Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/798465
DGA QUARTERLY 63 PHOTOS: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) VIVIAN ZINK/NBC; DANNY FELD/THE CW; EVERETT that created for them in the editing room and how they'd solved those problems. Q: What do you look for when choosing TV projects to direct? PH: I want to do something that's meaning- ful. That could be anything from as amor- phous as it makes you feel good about hu- mans to it's got a message. The last thing I did, American Odyssey, was a real meditation on power: Do we still have power in a democ- racy, or has that power been flitted away to other interests? TB: I think what you're going to see are di- rectors that have had writers write episodes for them and then shot those six or 10 [epi- sodes] that they already have. True Detective and pieces like that have one director across the board [and] make a continuous film— not have 10 different directors. I think you're going to start seeing the directors create the projects, hire the writers, deliver the mate- rial and shoot it all at once. KO: As a director, probably the thing that I love the most is that ongoing relationship with the cast and the development of a show and the continuity of that. I've had some success doing pilots, but I find them to be mostly terrible experiences. And so when you find a home with people, I like that. MM: I've been director for hire, so I've been hopping around on a lot of shows over the years, and I co-wrote a movie that we're still trying to raise the money for. And I'm supposed to do a little indie movie in June. I'm attached to a couple more movies. Now, I'm act- ing on Jane the Virgin, which is great, and directing several episodes [of that show]. So I think I'm just covering all the bases ( laughs). KO: Do you think you spend too much time hustling? MM: No, I'm working. In this day and age with texts and emails, you can kind of keep a lot of spinning plates going. Q: How has being a DGA member helped your careers? MM: Well, it's paid for my life. I have kids, so that's been huge. It's been my life saver. KO: I'm very proud, actually, to be a member of the DGA. Politically, I've always felt that it represents my values. But I also think, of all the guilds, it's the guild that deports itself as an adult to me. I was a producing director through a couple of strikes and po- tential strikes. And the DGA was the only guild that deported itself in a manner that I think [fit]. TB: My wife [Melissa Gilbert] was a former president of the Screen Actors Guild, and the anger and rage, and can't-get-enough people [and] out-of-work actors only thinking, "I want this, and I want that." And at the DGA, you don't hear a lot of "I," you hear a lot of "we." PH: Without the DGA, in this sort of unbridled capitalist climate that we're in, we'd be screwed. There's such a cellular and innate value system in capitalist culture like the one we're in now that [says] "Pay as little as possible to the people who work for you and get as much profit as possible for the company," and therefore, those at the top. It's why we have such a big, big income gap in this country. And that pressure, that sensibility, if we didn't have something like the Directors Guild protecting us from it, we'd be separated and ex- ploited in ways that none of us would like. ® C A L L I N G T H E S H O T S : Opposite page, Peter Horton directs an episode of American Odyssey, which he co-created; clockwise from above, Melanie Mayron commands the action on a recent episode of Jane the Virgin; Timothy Busfield stresses a point on the set of Lipstick Jungle; and Ken Olin provides guidance to actor Justin Hartley on This Is Us.