Chapter Title i

Published by Michael Wiese Productions

12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111
Studio City, CA 91604
tel. 818.379.8799
fax 818.986.3408
mw@mwp.com
www.mwp.com

Cover design: Johnny Ink www.johnnyink.com

Book design: Gina Mansfield Design

Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, Michigan

Manufactured in the United States of America

2013 by Charles Wilkinson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without permission in writing from the
publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Table Of Contents
Acknowledgments
How to use this B ook
Foreword to the 2nd Edition
Introduction

Chapter One ~ Tough Love

Do You Have Aptitude?
Why Am I Being So Negative?
Why Do You Even Want to Direct?
Take The Pepsi Challenge

Chapter Two ~ The First Best Steps

The Secret
Film School Yes, No, and Why There Are So Many of Them
How to Choose Your Film School
Making the Most of Film School
Why Do Student Films Suck?
Simple Storytelling Tools
Grades and the Real World
Start Your Engines

Chapter Three ~ The First Film

The Self-Financed Film
Pros & Cons
Recipe: The Successful Self-Financed Film
1. Knowledge
2. Story
3. Cast
4. Crew
5. Gear
6. Location/s
7. Money (it always takes at least some)
8. Dos & Donts
9. Finishing Touches
Chapter Four ~ Making Waves: The Festival Circuit
Which Festivals Should You Enter?
How Do You Enter?
What Festivals Are Looking For
Once Youre In

Chapter Five ~ Selling Your Film

Distributors: Count Your Fingers

Chapter Six ~ Setting Up Shop

Where is the Work?
Local Restrictions/Perks
Guild Affiliation
The Agent
The Demo Reel
Finding the Jobs

Chapter Seven ~ The Phone Rings
Whos Calling?
The Script Arrives
The Call-Back
The Meeting
The Offer
You Got the Job!

Chapter Eight ~ Pre-Production

Tools of the Trade
The Production Office
The Concept Meeting
The Assistant Director
Prepping the Script
The Location Scout
Casting
Meet the Stars
Location Planning
Storyboard?
Chapter Nine ~ Shooting
The Circus
Time to Roll
Directing As the Cameras Roll
Working With the DP
The Directors Medium
Master/Coverage
Working With Sound
The Script Supervisor
Cool Tools the Protocol
Second Unit
Script Changes On Set
Directing Stars
Overtime
The Abby Singer

Chapter Ten ~ The Big Picture

Mental Fatigue
This Too Shall End
Why Isnt Your Agent Calling?
The Wrap
The Wrap Party

Chapter Eleven ~ Post-Production

The Post Process
The Cutting Room
The Director in the Cutting Room
Editing Fixes
Directing Music
Directing the Sound Mix
The Pre-Mix
The Mix

Chapter Twelve ~ It's Over

Thank People
Producer Closure
Youll Always Work in This Town Again
Take a Moment

About the Author

x The Working Film Director Wilkinson

Foreword
to the 2nd Edition
This is the best time ever to become a director!
In spite of all the recent developments that might suggest the working
director has become something of an endangered species, in spite of
all the dark clouds, there are some incredibly bright rays of sunshine.
The situation on the ground has changed tremendously since the 1st
Edition of The Working Film Director was published. This new edition
addresses changes like:
How to get started from the new ground zero.
Film school or not, how to choose one and what to demand.

The first film low-budget, micro-budget, 5D, or the guaran-

teed route.
The first film festivals which ones, how to get in, how to maxi-

mize the returns.

Selling that first film count your fingers.

How to convert the first film into a career.

The career stall or crash what to do when the phone stops

ringing.
In addition, the rest of the content has been updated to fit the current,
and likely future, rules. There are sections on:
Where to locate.
Getting hired.

Maximizing prep.

On-set protocol.

Earning respect on set.

Avoiding conflict in post-production.

Finishing well.

Getting the next job.

