Directors Tell the Story, 2nd Edition

Introduction

This is the second edition of a guide for anyone who wants to do what we do: direct television and film. It is a clear, concise approach to the craft that fulfills us artistically and pays us handsomely for our expertise. We put in things we forgot, things we’ve learned, and more of what readers told us they loved about the book.

We direct narrative (nonreality) primetime network episode and television movies. That is, we direct dramas and single-camera comedies using the same process that Steven Spielberg (or any other movie director) uses. We are filmmakers. We tell stories. We just have less time and less money than a feature director. We direct shows seen by perhaps ten million people at one time.

When either of us directs a ...