Striking a narrative balance between the past and the present–each informing the other, perhaps most profoundly in season 3–is a delicate proposition that’s been deftly handled by a Yellowjackets (Showtime) team headed by creators/showrunners/executive producers/writers Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson.
The latter, though, added further to the juggling act by placing another role on his multitasking plate as Nickerson made his directorial debut during season 3, helming the first episode and the impactful, eventful finale.
“Directing has always been an aspiration of mine, something I dabbled in a million years ago,” related Nickerson whose career focus after college detoured to writing. Deep down, though, he harbored the hope that the opportunity would emerge to circle back to directing. Going into season 3 of Yellowjackets, having been integrally involved with every aspect ranging fro pre-pro to production and post, he shared, “It [directing] just felt like something whose time had come.” Nickerson pitched it to the studio and network–and much to his great appreciation, they agreed and were supportive.
He also had the support of a top-flight team which has helped him garner four Emmy nominations thus far–Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series on the strength of the pilot (shared with Lyle) in 2022, another writing nomination for the “F Sharp” episode (shared with Lyle and Jonathan Lisco), and Outstanding Drama Series nods for seasons 1 and 2.
Transitioning into directing became an easier task with a stellar cast–headed by two-time lead dramatic series actress Emmy nominee Melanie Lynskey–and what Nickerson described as “a supremely talented production crew.”
Still, there were challenges tied to settling into the director’s chair for “a really big, ambitious show with two timelines squeezed into one.” The season 3 finale, observed Nickerson, marked in one sense “a return to the beginning” as past and present intertwine in a story “that is catching up with the place where we started.”
Helping him bring that to fruition as a director was what he learned from other directors on the show over the years. Karyn Kusama–whose work on Yellowjackets included the pilot for which she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series–”has always been kind and generous answering questions,” said Nickerson who cited her and Daisy von Scherier Mayer as among the directors he admires and looks up to. “As a showrunner you get to see their process in a way that you couldn’t with any other kind of relationship. To see it in the form of dailies and then in the cut.” He added that to see the choices that are made on every single shot from story and visual standpoints is “a really incredible learning experience.”
And the experience of directing has sparked Nickerson’s desire for more. It also speaks to the value of seeking out a wide variety of outlets and creative experiences. Whether it’s painting, a ballet class, writing, showrunning and/or directing, they all inform each other, he observed. Your “personal color palette kind of expands. And you bring these new colors back to the things you do best,” affirmed Nickerson.
He feels, for example, that directing has made him a better showrunner. Inherently as a showrunner, you have “a lot of creativity that is incoming.” Thus it’s imperative that a showrunner maintain “a wide aperture” and “an openness to seeing what a person is trying to do, what they’re trying to bring you in TV and film.”
That dynamic is critical to develop a pitch or idea that isn’t fully formed. Different people through their art and imagination give it form–it’s a process as artists grapple with what a project is trying to become. You can only see it so far, said Nickerson, unless “you are able to slip out of your narrow view of what things are supposed to become.” Sometimes, for example, you can fall into the trap of “only looking for one thing” from an actor. “But if you open it up to seeking ‘the most right thing’ as opposed to the thing you thought it was going to be, you get better results.”
Nickerson added that he feels that his experience directing has “made it a lot easier for me to understand what another director is trying to do, and allows me [as a showrunner] to help them to do it better.”
As for his biggest takeaway or lessons learned from season 3 of Yellowjackets, Nickerson shared the feeling that “creatively, being where I am is the most important thing.” He explained that trusting “the moment-to-moment kind of intuition has always been a guiding principle of my creative process. This show over and over again kind of rewards that. Moving with the show to where the creative energy is trying to go as opposed to my preconceived notions of what this scene or episode or season is supposed to be.”
Additionally, season 3 reinforced for him what to do at that juncture when you have to make a creative choice and are not sure how it’s going to work out. The choice that is almost always “the right answer” is the one that gives you the most joy and the most energy to do the work that needs to be done.
And directing is part of the work that Nickerson needs to do. His directorial turn on Yellowjackets has him wanting to take on more helming assignments–and he isn’t limiting it to projects that he has written or been involved in deeply creatively in some other capacity. Nickerson shared that as a director he enjoys helping to synthesize a bunch of different creative processes. “That’s something I would love to be part of my practice moving forward, to be part of someone else’s project, to skip into their visual grammar, language, storytelling, rhythm and paradigm. To be part of that and supportive of that, and to bring my creativity and point of view within the context of someone else’s template sounds very cool.”
Nikki Toscano
Also making an auspicious directorial debut is Nikki Toscano who directed the “Hereditary” episode of Long Bright River (Peacock), the limited series (eight episodes) based on Liz Moore’s New York Times bestselling novel, which follows Mickey (portrayed by Amanda Seyfried), a police officer in a Philadelphia neighborhood hit hard by the opioid epidemic. As homeless women are being murdered by what appears to be a serial killer, Mickey begins to uncover disturbing connections between her past–in particular her relationship with her estranged sister (played by Ashleigh Cummings)–and the case.