For new readers of the book, I believe youll find a really useful set of
guidelines, rules, and tips for how to successfully enter and grow in this
 Foreword xi

most wonderful career. For the returning reader familiar with the pre-
vious edition, beside a thorough update of all material, I think youll
especially find the entirely new first third of the book vitally important
reading as you deal with all the new twists on your journey to arrive,
thrive, and survive in that directors chair.
Lets talk about the game change thats been unfolding.
The five years that have passed since the original publication of The
Working Film Director have seen dramatic changes in the world of the
film and television director. Numerous factors have contributed; the
polarization of the feature market between blockbusters and low-bud-
get first films, the rise of the 500-channel universe, the resulting fall of
advertising revenue-supported network programming, the overcrowd-
ing and consequent decline of the TV syndication market, the rise of
Netflix and other video-on-demand services, the consequent death of
home video rental, and most troubling the wildfire of unpaid, ille-
gal Internet downloading. To the working director, these developments
pose significant challenges.
These are not the only, nor even the most serious, challenges within the
film industry. The industry has been impacted by a deteriorating world
security situation since 9/11. International work permits have become
more difficult to get. Trade protectionism, a factor previously uncom-
mon in international filmmaking, has grown. And the worldwide eco-
nomic crisis sparked by the U.S. sub-prime mortgage collapse continues
to severely restrict money supply especially to speculative ventures
like film production. All of these factors have served to limit the work-
ing directors supply of career opportunities.
On the demand side the number of new directors competing for work
is skyrocketing. Steadily improving quality of film school education pro-
vided by older, qualified filmmakers migrating into more reliable work at
the ever-growing number of film schools is resulting in unheard of num-
bers of trained, aggressive, would-be working directors entering the mar-
ketplace. In short, we seem to have a situation for the working director
that could be described as a perfect storm.
xii The Working Film Director Wilkinson

Thats pretty discouraging. Now here comes the good part:

Never before in human history have we had the unfettered, unregulated
ability to communicate our personal thoughts and beliefs to such vast
numbers of fellow human beings across almost all international bound-
aries. Since the invention of mass media, the high cost of production has
concentrated control in relatively few hands. Mass communication was
possible but who got to communicate? There have always been filters
between those doing the communicating and those watching and lis-
tening corporate-run studios, networks, theater chains. They got
to decide. Yes, there have always been people and organizations that
strived to produce intelligent, important, truthful and innovative films
and television programs that entertained, informed, inspired, up-
lifted. Just not a whole lot of them.
Thats about to change.
Today, the gatekeepers the
filters between those doing
the communicating and those
watching and listening are
being swept away. Consider:
using simple, readily available
tools, anyone can make a movie
about their cat using the toilet
and have it watched without
any type of effective middle-
man being involved by hun-
dreds of millions of people.
[ Tobias photo ] The Iliad, The Odyssey, Citizen
Kane, a cat using a toilet. Wow.
But wait. If the cat-on-the-toilet epic is possible what isnt?
Thats the amazing thing. Anything is now possible.
Way back in 1990 or so, director/genius Francis Ford Coppola famously
said:
One day some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart.
 Foreword xiii

That day is here. I visit a lot of film festivals. I see this happening all
around me. I watched a remarkable dramatic feature at a festival the
other day, a film with good production values, with actors, great lo-
cations, music, action, and a really fascinating message. The film cost
under $10,000 and was shot by a crew of three. The film is being seen in
theaters across America. Its been purchased for TV broadcast.
At this writing I am currently touring the festival circuit with a documen-
tary feature I directed about a subject I care passionately about, a story I
felt the mainstream was missing. I didnt ask anyones permission. I didnt
pitch anyone. I didnt beg anyones agent. I believed in an idea, I went out
and made the film for bus fare and donuts. Peace Out is playing around
the world, generating intelligent discussion, changing minds.

[ Charles Wilkinson photo ]

Am I saying that Hollywood is burning? Not at all. But Hollywood is

noticing. Why? Gone are the days when we have to pay to see how empty
the latest blockbuster is. One friend goes, texts the rest of us and we stay
away and click on a link to this amazing Vimeo clip about you name
it. Like our cat/toilet video, ideas suddenly have the potential to go viral.
Stop for a minute and think how remarkable that is. Unmediated com-
munication from the girl in Ohio, direct to everyone.
This is as close to global telepathy as weve seen.
xiv The Working Film Director Wilkinson

