Movie directors moving on to TV shows

Does anyone else notice the huge shift that is currently happening (especially in the past 5 years or so) of big-name movie directors moving on to doing TV series? (either in a producer or director role, mainly on the pilot episode)

So far the ones I can think of are -

The Wachowskis - Sense8
Frank Darabont - The Walking Dead
M. Night. Shyamalan - Wayward Pines
Martin Scorsese - Boardwalk Empire
There's probably more that I can't think of ...

Is it that they are finally realizing that TV is becoming a huge industry?

Harry Palmr

That particular list mainly suggests directors who have hit hard times on the big screen are taking refuge on the small, which has happened in the past - John Frankenheimer, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, etc.

When Michael Bay and Christopher Nolan announce they are directing a TV drama series then things will have changed.

Harry Palmr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

That particular list mainly suggests directors who have hit hard times on the big screen are taking refuge on the small, which has happened in the past - John Frankenheimer, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, etc.

When Michael Bay and Christopher Nolan announce they are directing a TV drama series then things will have changed.

Maybe with The Wachowskis and M. Night. Shyamalan (Darabont is a maybe), but can you really say that Scorsese has hit on hard times?

bnt

I won't go in to the reasons behind the TV renaissance of the last decade or so (The Wire, HBO, Breaking Bad, Netflix, and so on), but It's been good to see that TV channels and producers can break out of the standard broadcast model, if they wish.

I think the greater acceptance of shorter "miniseries" productions has a lot to do with it. Delivering 20+ episodes of a series, over the standard Fall-Spring broadcast season, requires more time than busy film directors could care to commit. These shorter runs are normal in the UK, and the success of Downton Abbey (8 episodes per series) in the USA helped. The big players are getting the message e.g. I had assumed that Hannibal was on a cable channel, but no - it's the result of NBC trying a "cable model", successfully, with just 13 episodes per series.

pickarooney

David Fincher?

Outkast_IRE

Steven Soderbergh - The Knick

I believe Steven got very disheartened with the movie industry after Che and Contagion, he said that TV seemed to be the place for storytelling now.

Agent Coulson

Homicide Life on the Street did back in the early 90's with the likes of Barry Levinson, Martin Campbell & Kathryn Bigelow all directing episodes.

It was also a show that could get big screen stars to guest on it.

don ramo

mostly you hear big names on tv shows in order to sell the show, like steven spielberg being associated with falling skies, extant, the river, the whispers, red band society, under the dome, smash, terra nova, basically muck,

look at david fincher, i love the guy, will watch anything hes associated with, i really do like house of cards, but i do not in anyway credit him with its success (or failure, whatever way you see it), cause hes not the one in charge, that would be Beau Willimon, hes the showrunner, hes the one in charge, fincher is there as a producer, he directed one or two episodes, and no doubt got paid handsomely, and he still has involvement, just not as much as we would be lead to believe, he didnt write any of it, he directed the first 2 episodes, and beyond that he probably gives each script a speed read over and point out a few issues and earn his crust,

Scorsese, directed the pilot to Boardwalk Empire, never wrote a word on a script for it, any praise for that show should go to Terrence Winter, who was also heavily involved with The Sopranos, yet people associate Scorsese with it more than Winter,

JJ Abrams created Lost and then left the project, Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse should be praised or murdered depending on where you stand with that show,

it really is a joke all these people loving put there names on anything for an extra million or two a year, and claiming so much credit for doing noting,

probably Soderberg is one a very few id say i could respect, i know he had a lot of issues with the studio system, at least he was man enough to tell them to go fcuk themselves,

bnt

My favourite movie director working today has to be Alexander Payne, so it just occurred to me to check whether he's got any TV projects going. He has: he's an executive producer on Hung (HBO), and directed the pilot, though he's not credited as creator. Well, there you go.

Crumbs

Steve McQueen is co-writing and directing all six episodes of Codes Of Conduct, a mini-series for HBO due later this year.

evilivor

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Homicide Life on the Street did back in the early 90's with the likes of Barry Levinson, Martin Campbell & Kathryn Bigelow all directing episodes.

It was also a show that could get big screen stars to guest on it.

ER had Quentin Tarantino.

Birneybau

You'll find that a lot of big name directors might direct one or two of a series, Cary Fukunaga the exception with the first season of 'True Detective" and it's pushing it to call him a big name.

JohnFalstaff

David Lynch was an early convert to TV with Twin Peaks, and he's confirmed that he will direct all 18 episodes of the upcoming revival - which is sort of amazing considering he hasn't directed a film since Inland Empire.

I think Soderbergh's transition to TV is telling. There does not seem to be much room these days in Hollywood for the type of mid-budget adult drama that he wants to make. Behind the Candelabra was turned down by every studio he approached until HBO stumped up the $5 million he needed to make it.

The arrival of outlets like Netflix has changed attitudes towards the small screen. And the fact that Netflix et al have now begun to fund their own features will only further muddy the waters.

Harry Palmr

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

I think Soderbergh's transition to TV is telling. There does not seem to be much room these days in Hollywood for the type of mid-budget adult drama that he wants to make. Behind the Candelabra was turned down by every studio he approached until HBO stumped up the $5 million he needed to make it.

Without question, can you imagine directors/writers like Woody Allen standing much of chance of developing a career on the big screen now? Something like Love and Death (parody of Russian literature) would never get financed and without that there might have been no Annie Hall or Manhattan. United Artists kept with the faith as backing artists fully was what they did. Now at best you get hived off to the "art" wing of a major and pray they back your film with decent distribution and marketing.

Agent Coulson

If you look at Showtime now they are making an 8 part mini series of Stephen Kings The Stand which will then be finished with a feature film.

I can see this kind of thing happening more and more directors, writers actors & viewers want this kind of story telling.


Companies like Netflix, Showtime, HBO & Amazon are now prepared to invest in this kind of programming because they can track what there audience are viewing and wanting and will pay for and these companies pumping $100m into a series will attract big name from the film world.