Like Yellowjackets’ Nickerson, Toscano wore many hats for Long Bright River–co-creator with Moore, showrunner, exec producer and writer. Toscano was sent the novel by her agent and was immediately drawn in, reading it in a single sitting. “The most powerful thing about her novel for me was how the love story between two sisters is juxtaposed with a murder mystery,” related Toscano. “The main character is forced to reflect on her own past in order to solve the mystery of who this killer is–as well as the mystery of her own sister’s disappearance.”
The novel, continued Toscano, is “very unique in the way that it upended the cop-as-savior narrative. It upended the victim narrative too for that matter.” Toscano added that Moore “has a wonderful sense of place in all her novels” so it’s important to do justice to that when visually translating the story for the screen.
As for what prompted her to direct an episode, Toscano said she had been wanting to throw her hat in the proverbial ring to direct for some time. “In retrospect, I wish I had raised my hand a lot earlier in my career,” she shared. Too many stars had aligned, though, for her not to put herself in the directorial running for “Hereditary,” the pivotal sixth episode containing key reveals about characters in the series. Being co-creator of the show, having a hand in writing and re-writing the show, there was what she described as being “a natural pathway” for her to direct. “I didn’t want it to get away from me.” And when she raised her hand, both Sony and Peacock were supportive.
“I was really jazzed to be given the opportunity,” said Toscano, adding that she “underestimated how incredibly fun the entire process was” and that the experience whetted her appetite to keep on directing–perhaps an episode or two of the various series she has in development, as well as a feature film.
Toscano was part of an ensemble of all women directors on Long Bright River. She noted that there wasn’t a concerted effort up front to line up all female directors for the show. It’s just that over time, the directors who seemed most connected to and simpatico with the narrative turned out to be women.
And a significant percentage of the overall crew was also female. “I had never been in a situation that was so female-forward before in my career,” said Toscano. The experience, she continued, was incredibly collaborative, bolstered by a number of men who made every effort to lift the women up around them, including two of the cinematographers, Pepe Avila del Pino who lensed the pilot, and William Rexer who shot multiple episodes, alternating with Tari Segal.
Whereas the norm for a series, said Toscano, is generally for the pilot DP to step away without much coordination between that artist and the cinematographers who follow, Long Bright River benefited from give-and-take dialogue. The cinematographers, said Toscano, had conversations ad nauseam about passing the torch, making sure there was a continuity in a way she hadn’t experienced before.
While the directing experience hasn’t necessarily informed Toscano’s work or approach to showrunning, she noted that it has had a bit of an effect on how she writes. “I think visually anyway” but directing has “sort of elevated that,” kind of “doubled that awareness.”
Long Bright River adds to a body of TV credits for Toscano which includes her serving as showrunner and exec producer of The Offer, a limited series about the making of The Godfather, and co-showrunner and an EP on Hunters, a conspiracy drama thriller about a group of Nazi hunters, which starred Al Pacino and Logan Lerman. Toscano has also written for and produced varied series such as Bates Motel, 24, Shades of Blue, Detroit 1-8-7, and Revenge.
Kat Coiro
Matlock (CBS) picked up three nominations and one win at this season’s Gotham Television Awards. Kathy Bates won for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Drama Series (as septuagenarian attorney Madeline “Matty” Matlock, aka Madeline Kingston), while the other two Gotham nods were for Breakthrough Drama Series, and for Skye P. Marshall for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama Series (as Matlock’s boss, Olympia Lawrence, a partner at a high-powered law firm).
As an executive producer, Coiro was one of the contributors named in the Breakthrough Drama Series nomination. She also directed multiple episodes of Matlock, including the pilot and two-part season finale.
As for what drew her to the series, Coiro simply cited the chance to work with Bates. About a year before the inception of the new Matlock, Coiro had met with Bates about a prospective feature film. “We had a meeting and I fell in love with her. I wanted to do anything with her,” recalled Coiro.
Unfortunately, that project fell through. Later when Coiro got an email about a broadcast pilot for Matlock, offering a decidedly new spin on the original series starring Andy Griffith, she initially passed on the opportunity–until she heard Bates was attached. “I’m in, sign me up,” said Coiro who recalled reaching out to Bates via text. Coiro recollected that Bates was bullish on the show and the actor told her she “wouldn’t change a damn word” in the pilot script.
