In April, the publication of the third edition of one of the best books ever has ever been written about director, Bethany Rooney and Mary Lou BelliS “Directors tell the story. “A comprehensive guide to hundreds of aesthetic, leading and logistical problems that a director faces every day on the set and how best to solve them, its strength comes from the position that authority from which Rooney and Belli write – between them they have over 75 years of experience in set as episodic television directors.
Rooney alone has hundreds of hours of TV on his resume thanks to a career that extends back to 1985 and her big break on the medical drama “St. somewhere else.” Since then, she has worked in virtually every genre Imaginable, from Comic Book Shows (“Arrow”) and teen dramas (“Beverly Hills 90210,” “Dawson’s Creek”) to action (“MacGyver,” “Lethal Weapon”), Horror (Horroror (Horroror (Horroror (Horroror (Horroror (Horroror (Horror (” “NCIS,” “Law & Order,” and “FBI”), and dramedies (“Ally McBeal”, “Ugly Betty”).
Rooney stopped at IndieWire’s filmmaker Toolkit Podcast For a comprehensive conversation about her career and her process, which began with a discussion about her early days working for Bruce Paltrow and Mark Tinker and how it led to her first directing. “They created a show called ‘St. somewhere else’ and made me the associated producer, which meant I was responsible for all post -production,” Rooney said. “During that time I took an actor class and for about five years and asked my manager Bruce to give me the opportunity to direct.”
When Paltrow gave Rooney her shot, she was ready thanks to her background in the editing room. “It really taught me to tell a story visually, because I saw every frame in each episode hundreds of times,” Rooney said, leaving that just because she was prepared did not mean that she was not nervous. “I was sick in my stomach every morning, but when I had practiced the first scene I felt I was running. I loved it so much and felt that I found my calling. I still say to this day that it was the seven best days of my life because I was on an adrenaline high all the time.”
The disadvantage of Rooney’s first experience was an older actor who did not like the idea of being directed by a young woman on her first assignment. “That was his idea of hell, and he made it hell for me,” she said. “Until today, it’s still the worst I’ve been treated by an actor ever.” Rooney notes that one of the difficult parts of TV The director is that the director often has much less effort than the actors at the top of the conversation magazine, which has been at the exhibitions for several years, while the director is a rented gun that comes in and out in a few weeks. “There is not a single advantage to have a confronting relationship because they have the power.”
To this end, Rooney has learned techniques over the years to promote productive collaborations under challenging circumstances. “I try to be loving and care, and often I give a little to get a lot,” she said. “It means I give them something they want so I can tell you the story I need to tell. It can only be a change in the blockage or a change in a line reading. Whatever it is, I want to be their friend, as well as the person who is the leader on set.” For this purpose, Rooney says that one of the single most important attributes of a director has is the ability to act as a kind of psychologist on the set.
“You have to be able to quickly determine what someone’s motivation is and why they say what they say and how you as a director can fit into it,” Rooney said. “A guest director has seven days to prepare and then on his eighth day they are the manager on the set, so you have to be able to feel what every person needs from you.” For this purpose, Rooney says to know when to talk and when to stay quiet is the key. “You have to listen and observe people: who they are, what they need, where they fit into the power structure, how we can do a good show together.”
Another tricky aspect of episodic television director is that the director often does not get the script until the first day of prep. “Sometimes there is a draft that I get before that, but usually it’s right when you start,” Rooney said. “But it is my job during the months or weeks that leads to it to stay up to what they have done, the sections that have been broadcast, and I ask for all the scripts they can give me and all the cut sections that have not been sent so that when I come in to prepare, I should be very updated about everything they have done.”
Given the wide range of Rooney’s Output, one might wonder if she has a favorite program or genre – or perhaps one that is not Such a favorite. “I’m answering this way,” Rooney said. “People always ask me my favorite program to direct, and the real answer to that is what I recently worked on or what I work with now. For to do a good job as a director, I have to embrace it, wholeheartedly, a thousand percent.”
For this purpose, Rooney and her comrades in the world are largely today’s version of the 1940s and 1950s directors such as Anthony Mann, Budd Beticher and Douglas Sirk who were under contracts for studios and found ways to merge personal expression with which script they were awarded. “I can’t be assessing,” Rooney said. “I guess I’m like the old studio director who just takes the script and says,“ Okay, I will love this. It will be good. “I might go into it and think,” Oh, this show is not very strong. “But when I start shooting I am completely in love with it.”
The third edition of “Director Tell the Story” is now available for pre -order and will be published on April 21. To hear the entire interview with Bethany Rooneyand to make sure you do not miss other in -depth filmmaking calls, subscribe to Filmmaker tolkit podcast on AppleThe SpotifyOr your favorite podcast platform.