And yes, Hollywood, which is to say the corporate entertainment indus-

try, is listening. Take a look at the fresh crop of releases there are more
first-time directors than ever, more big-budget films with social media
stars replacing established actors. And now every mainstream film works
the Internet and social media sites. The lessons of The Blair Witch Project
have revolutionized, and to a very real degree democratized, movie adver-
tising. Studios are leaping onto the Twitter bandwagon, seeking that elu-
sive viral effect. Sometimes it works. The Hunger Games saturated social
media and opened huge. Sometimes not. All the social media in the world
couldnt save John Carter.
So the process is becoming democratized. So? Is the audience being
captured by the cat on the toilet? Of course not. We all click on the links,
we experience the giddy freedom of un-censored content. But the
cat pretty much just sits there. It would be great if it was in some way
endearing, if it had some kind of goal, if it had to overcome some kind
of really insurmountable obstacles so we could root for it. Some better
camera and sound work would help. Some music, maybe a bit of CGI to
get the cat to speak. Wed probably need someone to coordinate all that
stuff. We could call them a See where this is heading?
The world loves good movies. Good movies need good directors. The tal-
ented and committed rise to the top. Visit the film festivals, look at whats
winning. Look at whats making it into the theaters and onto TV. Pictures are
being made that are pushing back the boundaries of the craft, the boundaries
of human experience. The industry is in a near chaotic state, trying to figure
out how to ride this tiger of unprecedented audience participation.
Heres a certainty: someone is going to direct the new films and televi-
sion. No one knows who. Let me amend that. Only two of us know
who its going to be. I know its going to be you.
Its not going to be easy. Youre going to have to work incredibly hard,
clear extraordinary hurdles, have a lot of luck. The purpose of this book
is to point you at some of the tools youre going to need to get there. But
getting there is do-able. More do-able today than ever before.
Consider this: It has become relatively common to read that a young
filmmaker whos written a powerful screenplay or has self-produced a
 Foreword xv

5D feature has received studio financing for a mainstream project. This

is someone without connections, no uncles at Universal, someone who
hasnt schmoozed the parties, someone who hasnt even got an agent.
Yet this filmmaker has cleared an enormous hurdle on the way to be-
coming a working director. How did she do it? This is what the first part
of The Working Film Director is about.
A note on gender language. He/she is awkward. They is often worse. Our
business has made tremendous gains in the area of gender equality. Women
and men are largely interchangeable and receive equal pay. So I will arbi-
trarily refer to a cinematographer for example as her or him for the sake
of flow without meaning to imply that DPs are all female or all male.
To continue with our hypothetical first-timer, once she signs with the
studio her status changes radically. Our director must go from working
alone in a basement to interacting with an enormous jumbo jet-like ma-
chine peopled by executives, producers, actors, professional crew, publi-
cists, agents, and critics. Whether this director spent years at film school
and as an apprentice on professional sets like Steven Spielberg, or was
self-taught like Robert Rodriguez, she must now perform a series of
complex procedures and avoid a series of complex pitfalls.
Learning to recognize and work the controls of that jumbo jet is what
the second part of The Working Film Director is about.
Let me use a video game analogy to describe what this book is really
trying to be. People who spend time with video games know that there
are online sites and books that provide tips, clues, and assists to the
gamer. Things like, at the end of the hall, behind the garbage can theres
a small golden key pick it up. You might find the key without the tip.
You might not. The tip moves you toward your goal much quicker
which is something most of us would value. There are a lot of tips in
this book because theres lots a working director needs to know.
While some things in our industry have transformed, many others have
not. The job interview, working with writers, location planning and shot
making, directing the crew, actors, post-production discipline all of
these crafts may evolve cosmetically, but they remain fundamentally un-
changed. These too are the things that The Working Film Director is about.
xvi The Working Film Director Wilkinson

