Welcome to the Special Spring 2020 Edition of SHOOT’s Directors Series. Our lineup of Director Profiles includes this year’s DGA Award winner for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series: Nicole Kassell, who was honored for Watchmen, the acclaimed HBO series for which she serves as a director and executive producer. Also in the mix from this year’s DGA competition is Joe Talbot, nominated for Best First Feature on the strength of The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which also won him the best dramatic directing award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Talbot discusses his feature directorial debut as well as his short-form aspirations which entail joining m ss ng p eces for spots and branded content.

Our Profiles lineup additionally features:

• Jamie Babbit--a three-time Emmy nominee (Best Director and two Outstanding Comedy Series nods) for Silicon Valley--who discusses her wide-ranging exploits spanning TV (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Russian Doll, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens), features (the upcoming The Stand-In with Drew Barrymore) and commercials (including this year’s Super Bowl spot for Olay produced by Independent Media).
• Joseph Kosinski whose recent endeavors span such wide-ranging fare as the much-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick and  tongue-in-cheek cinematic style ad work for Taco Bell, the latter done via his spotmaking home, RESET Content.
• Anthony & Joe Russo--whose directorial achievements include the highest grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame--discuss their careers encompassing features, TV and short-form fare, the latter embodied in the exploits of their commercials/branded content studio, Bullitt.
• David Shane of production house O Positive discusses his latest Super Bowl spot, a tour de force comedy/visual effects effort for Rocket Mortgage starring Jason Momoa, as well as more sobering yet humorous public service Xmas-themed fare for the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

Meanwhile our lineup of promising, up-and-coming directorial talent includes: a director who scored a Grammy nomination this year for her music video work and recently landed at a prominent production house for branded content, commercials and music clips; a female filmmaker who is making inroads into a province not typically open to women--sheet metal, particularly groundbreaking truck advertising; and a director whose work reflects an affinity for crafting stories chronicling global youth culture and marginalized communities--while recently diversifying with the first installment in a new series of Nike films, and a music video for the debut single of a performing artist best known as a producer for the likes of IDK, AlunaGeorge, Joey Bada$$ and Jay Rock.

Rounding out our Directors Series offering is a Chat Room interview with accomplished cinematographer Paul Cameron, ASC who recently made his major directorial debut with an episode of HBO’s Westworld. He discusses that experience on a series for which he lensed the pilot episode, earning his first Emmy nomination in 2017, as well as ASC Award and Camerimage Jury Award nods.

So read on and enjoy. And as always, we welcome your feedback. Be well and stay safe.

Regards,

Robert Goldrich, Editor, SHOOT