The Writer/Director

Directing a movie is, in my opinion, the hardest job in the world. It is physically demanding, mentally and emotionally excruciating, and often takes a psychological toll. Film directors create the vision for the look of the film, its tone, and decide and determine all artistic and dramatic aspects from actors’ performances to wardrobe, props, editorial choices, and music. Directors visualize the script, scene by scene, collaborating with the cinematographer, also known as the cameraman, director of photography, or DP. The director guides the technical crew as well as the actors in the fulfillment of that vision. The director, along with the producer, is responsible for choosing the cast members, and imparting his or her vision to the production designer and all department heads, from sound to hair, make-up, costumes, and sets. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, and in the United States, it is common to see directors accorded “A Film by__________” credit. In the theater, the writer is king and his or her words are inviolable, but in motion pictures, the director is the king and often the dictator.

There are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors start as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors, first assistant directors, stunt men, or actors. Other film directors have attended a film school and perhaps have made a short film that has gained notice and attention for them.

Criteria and Process of a Film Director

The film director gives direction, in the form of management, leadership, guidance, control, and supervision to both the crew and the cast of actors and background players (also known as extras), and guides his or her overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized. To be successful, directors must be charismatic leaders, good and facile communicators, and able to mediate differences in creative visions among departments and to stay within in the boundaries of the film’s budget as scheduled. How a screenplay is interpreted and how each actor interprets his or her role, and how each performance is modulated throughout the film, is at the whim of the director, irrespective of the screenwriter’s intent, with the exception of powerful A-list screenwriters who have agents and attorneys to ensure that their work and creative rights are protected.

Many directors have different ways of working and use different approaches. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue, while others adhere strictly to the script. Some control every aspect and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Some are more liberal and allow for wonderful accidents to occur spontaneously. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with new or longstanding writing partners. Some directors edit their own films, some appear in their own films as Alfred Hitchcock most often did, and some compose the musical score for their films, as Clint Eastwood often does.

During post-production, the director works with the film editor to create the director’s cut of the picture, generally after the editor’s rough assemblage of the picture. After the director’s cut, the producer, and at times the studio, distributor, financiers, or sales agents may give notes or input for the director to incorporate into the cut of the film. If the director is uncooperative, the producer exercises control, except in an instance where the director has final cut of the movie. In normal circumstances, where the director does not have final cut, how and to what extent the director is involved in the film in the rest of the process is contingent on whether or not the director is malleable and cooperative, and if the director is non-union or if he or she is a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA). If non-union, it is entirely up to the producer, and generally depends on how amicable the relationship with the director continues to be and if the director remains a collaborative asset. If a member of the DGA, the guild has a handbook of hard-fought creative rights that dictate every aspect of the union-backed contractual rights of the director, which the producer, studio, distributor, or financiers must adhere to.

Directors are generally involved in creating the sound design of the film in collaboration with the post-production sound house and its creative designers and editors. Directors also most often choose and collaborate with the film’s composer to create a composed musical score for the film that supports, enhances, and underscores the picture. It is continually amazing and transformative when the right music gives emotional impact to a screenwriter’s words or intents.

Writers Rewritten

As a director, I was always taught to stage each scene in a way that the critical event in the scene is embellished and highlighted cinematically. There are many cinematic devices that can assist a director in accomplishing this, particularly in coverage (multiple camera angles and lens sizes of the same scene), that has been shot during production, which offers multiple editorial choices that can highlight the importance, critical moment, revelation, reactions, or turning point in a particular scene.

The problem that most directors face is that most writers do not write with this in mind. Consequently, particularly with independent films, directors are continually cutting lines, changing lines, or juxtaposing lines or beats within a scene in order to make the scene more cohesive, more powerful, and the critical event more impactful. If more writers understood this and wrote in a more cinematically cognizant way, the purity of the writer’s words and structure would more often remain sacrosanct and not continually subject to “fixing” by directors. Consider then that on most films and television shows, you also have actors “tweaking” dialogue and between the actor and director, continual “rewrites” often occur on set. Unlike live theater where the stage play and words of the writer are sacred, in film, with the exception of top studio screenwriters and network showrunners, most writers are considered to be expendable and their work may be capriciously changed by actors, directors, and producers. Most actors feel that if it is on the page, the odds are you have a better chance of doing something really special with the character.

