read is the thing that sticks with you the most.

THE DIRECTOR/PRODUCER’S JOB

In order to get and hold jobs, you will surely have to get along with others. We do not work alone. Directing is an interpretive rather than a creative art.

Writers, painters, composers, sculptors, and architects are creative artists. Creative artists work alone. They work alone on a blank screen, blank piece of paper, canvas, clay, hillside … whatever. If they are composers, ultimately they’ll need musicians to make the music happen. In ...