A programming director friend of mine at a medium-sized international

film festival recently challenged me to guess how many independent fea-
ture film submissions they had received from just one small country
this year. In light of the global economic woes, I guessed a dozen. Her an-
swer over 500. Out of which she had difficulty selecting a half -dozen
good films. Something makes those half-dozen films stand apart from the
494 others. This is the directors craft.
Yes, the reality on the ground for the working director is shifting
dramatically over a very short timeframe. But directors everywhere
continue to practice a complex craft in some traditional ways, and
in many new, innovative ways. Hopefully, you will find tools in the
following pages that help you to do both, as you become and remain
a working director.
Before we dive in, lets define some terms.
For the sake of this discussion, a working director is someone who gets
paid to direct mainstream film and television.
Mainstream film and television is defined here as either dramatic or
documentary fare that is programmed at film festivals, screened in com-
mercial theaters, and broadcast on commercial TV. YouTube content or
sponsored programming falls outside of this category.
Back in the 1950s, when TV really took off the word was that movies were
dead whod come out and pay to watch when they could stay home and
watch for free? Then in the 80s the blockbusters were going to kill smaller,
idea-oriented films. Today were told that the Internet is putting the final
nails in film and televisions coffin. All wrong. We love good movies. Good
movies take a tremendous amount of skill to make. The people who take
the time to acquire those skills are going to direct those good movies.
American philosopher Henry David Thoreau once said:
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where
they should be. Now put foundations under them.
Lets pour some concrete together.
Charles Wilkinson
Pacific North Coast, 2012
 xvii

Introduction
You directors, the second you turn in a picture that doesnt work, its art
this and integrity that. I hire and fire you bums like extras.
My first job interview

This book is not about where to put the camera.

Its not about the great masters of the cinema.
This book is about one thing: getting paid to direct film and television.
More to the point, this book is about how to make that happen. Its about
how to keep it happening and how to jump-start it when it falters. Its not
that where you put the camera is unimportant or that the masters arent
worthy of study. It is and they are. The Working Film Director is going to
talk about a different aspect of your craft.
A tiny percentage of film directors are established directors those high-
ly paid professionals who have relatively free choice over what they direct.
At the other end of the spectrum there are the teeming multitudes of un-
paid or prosumer directors those who work without pay and show
their work for free over the Internet. The established directors career goal
is to stay on top. The unpaid directors career goal is to become established.
In between these two groups are the working directors.
The vast majority of movies, TV films, episodes, and documentaries
are directed by us the working directors. Who are we?
When a movie performs well either by winning major awards or
making significant money or both, two paths open up. In the case of
runaway success the director tends to be given a real shot at becoming
an established director. Thats 1% of the time. The other 99% of the time,
when a show doesnt bomb but enjoys less than runaway success, the
director often receives offers to direct more modest fare as a working
director. A sports analogy might be that were the farm team, which is
defined by Wikipedia as:
xviii The Working Film Director Wilkinson

Farm Team: a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training
for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on
to a higher level at a given point.
The agreement regarding moving up is pretty simple make something
that experiences runaway success.
But, until that time, we have the infinite joy of directing the majority
of film and television. Thats us the working directors. We get paid.
This is key it allows us to quit our day jobs and spend all our time getting
better. We take material that is often flawed and perform heroics translat-
ing the amazing idea in the writers head into an amazing experience in
the audiences head such that we move on up to the majors or not. The
great success of achieving mere working director status is that life is
pretty awesome on the farm team too.
Very few established directors achieve that status without paying
their due down in our ranks. And Ive never met a serious un-paid
director who wouldnt sacrifice a great deal to achieve the success of
a mere working director.
For every director the un-paid and the established ones included
sometimes a show turns out well, sometimes not. And even when a movie
turns a profit and garners good reviews, youd think career advancement
would be more or less guaranteed. But its not. The truth is, short of a
$100-million-dollar weekend or an Academy Award, no matter how our
shows turn out the director is up against serious competition for every
directing job. And there are things we all do or neglect to do every day
that affect our chances of being hired.
There are many terrific books on the world of the established director.
There are also several fine books on the world of the un-paid director. At
present there is very little by way of published discussion on the world
of the successful working director.
Why is that important? Because our ground rules are different. The estab-
lished director has, within the context of the film, a power so absolute it
approaches that of ancient kings. The working director by contrast, is an
employee. In the working directors world, the producer has the power of
 Introduction xix

kings. Including the power to hire you. Or not. That makes a world of
difference.
For example: In both the established directors world and the un-paid
directors world the lead actors are cast (which is to say hired) by you, the
director. Their allegiance is to you. In the working directors world the
lead actors are most often cast by the producer. They are frequently more
important to the financing than you are. Their allegiance is to their role
or the producer or their public. But not necessarily to you. This book is
about acquiring techniques for finding your place in this mix and using
those tools to do the good work you must do.
Another example: As an established director, or even the un-paid direc-
tor, you often have wide powers over the script. You can make changes
as you deem necessary. As a working director its not at all uncommon
for producers to discourage the changing of a single word. This book is
about acquiring techniques for getting the script changes you need to
tell the story without risking unnecessary conflict.
The Working Film Director follows a linear format, leading from a discus-
sion of how to move from un-paid status up to that all important first
phone call, on through prep, production and post, right up to getting
your next and better job. Heres how Im defining better job:

Your phone rings. A script arrives at your door. A good one. A check
arrives by courier. A big one. A driver picks you up in a car. A new
smelling one. These people in this office are nice to you. Really nice.
You chair meetings. Interesting, harmonious, creative meetings. Every-
one listens to you. A crew of capable workers assembles. They jump at
your invitation to collaborate. A group of talented actors appears be-
fore your eyes. They accept you into their sandbox. You say the magic
word, Action. Everything springs to life. Every fiber of your creative
energy flows into the creation of a stream of images and sounds that,
when placed in front of millions of viewers provokes thought, laugh-
ter, tears, inspiration even. The critics rave. Flowers arrive at your door.
Youve just made your mark on history.
xx The Working Film Director Wilkinson

Tina Schliessler photo

[ With DP Michael Slovis on Harvest. ]

This is the best job in the world. Bar none. But is there a catch? Yes, thou-
sands of them. Some people attain the status of rising working director
only to find a different reality, one that goes like this;
Your phone rings. A script arrives at your door. It needs work. The
people in the office are civil. To your face. You attend meetings. Frac-
tious, inconclusive, angry meetings. People listen to you. Then they do
it the way they feel like doing it. A crew of workers assembles grudg-
ingly. A group of yesterdays actors appears before your eyes. One or
more wont come out of their trailer. You say the magic word, Action.
Everything limps to life. Every fiber of your creative energy (except
those fibers devoted to watching your back) flows into the creation of
a stream of at best adequate images and sounds that, when placed in
front of millions of viewers provokes a mixed response. The critics
pan it. No flowers, no friends, no history. Just rumors that there were
problems on set. Your phone goes dead.
It gets that bad and worse. Everything is so volatile. Make a few key
mistakes and see how fast scenario A becomes scenario B. Make some
good catches, have a few heart to hearts with the right people, connect
with, even galvanize the unit, and B becomes A.
 Introduction xxi

We work in a pressure cooker. Even a small unit costs someone a huge

amount of money to run every day, every hour. Even micro-budget
shows cost money thats needed for rent. Money that everyone on set
knows your work had better convince an audience to part with. We
have weather pressure, time pressure, creative pressure, interpersonal
pressure, tribal pressure, tire pressure for Gods sake (a blown tire can
cost an hour, a day, a human life). We work under the pressure of in-
sanely long hours. Frequently in demanding, uncomfortable places.
We suffer the pressure of days, weeks, months living, eating, working,
like sardines in a can, with large groups of strangers. And when its fi-
nally over, we often suffer the gnawing anxiety a telephone creates by
simply not ringing.
Best job in the world when things go right. When they dont, a not so
great job. Established director or emerging hopeful, the script arrives at
your door and you take your chances. Luck of the draw.
Or is it?
If youre going to take credit for how well scenario A works out, doesnt
that mean you kind of have to accept at least some of the blame for how
badly scenario B unfolds?
Yes.
Is there anything you can do to prevent scenario B from happening
again?
Yes.
Will you find answers in these pages?
Yes.
Some youll already know. Many are self-evident. Some you wont agree
with. And some are just real hard to practice. But hopefully the ideas
you find here will get you focusing on aspects of your craft youve never
considered before.
Some of what I have to say is aimed at emerging directors. And Ill
note that where appropriate. Some of what I have to say is aimed re-
spectfully at the established professionals beginning to look over their
xxii The Working Film Director Wilkinson