I approach things from several different disciplines, from very different perspectives than most structural teachers. In addition to having developed and produced a voluminous number of movies, I have directed film and television over many years. There have been countless times on film projects, even some that I’ve written, where I have said, “Oh my God, what was that writer thinking?” even if it was me! Sometimes scenes that seemed fine at the time I was writing them later seemed completely wrong, convoluted, pointless, or simply rang hollow when staging them directorially and seeing them performed by actors.

As we’ve discussed, screenplays do not offer the narrative space for voluminous character descriptions and developments, and directors and actors often feel disserved and abandoned by writers, due to flimsy suggestions of nonspecific characters. They then, in frustration, take on the creative obligation to try to create characters that are specific with individual and unique lives and behaviors.

It All Starts With the Script

Directors tend to fall in love with every project they commit to as well as the actors they work with. Directing a film is like giving birth, and the inception of and the catalyst for creating every film is the script, which becomes the guideline for everything that occurs over the progression of the process. No matter how specific a screenplay may be, throughout the course of pre-production, production, and post, any number of unforeseen things will change. Most directors continually either work on a script themselves, sometimes with the original writer, sometimes with another writer, or work with the actors. The script is the blueprint but the film almost always takes on a life of its own, with changes that are effected by the collaboration of the many creative personnel involved in interpreting a screenplay and a film. For many directors, visual style is the most important aspect of filmmaking; for others it is story and actors’ performances, and the creation of an unforgettable character. Still other directors begin by considering how the character’s journey through the story will ultimately affect the audience.

Films based on source material such as on a real-life event; newspaper or magazine article; an adaptation from other previously material, such as a book, play, or previously produced film (in the case of remakes and reboots); and particularly historical pieces require research and due diligence in the arena and time frame in which the story takes place. During the process of researching material for production, numerous adjustments to the script and often rewrites are done. Sometimes the realities of production and conditioning factors such as locations, seasons, or actors’ availabilities may dictate changes to a screenplay.

Directors’ Preparation Techniques

There are several techniques a director may utilize in order to prepare a visual concept of a script. One of the most common of these techniques is through the use of storyboards. These are a series of single-frame images almost cartoon-like cells, which depict exactly what the camera will see from shot to shot. Storyboards tell the story in still-frame pictures, often showing camera movements, angle and lens size, sometimes dialogue, key story points, sound effects, special effects shots, possible set design notes, and sometimes music annotated under or next to each frame.

If they have any modest artistic ability, some directors draw their own storyboards, and often by necessity if there is no money budgeted for storyboards, since many low-budget films can’t afford a storyboard artist. There are also numerous storyboard software on the market for those who can’t draw. On films that have a budgetary allowance, most directors choose to work with a storyboard artist to draw for them. Storyboards may consist of anything from stick figures to fully rendered drawings, and some directors use storyboards to visually impart their concept from scene to scene to key crew or actors. I personally have only used storyboards for complex action scenes with multiple cameras and a second unit director and crew, to ensure I get all shots I have designed and require for my sequence. Otherwise, I generally don’t use storyboards, since, for me, the concept of everything being rigidly pre-determined inhibits spontaneity.

I, as well as many directors, diagram and shot-list every scene with my own little hieroglyphics, depicting camera angles per shot, per scene, and at times, stick figures of actors, which help me to clarify and remember camera angles. Sometimes I even draw circles as heads, with noses pointing in the direction an actor should be facing for tighter angles, closeups, and over the shoulder shots. This is a critical part of my director’s homework during pre-production. This preparation work commences after I have seen locations and sets, and my shot lists help me visualize the scenes before shooting, and to be able to remember each visual idea sometimes many weeks later and when shooting out of sequence. I don’t hand out my shot lists to an assistant director or cinematographer because I don’t want to be boxed in creatively and do want to retain the freedom to either use or discard my prep work, as I may have a new idea or inspiration on the day of filming. I do my homework and have a plan, but I also allow for spontaneous creativity and the recognition of the occasional glorious accidents that happen from time to time during filming that may be far better and more memorable moments than I could have ever pre-determined or the writer originally conceived when he or she wrote the screenplay.