Coiro also recalled meeting series creator/showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman, feeling creatively and collaboratively simpatico with her from the outset. A key get early on, continued Coiro, was casting Marshall as Lawrence in that her relationship with Bates as Matlock is central to the show. So much so that even over 19 episodes of season 1 Coiro never felt the show was merely plot-driven. While you have the exciting, sensational case or trial of the week, you had episodes often relying on subtle shifts in relationships and nuances of personality. “When you have a character lying about everything [such as Matlock’s real reason for wanting to work at the law firm], every episode didn’t require some seismic plot device,” related Coiro.
Coiro added that Bates not just met but exceeded her expectations. Coiro described Bates as “a masterclass in acting and storytelling” as well as “a masterclass in how to be a human being in this industry. The way she treats every single person on set. She knows everybody’s name. She recognizes the stand-ins and on-set dressers as integral parts of the process. She elevates the entire project and the morale on set.
Boosting Coiro’s morale has been the wide appeal of the series. “The first thing I think of is how multigenerational this show is.” Coiro has heard from folks who say they watch it with their grandmother and teen kids. “There’s a traditional formula to it that appeals to older people,” said Coiro, adding that at the same time, the narrative twist feels “fresh and modern.”
Coiro also likes the broadcast network convention of rolling out one episode at a time–giving viewers a chance to ingest it, process it and anticipate the following week. (Though viewers can also tap into multiple episodes in one fell streaming swoop on Paramount+).
Matlock adds to a body of directorial work for Coiro which includes the romantic comedy feature Marry Me starring Jennifer Lopez and Maluma. On the TV side, Coiro served as co-executive producer and pilot director of Girls5Eva from exec producers Robert Carlock and Tina Fey. Additional episodic directorial credits for Coiro include Dead to Me, Modern Family, Shameless, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Tony Tost
Perhaps the prime responsibility of Tony Tost as showrunner on Poker Face (Peacock), as he described it, has been “to help oversee this merging of two very different artistic sensibilities–those of series creator/executive producer/writer/director Rian Johnson and exec producer/writer/director Natasha Lyonne who also heads the cast. Lyonne portrays Charlie Cale, a woman with the uncanny ability to detect when people are lying, an attribute that proves most useful as a sleuth solving murders during her travels across the U.S.
It’s this meshing of Johnson and Lyonne’s sensibilities that makes Poker Face “so special,” affirmed Tost who compares Johnson to a Paul McCartney-like pop craftsman who constructs “surprising, entertaining, delightful, almost-like mystery confections.” Meanwhile continuing the music artist comparison, Tost likens Lyonne to Lou Reed, a mix of “street swagger, street smarts and New York soulfulness.” McCartney and Reed are the front people, observed Tost who sees himself in relation to them as “kind of the rhythm section” helping those distinctly different sensibilities “seem like the same song.”
Tost came aboard Poker Face in season 2 not only as showrunner but an executive producer and a writer. He was an unabashed fan of the first season which laid a narrative and character foundation which he looked to build upon for season 2, exploring “where we can push it” as the character of Cale evolves, one of the dynamics making the comedy-drama series much more than just a murder mystery of the week with stellar guest stars and a sense of fun.
Additionally for Tost, season 2 had a lot to live up to as Poker Face gained a loyal audience and critical acclaim in its first go-around, picking up four Emmy nominations–for lead actress in a comedy series, guest actress in a comedy series, production design, and stunt coordination. Judith Light wound up winning the guest actress Emmy.
For viewers, season 2 made a strong impression right out of the gate with Cynthia Erivo guest starring in an episode directed by Johnson and written by Laura Deely. Tost recalled that Deely “pitched this episode whole hog,” an amazingly ambitious story that Johnson immediately gravitated to as its director. However in terms of production chronology, the episode–titled “The Game Is a Foot”–did not set the stage for season 2 as filming was delayed because Johnson at the time was directing the new Knives Out feature film. Yet while “The Game Is a Foot” didn’t get lensed until around the middle of the season 2 production schedule, the episode still took what Tost characterized as “a nice big swing” serving to announce to its audience that the series was back in a big way and poised to take Cale’s journey to another level, revealing more about her character along the way.
Tost also likes the continued playfulness of the show, citing in season 2 an episode featuring mostly youngsters, with the murder mystery centering on what happened to a school class gerbil.
Going into season 2, Tost had a track record with only a few of his collaborators on Poker Face–such as guest actor Simon Rex and writer Raphie Cantor. The latter had been an assistant writer when Tost and he first crossed paths. For Poker Face, Cantor wound up writing what Tost identified as one of the best episodes of season 2. Otherwise, Tost found himself with a host of new collaborators–and that in and of itself has been one of the highlights of his Poker Face experience. He now has “a notebook full of new names of people who I want to work with again. Knowing those people now, what they bring,” he said, means the world to him–including talent ranging from production designer Judy Rhee to the editorial and sound mix teams, as well as a brilliant writers’ room.”
