The Art and Craft of TV Directing

The Art and Craft of TV Directing offers a broad and in-depth view of the craft of TV Directing in the form of detailed interviews with dozens of the industry’s most accomplished episodic television directors.

Author Jim Hemphill provides students with essential information on the complexities of working in episodic TV, highlighting the artistic, technical, and interpersonal skills required, and exploring a variety of entry points and approaches to provide a comprehensive overview of how to begin and sustain a career as a television director. The book discusses how to merge one’s personal style with the established visual language of any given show, while also adhering to tight budgets and schedules and navigating the complicated politics of working with showrunners, networks, and producers. The book also features interviews with a range of directors, from feature directors who have moved into episodic TV (Kimberly Peirce, Mark Pellington) to directors who have made the transition from other disciplines like acting (Andrew McCarthy, Lea Thompson), hair and makeup (Stacey K. Black) and stunts (David M. Barrett).

This book provides unprecedented access to the experiences and advice of contemporary working episodic television directors, and is an ideal resource for students studying television directing, early career professionals looking for advice, and working directors looking to make the transition from feature directing to episodic TV directing.