shoulders. But the bulk of what follows is meant for the working direc-
tor. Whether its your first show or your hundredth. Because until you
achieve established director status, the rules are the rules.
But you say, my talent is all I need. As long as I do good work, none of this
other stuff matters.
Experience suggests otherwise.
Established Director status mostly doesnt last. When the Oscar-
winning, blockbuster-delivering directors strike out a few times, theyre
often back to being employees in the working director realm. Scan the
box office charts from just five years ago. Search the directors of those
films on IMDb.com. See for yourself.
The fact is that directors who continue to work tend to be advice takers.
We seek out every scrap of knowledge on how to ply the craft to get the
absolute maximum out of our people and avoid the destructive and time-
wasting landmines our projects are seeded with.
Film is an intensely social medium. Directors are by definition people
people. The clich of the brooding loner who appears on set, does the
magic silently and departs in mystery is generally a myth. Most direc-
tors talk a lot. They have to. There are so many choices. Brown hat or
black? Mercedes or BMW? 85mm or 50mm? Sadder or happier? Bigger
or smaller? Chocolate or vanilla? Literally thousands of questions a day.
Certainly there are directors who delegate many of these choices. The ac-
tors will direct themselves if you dont. The cinematographer can come
up with a workable shot. The teamster can decide whether Thelma and
Louise drive a classic T-Bird or the rusty Honda Civic he wants to rent to
the production. Somebody always says. Somebody always chooses. Thou-
sands of choices a day. And each one of those choices has the potential to
come back to slam you.
And if you say, All I have to do is do good work and nothing else matters,
how exactly is good work measured?
Yes, a multimillion-dollar opening weekend is a no-brainer. But fre-
quently the success of our shows is difficult to measure. What if youve
just directed Episode 6 of this seasons 22 episodes of I Just Want My Pants
 Introduction xxiii

Back? How do you measure that? Weekly ratings dont really measure
you. Its not like they advertised the episode as being un film de you.
Similarly, network executives and producers dont always credit the di-
rectors for the good ratings of their TV movies or mini-series. They
speak instead of how the concept scored. Or the cast or the line-up. The
only time TV is anything close to a directors medium is for those few
brief moments on Emmy night. What about theatrical features? The
industry leaders, to their credit, acknowledge that many factors create a
success or failure at the box office. Cast, timing, script, promotion, what
else is running. So the director of an unsuccessful theatrical is often given
a second or third chance. Often, but not always. If not upon success then
what is that decision to hire and re-hire you based on?
That is precisely what The Working Film Director is about. Getting work,
doing work, getting more work.
Because to a director, not working is a slow death. You must work. For-
get the money. (Sure, you also must eat, but if that was what it was about
youd have gone to dentistry school.) Forget whatever prestige might come
with the job. You direct because you love to tell stories. You live for the look
in your audiences eyes when your voice drops to a hushed whisper and
you say, She crept through the dank and glistening tunnel, an ominous
breathing all about her, when suddenly BOOM!!! And they jump,
scream, laugh, and forget for a moment their mean science teacher or their
overdue car payment or what the doctor said this afternoon.
That moment is something that exists between you and your audience.
That more than anything else is the paycheck you receive for the work
you do. But to get to that moment, to be able to repeat that moment with
any regularity, you have to thread your way through some very complex
mazes. You have to get the job. You have to do the job well. You have to
make the friends who will hire you to do the job again.
This is what The Working Film Director is going to talk about.
Who am I to talk, you ask?
If there was an award category for Dumbest Mistake on a Film or
Television Show Id have a case full of golden statues. Ive passed on
xxiv The Working Film Director Wilkinson

major projects because I thought the shooting location was wrong.

Ive abandoned highly paid work in Paris to help with a sound mix on a
previous, troubled film. Ive put myself between screaming executives and
decent crew members. Ive allowed my own hurt feelings and wounded
pride to goad me into unprofessional conduct. Ive challenged corrupt film
distributors who had numerous other shows they would otherwise have
hired me for. Ive told network executives poised to hire me that what I re-
ally wanted to do was features (seriously! I actually did this!). Ive spent
years asking the wrong people for the right things on and off set. Ive more
or less lived to tell the tale. In short, Im a fairly typical working director.
My first job in the entertainment business was at the age of three. I had
an imaginary radio show. Id sing myself to sleep for hours every night. By
the time I was six my big brother and I actually were regular singers on a
popular radio show. We graduated to TV as series regulars on a popular
variety show, recorded, toured. All before I was fourteen.
So I pretty much grew up chasing that moment. The moment the audi-
ence forgets everything and is just with you. I learned to love that. I love
the feeling of aligning all the particles in the room. Thats breath of life.