As we’ve discussed, the budget of a film versus its worldwide market value is the primary underlying determinant as to whether a picture is made or not. There are thousands of aspirants currently writing scripts in hopes that theirs might attract the attention of a producer, studio, financier, or director who will champion the script, and there are many well-written scripts that never make it to the screen. From a directorial standpoint, however, fi lms begin with a visualized concept that imbues a distinct point of view toward characters, events, environments, and objects, fi rst as created by the screenwriter and then as reinterpreted by the director. Good directors look for visual metaphors, not just words on a page, that become organic, dramatic, and impactful nuances and textures throughout the picture. Essentially, directors creatively translate screenplays into synergistically designed sounds and images, giving sometimes abstract concepts tangible audio and visual form.

The director is responsible for the dramatic structure, pace, and directional flow of the sounds and visual images. He or she must maintain the interest of the audience and my Golden Rule, “Thou shalt not bore,” which most fail to adhere to. Some directors fixate on camera angles, movement, and cool shots. Others focus on lighting, while others’ attention and emphasis is on editing and editorial devices. To some directors who are not technically proficient, casting and staging of scenes and actors’ performances are paramount. All directors are different and all collaborations between a director and different writers, cinematographers, editors, and composers yield different results.

Suggested Criteria for Being a Successful Film Director

It is my belief that in order to be complete and successful as a film director, a good director should:

1. Have a strong sense of story and the aptitude to collaborate with a writer when called for.
2. Have a strong visual sense and the ability to impart that vision to key crew.
3. Possess the ability to be malleable and creative in solving script, production, performance, and post-production problems.
4. Possess the ability to instill confidence in financiers, distributors, producers, cast, and crew.
5. Understand and possess the ability to work within the finite box of the budget and schedule you have been given.
6. Have a realistic business sense and understanding of the constraints to which the film must adhere, including genre and specific buyer and/or distributor desires.
7. Be a charismatic leader in all departments, from production and set design, costumes, props, make-up, hair, locations, transportation and picture vehicles, stunts, and any second unit filming or directing.
8. Be a consummate communicator.
9. Have an eye for casting and the ability to recognize talent, even if different from initial character descriptions or preconceptions.
10. Speak the language of actors, realizing that many actors are trained differently and respond to different forms of behavioral stimuli and suggestions.
11. Understand the screenplay story arcs, plot points, act breaks, and character development.
12. Possess the ability to translate that into visual images that enhance the objective events not only of each scene, but for the entire script.
13. Possess the ability to handle and manage the moods, egos, politics, personalities, and insecurities of everyone on set.
14. Know how to design shots to effectively stage action and actors for the camera.
15. Know how to translate your staging, camera moves, and shot design to actors in a way that they can organically justify your cinematic desires.
16. Possess the ability to understand and speak the technical language of film with the cinematographer and technical crew.
17. Possess the ability and skill asset to have fluid shifting strategy and find creative solutions to at a moment’s notice abandon a plan, for any number of unseen reasons, and come up with a new plan instantly and make it work.
18. Possess the ability to understand and speak editorial language to communicate notes and ideas as the film is being constructed in post-production.
19. Understand that judicious editing can make up for a deficient actor’s performance.
20. Understand that moments may be created editorially, and understand the wide variety of editorial devices that can make a good performance better.
21. Understand music and the tremendous value that a composed score can contribute to a film, enhancing the mood, tone, or giving it emotional weight or the sustained tension that music can add to scenes and sequences.
22. Stay true to the genre of the film you have been hired to create in all facets of your filmmaking, in performance, shot design, editorial choices, and particularly editorial pace, post-production sound design, and music.
23. Possess tenacity and thick skin and be able to absorb criticism from producers, distributors, creative executives, and research group screening audiences, then the flexibility to apply those changes to the film, remaining collaboratively a part of the process.
24. If requested or required, attend and support any and all functions that promote the film and that may contribute to the film’s success.

As voiced earlier, in my opinion, film directing is the hardest job in the world, and the screenwriter’s understanding of the vastness of the scope of work a director must master and complete, with the entire fate of the picture dependent on the director’s finished product, should give the writer empathy and foster a collaborative spirit when working with a director.