Tost himself has extensive writing chops. He was part of a writing ensemble that garnered a Writers Guild Award nomination for AMC series The Terror in 2020.
M. David Mullen
Étoile (Prime Video), a series set in New York City and Paris, follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars. The brainchild of creators/writers/directors Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, Étoile reflects the continuity they maintain with select collaborators–one of them being cinematographer M. David Mullen, ASC.
Mullen lensed their acclaimed The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, garnering five Outstanding Cinematography Emmy nominations along the way, winning three times–in 2019, 2020 and 2023. The show also earned Mullen five ASC Award nominations, winning twice–in 2023 and ‘24.
Étoile stars Luke Kirby, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou de Laâge, Gideon Glick, David Alvarez, Ivan du Pontavice, Taïs Vinolo, David Haig, LaMay Zhang, and Simon Callow, as well as Yanic Truesdale as a recurring guest. Mullen and Alex Nepomniaschy served as cinematographers. Like Mullen, Nepomniaschy has a lineage with Sherman-Palladino and Palladino, having shot for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, and episodes for seasons 4 and 5 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (for which he received an ASC Award nomination in 2023).
While Mullen and Nepomniaschy generally shot their own episodes of Étoile, evenly dividing installments in what was to be its first and only season, the cinematographers dovetailed with each other throughout the process. “We saw each other most every day,” recalled Mullen, crossing paths when prelighting sets–both DPs having episodes in a dancer’s Paris residence, for example, and the French Minister’s office–and certain location packages. When one of them was under the weather, Mullen and Nepomniaschy even substituted for each other for several days.
The cinematographers benefited from the interplay with one another. Mullen noted that he was curious how Nepomniaschy would certain handle one-off locations, for example. Mullen explained that you “never know” if you could end up with a location like that later in the season. Observing each other when time permitted, being able to compare notes and enjoy a collaborative working dynamic served only to help the overall visual language of the series.
And there was self-education involved as well, continued Mullen, noting that he had lensed some Broadway dance numbers before in the series Smash, and that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had several musical numbers. But Mullen had never shot ballet before. So he attended live performances, which offered guidance as to lighting and approach in covering dance in that context as opposed to performances in a Broadway show.
Mullen shared that among the prime takeaways from his Étoile experience was “how athletic ballet dance can be,” particularly as choreographed by Marguerite Derricks, another mainstay Palladino collaborator. Mullen found the dance moves and spins in ballet to be “amazing to watch,” with the performers being “lovely people to work with on a day-today-basis, hard working and with very little attitude.” Mullen noted that the sheer number of scenes involving dance in studio, on stage or location made how to light performance and how to best move the camera a constant challenge, with the Steadicam option often deployed.
Attention to detail and striving to do justice to performance helped Étoile to strike a realistic portrayal of ballet–and that world of dance–without leaning on the overdramatized tropes often seen in film and on TV.
That realism–meshed with creative aesthetics–was also part and parcel of the settings, with Mullen crediting production designer Bill Groom for his artistry, including lifting the look of dance rehearsal rooms above the mundane. There was also the contrast between the warm, old-world look of Paris with New York modernist, colorful pop art culture, which brought a graphic quality to the Big Apple dance studios. Then there’s the reality of backstage at Lincoln Center. Mullen was drawn to the challenge of a range which went from old world to modern world and back again–underscoring the cultural exchange between ballet companies in New York and Paris with a visual approach and language which evolved through the lenses of both him and Nepomniaschy.
Though he has not only Emmys but also high-profile ASC Award wins in television, Mullen actually got his start in independent film, making a major mark for his work with director Michael Polish. In fact, Mullen earned two Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Cinematography on the strength of two Polish-directed films–Twin Falls Idaho in 2000 and Northfork in 2004.
Mullen went on to diversify into television with HBO’s Big Love, noting that the door opened for him because the show was specifically looking for an indie feature cinematographer. This led to Mullen eventually taking on more episodic work for the likes of The Good Wife (the pilot), United States of Tara, Smash, Ascension, Hindsight (the pilot) and Westworld. But awards recognition didn’t come in the TV arena until The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Other industry recognition for Mullen came with a Dublin Film Critics’ Circle Award win for Best Feature Cinematography in 2017 for The Love Witch, which screened at many film festivals worldwide. Other Mullen-lensed features have hit the festival circuit over the years. Twin Falls Idaho, Northfork, Two Brothers & A Bride, Assassination of a High School President, Manure and Big Sur were shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Stay Cool played at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Jennifer’s Body at the Toronto International Film Festival.
This is the sixth installment of SHOOT’s 16-part weekly The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories that explores the field of Emmy contenders, and then nominees spanning such disciplines as directing, cinematography, producing, editing, production design, casting, costume design and visual effects. The series will then be followed up by coverage of the Creative Arts Emmy winners and the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony in September.