Ed Kidd photo

[ Author at age eleven with bad hat and guitar. ]

 Introduction xxv

I went to film school. Before graduation I directed a documentary that

won a few awards. I was hired by a small studio to direct another docu-
mentary far away from any supervision. I made the documentary and
secretly shot an impromptu feature at the same time with the same
crew and the same budget. The documentary made a profit. The fea-
ture got a small theatrical release, scored (entirely justifiably) mixed
reviews, and (surprisingly) my phone started ringing.
Since then Ive directed four theatrically released features. All of them
made money and now pop up regularly on late night TV opposite the
infomercials. Ive directed a number of well-received TV movies for
the major networks, numerous episodic shows and documentaries. Ive
written screenplays that others have directed. Ive said no to projects
that felt wrong. Ive weathered periods of unemployment and, equally
challenging, periods of prosperity. This business introduced me to the
most wonderful woman on Earth, who is also my best friend, we have a
terrific family together. And together weve made a lot of pretty insane
home movies on camping road trips to Mexico. More recently Ive been
lucky to have been able to transition from the dramas of guys with guns
and beautiful girls at risk to the documentary cinema of ideas.
Through it all my phone has kept ringing.
Not because Ive won an Oscar (probably never will). Not because I
have Emmys (even less likely). Not because Im a pushover to work
with (ask anyone).
The audience keeps us working directors busy for a list of reasons so
long it would fill a book.
Here it is.
 1

chapter one

Tough Love

S
o far this has been pretty upbeat, Id say. Im afraid were going
to go dark for a bit. I dont like being negative, but sometimes
tough love is the best kind. I apologize in advance and promise
well get back into positive territory as soon as humanly possible.
Ready?
I really want to direct.
Common phrase. Youve heard it from rock stars, world leaders, at
least one of the Popes, and that girl who works at Starbucks. Many
spend a decade or more and thousands of dollars trying. And while
some actually end up with the job, most dont. Urban legends about
making it because of who one knows or what parties one goes to are
common and, in some rare cases, true. But generally, those who end
up directing do so because they have aptitude for the job and apti-
tude for hard work. Can this be measured? Happily, yes. By the time
we get to the end of this chapter youre going to have a few tools that
will help you decide. The first question is pretty straightforward:

Do You Have Aptitude?

Heres an example of what I mean; next time youre in a casual social
setting, eating or drinking with family or friends, quietly take ten
minutes to select and organize the one single event youd describe as
the most interesting thing thats ever happened to you. Then find a
lull in the conversation and tell your story in five minutes or less.
Note the reaction.
If people say things like: Wow, that was the most interesting story
Ive ever heard or That was just so touching, so inspiring or Ive
2 The Working Film Director Wilkinson

never laughed so hard in my entire life, Id say theres a very high

probability you have aptitude.
Introverts do occasionally succeed in the job. Both Clint Eastwood
and Woody Allen are said to be introverts. Clint established his
brand as an actor first, however, and Woody has always done spectac-
ular stand-up. And, interestingly, both have always loved performing
publicly as musicians.

Aptitude For Hard Work?

Pick a successful director, research their early life. The majority start-
ed making films very young. How about you? Many of you have been
making videos since childhood. Some of you have already racked up
some pretty impressive festival wins. Again, if this is you terrific!
But what if it isnt you? What if youre an awkward introvert with no
real proven background in filmmaking. Are you doomed? Lets step
outside the box some.
Chances are most of us wont become Formula One drivers. We may
have a drivers license, a car, maybe we even like driving fast. But the
amount of native ability, commitment, obsession, and luck it takes to
actually race in Formula One is so extreme that maybe 1 in 100,000
who try will ever make it.
Did you think that directing film and television would be any easier?

Why Am I Being So Negative?

Dont get me wrong. Im on your side here. I find myself in a remark-
able position. Ive been inexplicably blessed to have been a working
director for three decades. Ive also had the great good fortune to
have been able to attempt to teach often wonderful young women
and men while continuing to write and direct. And Im now at a point
where I dont much worry about offending studio, network, industry,
or academic people. I can say what I believe to be true.
So heres the thing; I feel just terrible when I meet a former classmate
from my film school days or a student of mine years later and see that
 Tough Love 3

