PRODUCTION


LEAD DIRECTORS CRAFT


Four top directors tell Tim Dams about the art and craft of setting out the look, tone, feel and creative ambition of a new TV series from scratch as the lead director


Leading CLAIRE MCCARTHY


CREDITS Domina, The Luminaries, Ophelia, The Colour Room


In TV the lead director is tasked with setting up the show’s major creative intentions and ambitions. This means defining and communicating in concert with the heads of department, the look, the tone and the feel of the cinematography and the production/ costume/hair and make up design of the show. You also have to figure out how to do this in practical terms (ie sets, locations, visual effects), cast the actors and ensure the scripts are in the strongest place possible before production.


50 televisual.com Summer 2021


As a lead director it is always challenging to take on new material. There is no reference point yet for the show and there are often many executive decisions that can dilute the integrity of a show’s potential.


TV is different to making cinema for the lead director. The lead director is subservient in many ways to the writer. It is so important that there is a close and respectful relationship between the director and the writer and crucially with the producers.


I hand over a style guide, mood boards, ensuring clarity with the colour and creative and story intentions. The other directors will invariably inherit sets and key locations and a set of ways to ideally cover scenes. They will have the same camera specs and lens choices which will help uniformity. And these consistencies of creative choices will also follow through sound design, online, grade, and music composition.


The whole team needs to want to make something exceptional. The bar has to be as high as possible.


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