LOS ANGELES _ In feature films the director is king _ the "auteur" who's canonized if the film is a success and tarred-and-feathered if it's not. But in television, the director is pretty much anonymous. He ranks right up there with the caterer when it comes to status and fame.
One reason for that, says Tristram Shapeero, a Brit who directs "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," is that on a feature film the director is actually crafting the cinematic world.
"He's creating the characters and bringing them to life, casting those characters. You jump onto a show and ... the cast is there, and you have a choice over the guest characters that week _ and we're very much involved in all of the casting _ but the main cast are already in place. So I think that's a fundamental difference."
TV has always been the province of the writer, says Mark Cendrowski, who directs "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Odd Couple." "They're the constant. They're the ones that are there every week. We are often guests. And even if you are the main director, you may not be doing every single show, and it's always been that way."
Often TV directors are like substitute teachers who fill in occasionally on a show that's already in progress. Linda Mendoza, who directs "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," is one of those. "On film, the film director is the showrunner. It's their vision. It's their baby," she says.
"Even though somebody else wrote it, they're taking that and running with it, and it's becoming their 'baby.' Whereas for me, especially being a freelance director where I will be the new kid on the block 12 times this year, you're going into somebody else's world."
Shapeero, who's also the showrunner on "Kimmy," says he worries about the directors who have been hired. "I call scripts 'ambition,' because they're simply only the writer's ambition until we come along and take that script. And, yes, we're using the world and the characters (they created), but what are we going to do with it? How are we going to shoot that scene to get the funny off the page and deliver back to the writers their jokes that they've strived for so long to write?
"We know where the funny on the page is. Where is it on the screen? So it's a big thing to hand over to a director, and I think that you know that going in ... . We're always extremely respectful of the work and realize that our role is to take this and work with them to produce something that's an episode of television that's FUNNY."
Of course, TV directors are not without their migraines. Take the time that director Michael Blieden and executive producer Denis Leary of "Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll" had to incorporate both an owl and a live snake on the show.
"There was a full day-and-a-half, right before shooting, where we're, like, the owl will be alluded to in dialogue. We won't see the owl. That's the cheap-fix that everyone can use. We figured out a way to key in an owl shot ... Then there was a question of someone had brought this huge snake, and how are we going to shoot with an actual snake?
"And that was the last thing we shot. The snake was cold, and so the snake wouldn't act. The snake wouldn't do anything. And so the DP (director of photography) brought a (blanket) and put it over the snake to warm the floor ... that was the one time that the snake moved. And of course, I had tried to make it as complicated as possible where it's incorporated into Denis turning away from the owl. So we're over Denis to the snake. It's all in one shot. And that was an 18-hour day, which was like shooting in front of 5,000 people in a concert."
Working with the stunt coordinators and special effects engineers can be challenging, too, says Alec Berg, who directs "Silicon Valley." "When I started directing it was a huge surprise to me, which is: You would think directing is about inspiring creativity in everybody around you. But I find a lot of my job is actually stifling creativity.
"Somebody comes in and they go, 'Oh, we've got this jib-arm. And we can do this thing where we hang the guy. And we've got this rocket crane that can throw him over the hedge.' And you just go, 'No, no, no. He's just going to jump. He's just going to jump over the hedge.'
"We did a thing where a guy had to throw a bike, a kid's bike into a hedge. And I had a 45-minute conversation with special effects and stunts about how we have this replica of that bike, and we're going to put it on this crane with a bungee. And so the guy will go like this and then the bike will fly 40 feet over the hedge. And then I was like, 'No. We're just going to have the guy throw the bike.' And they're like, 'OK. We're going to get a plastic replica of the bike that's lighter, and we're going to fix the pedals and the handlebars so he won't get hurt.' And it's like, 'No. Can you just get a bike? Just get a bike? The guy's going to throw it over the hedge. And it will work great.'"
Cendrowski says one time his script called for a turkey to fall out of a window. "And a stunt man set up a rig where it shot it 40 feet. Almost killed a couple of grips in the test. And it was like, 'No, no, no. It just has to fall out the window.'"
Peter Atencio, who directed the comedy "Key & Peele," agrees. "You can always assume that any explosion special effects rigs for you is going to be twice as big as you wanted it to be."
LORRE CASTS BATES AS POT PROPRIETOR
Executive producer Chuck Lorre isn't busy enough. He's not only helming "The Big Bang Theory" and "Mom," he's lined up a new gig with Kathy Bates which is called "Disjointed," and scheduled for Netflix. Bates, who's won both Emmys and an Academy Award, plays the owner of a pot dispensary in L.A. She recalls that when she was cast in the role of the vicious woman in "Misery," the studio executives weren't happy. "(Director) Rob Reiner wanted me to do the role. People said, 'Get someone who's better known.' But it was his company and he could do what he wanted. It was a fortunate happenstance," she says. It was. It earned her the Academy Award.
CHEF PLANS TO 'EAT THE WORLD'
Bam! Emeril Lagasse will be back on the food trail when "Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse" premieres on Amazon Prime Sept. 2. Along with fellow foodies like Mario Batali ("The Chew"), Jose Andres ("Made in Spain") and Nancy Silverton ("Hell's Kitchen") Lagasse will venture around the globe savoring the best victuals from each culture. There'll be dumplings from China, pizza from Italy, Nordic morsels from Sweden and ravioli from New York City. It makes you hungry just reading it.
ELIJAH WOOD STARS IN 'DIRK GENTLY'
Filming on "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" is winding up this month in Vancouver preparing for a fall premiere on BBC America. Based on the hilarious comic novel by Douglas Adams, this version stars Samuel Barnett as the goofy detective and Elijah Wood as his reluctant assistant. Having finished playing opposite a man-dog in "Wilfred," Wood says he's not afraid to forge ahead. "I feel like I continue to try and challenge myself to do things I've not done before," he says.
"It's difficult for me to speak to how I've changed as an actor. I think I've changed as a human being and I've grown as a human being, and I think that's probably reflective of what I do as an actor. Hopefully, I've learned and grown along the way."