failure look in their downcast eyes. These are intelligent young men
and women who could be making a real difference in finance or law
or construction or healthcare or government. Instead theyve spent
the last decade or more working service jobs, hustling short films
that play in half-full rep houses.
What if youre really not cut out for this? Imagine the reaction youre
going to get ten years from now from everyone you told about your
dream to direct. Was that an eye roll you just got from the guy who
used to look up to you in high school? I dont mean your lack of mon-
ey, houses, cars, status, or kids. Im talking about your self-respect
based on a life lived deliberately and well. Thats what Im hoping for
you. If it turns out you beat the odds great. But if you think deeply
and decide right now that you actually really enjoy welding weld!
The coolest, happiest, most creative and satisfied people I know are
not directors. Think about that for a minute. Whats your goal in life?
Most people, once they drill down beneath all the media noise and
clich, would say things like: I want to pull my weight, do something
worthwhile and meaningful, find love, be satisfied, fulfilled, and so
on. Let me say it again:
The coolest, happiest, most creative and satisfied people I know are not directors.
But youre not buying this love, peace, and chicken grease stuff, right?
You have to direct. You feel it. Youll beat the odds, blaze your own
trail. Great! As I say, thats what were here for. But its still good to
know what youre getting into. Lets talk about that for a while. It may
be time well spent.
The small amount Ive learned over a long career of directing film
and television tells me the first and most important thing we need to
talk about here is.

Why Do You Even Want To Direct?

Why are you drawn to this? I meet an awful lot of people who express
a desire to be a director. I meet a far smaller number of people who
truly want to direct. See the difference? The reasons I hear for why
4 The Working Film Director Wilkinson

someone wants the job generally boil down to these few:

1. Clich
2. Money
3. Altruism
4. Aptitude
1. Clich: Directors are never in short supply of girlfriends. Bob Fosse
Our culture confers upon the film director a god-like status. From
the outside looking in it appears that youre the boss. You command
huge crews, enormous sums of money, cinema idols. You hang out
with presidents and rock stars. You travel to space, to the bottom of
the ocean. Whats not to like about that?
Of the students I work with, on average 85% say they want to be di-
rectors. Its pretty much a knee-jerk reaction. Many of them have even
picked a production company name and have printed up business cards.
Im afraid much of that motivation comes from the culture. Ive seen it at
work. My parents used to worry about me I was a really late bloom-
er (a bum, basically). They had to endure their friends bragging about
little Dougie becoming a doctor and little Gwenny designing a bridge.
When I finally started working, the tables so turned. For my mom to
say, Our Charlie had a movie on ABC last night that played in twenty
million homes across America. that gave her a lot of pleasure. But to
their great credit my folks never pushed me. They always displayed a very
healthy scepticism about the job as in When are you going to get a
real one? So Im going to call out all you moms and dads here.
Parents, encouraging your kids is one thing. I get that you worry your
kids will never put down the game console, move out of the basement,
and take an interest in something anything. My parents worried
about me. I worried about my kids. But I never pushed them to follow
in my footsteps. Know why? Its hard enough to beat the odds and make
it as a director. The last thing kids need is that extra pressure from your
expectations. No one makes it in this business without being seriously
driven. And if your kids discover theyre driven, your lack of pushing
wont amount to much of an obstacle.
 Tough Love 5

My kids played with video cameras growing up. They had fun. Like I used
to have fun building and racing slot cars when I was their age. Im sure at
some point they may have dreamed of entering the business they cer-
tainly got to raid enough amazing craft service tables on the shows I did.
But they werent consumed with desire, so I didnt push them. Today theyre
happy in their chosen crafts and I couldnt be more proud of them.
Whats wrong with chasing a dream if it makes them happy? Unfortu-
nately, very often it makes them really unhappy. Imagine meeting an old
friend from high school ten years later whos poised to jump off a bridge
lamenting, Yeah, I gave becoming a realtor my best shot. I just wasnt
good enough.
Directing is a job.
Its also a calling. As is medicine, the law, construction, public relations.
And like these other callings, directing takes its own certain skill set, a set
of qualities, and attributes. I meet parents pushing their kids to become
directors. Ill often ask them why they dont encourage them to become
doctors, lawyers, engineers. Theyll usually laugh at the thought of their
kid putting forth this much discipline, commitment, and sheer drive.
Guess what Mom, Dad becoming a competent director is every bit as
hard maybe harder. Ignore the clichs. Theyre a mirage.

Charles Wilkinson photo

[ Marg Helgenberger with some of my students on the CSI set. ]