The Director’s Path to Pictures

The director is the person who is directly in charge of all creative aspects, both interpretive and technical, the one who mixes all the ingredients that contribute to the final look of a picture. The film director plays many roles: tyrant, father or mother, confessor, psychiatrist, bosom buddy, teacher, baby sitter and arbiter of stormy battles. George Lucas says, “It’s like climbing mountains. Cut and bruised and freezing cold, you lose your toes and when it’s done, it’s worth it.”

--”The Great Film Directors” by Ted Sennett

Unlike almost any other profession, there is no specific path to directing. A degree from film school is no guarantee of a directing job, although it may be helpful initially in attracting the attention of agents and others looking for new talent.

“Nothing is a passport into an industry this competitive and eccentric,” DGA Special Projects Officer David Shepard observes. “What the profession is interested in is whether someone can deliver the goods.”

Martha Coolidge (“Valley Girl”), Donna Deitch (“Desert Hearts”), Ellen Falcon (“My Sister Sam”), Amy Heckerling (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”), Michelle Manning (“Blue City”), Susan Seidelman (“Desperately Seeking Susan”) and Penelope Spheeris (“Suburbia”) went to film school. But many of today’s women directors worked their way up within the industry.

Randa Haines (“Children of a Lesser God”) started as a script supervisor. Amy Jones (“Love Letters”) was a film editor. Karen Arthur (“Crossings”) began as a choreographer. Claudia Weill (“It’s My Turn”), Nell Cox (“The Roommate”) and Joyce Chopra (“Smooth Talk”) made documentaries. Barbra Streisand (“Yentl”), Lee Grant (“Nobody’s Child”), Penny Marshall (“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”), Sondra Locke (“Ratboy”) and Nancy Malone (“Dynasty”) were actresses. Elaine May (“The Heartbreak Kid”) was an actress and writer. Lynne Littman (“Testament”) was a producer. Evelyn Purcell (“Nobody’s Fool”) was a second-unit director.