TV directors gain respect

Associated Press

Thomas Schlamme directs an episode of NBC's "The West Wing" on a set in Burbank, Calif. His collaboration with writer Aaron Sorkin has produced a series destined for the all-time best lists. Associated Press

Scribes like David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal," "The Practice") and Chris Carter ("The X-Files") are celebrated for their words and enjoy the cachet that in films is owned by a Francis Ford Coppola or Steven Spielberg.

TV directors, on the other hand, have been largely anonymous figures whose work is viewed as interchangeable. As the medium itself has evolved, however, it seems they are finally coming into their own.

Thomas Schlamme is convinced of that. He's also one of the reasons it's true.

"I feel so blessed right now to be a director on television," said Schlamme who, in creative partnership with writer Aaron Sorkin, brought the dazzling "Sports Night" and "The West Wing" to life.

Schlamme and other directors including Paris Barclay and Mark Tinker (both of "NYPD Blue"), and Kevin Hooks ("City of Angels") are creating a body of TV work that can be matched, frame for frame, with the best of feature films. They're building on the foundation of Gregory Hoblit ("Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law"), Eric Laneuville ("St. Elsewhere," "Bull"), Mimi Leder ("ER") and others. Some now shift between TV and movie work.

"These directors on 'West Wing' or 'ER' or 'NYPD Blue' are gifted artists," said Gil Cates, founding dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and currently the director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

"The styles of those shows are directorial achievements; the rhythms and the performances are directorial achievements," Cates said.

Schlamme's collaboration with Sorkin on "The West Wing" has produced a series that, after only two seasons, is destined for the all-time best TV lists.

Before that, Schlamme helped put the wit and sizzle in programs including Tracey Ullman's "Tracey Takes On ..." and "The Larry Sanders Show," Garry Shandling's sitcom mold-breaker.

NBC's White House drama, starring Martin Sheen as a liberal president with an idealistic staff, collected a record nine Emmy Awards last year and a rare second consecutive Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence.

Schlamme and Sorkin (along with "ER's" John Wells) share executive producer credit on "The West Wing." As the director of the pilot and key episodes including the season finale (airing tonight) Schlamme has shaped the series' look and tone.

He won Directors Guild of America honors this year for the holiday episode "Noel," which traced the lingering emotional scars from an attempted presidential assassination. It was his third consecutive DGA award.

"I got in this business to tell stories and communicate. I have to be honest and say 'Where is the material that offers me the most opportunity to do that?"'

The answer, he said, is television.

A bruising venture into films as director of 1993's box-office flop "So I Married An Axe Murderer" ("The worst experience of my career") moved Schlamme to an epiphany.

"Wow, I gave up television to do a movie because of some preconceived notion in my head that to be a filmmaker I had to make movies," he recalled thinking.

Schlamme, who is married to actress Christine Lahti, said he accepted that he could be a bona fide filmmaker by working in television, with movie detours if — and only if — "the script was as exciting as 'Larry Sanders' or 'West Wing' or 'Sports Night."'

The bias against TV directors had legitimate roots, with a number of the earliest directors hired more for their ability to handle the newfangled equipment than for creativity.

Although interesting directors ventured into live television, it developed into a medium in which speed generally was valued over artistry, Schlamme said.

"I think it took a long time to evolve past that ... 'How many pages can I make today' approach. There was no concern about point of view or vision or anything like that."

The image of TV directors suffered accordingly.

"If somebody said to me when I was in college 'I think you're going to be a successful television director,' I would have been insulted, ridiculously so," Schlamme said.

That's because by that time, the 1970s, directors like Hoblit were beginning to open the medium up beyond the long-dominant static approach.

A "film vocabulary" was coming into play, Schlamme said.

Directors were using inventive camera angles, pacing and other elements to squeeze more drama and style into the small screen.

The result: increasing regard for TV directors and some of the best television ever.

And while movie power continues to tilt heavily toward directors — writer pique over widespread use of the "A film by" credit for directors forced the issue into writer-studio contract talks — TV is breaking new collaborative ground, Schlamme said.

He and Sorkin have a relationship like "a 1930s playwright-director relationship in New York: 'I'll direct your new play, you'll be there for rewrites while I'm staging it."'

For now, the show is on summer hiatus. Sorkin also is dealing with drug possession charges following his arrest last month at a Los Angeles area airport. He has pleaded innocent.

Schlamme recalled negotiating with Sorkin over the pilot episode. The writer wanted to end it with the door closing on the Oval Office as staff members walked out; the director wanted to focus on the president left alone in the office, a shot proclaiming "this is the arena we're going to be playing in from now on," Schlamme said.

"That is the biggest push and tug, how far visually can we go where Aaron feels it doesn't get in the way of what he's writing," Schlamme said. "My reason isn't 'Isn't that a cool shot?' It's that I think we can tell the story even better this way."