Directing TV with Rachel Raimist (QUEEN SUGAR)
About this Master Class
Master Classes are in-depth, interactive learning experiences focused on craft and career building and led by renowned industry experts. Topics include fiction and documentary filmmaking, TV writing and production, and navigating and succeeding in the entertainment industry.
Television and streaming episodic shows have taken a great leap in recent years, becoming platforms for serious directors to experiment and break traditional barriers of format and genre. Simultaneously, the medium has welcomed diverse voices and talent who have taken risks as they find their unique voices and visual styles. Join award-winning filmmaker and producer Rachel Raimist (The Sex Lives of College Girls, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, The Big Leap), who has directed shows for HBO MAX, Hulu, DISNEY+, CW, and more, as she unveils her process of directing TV from start to finish. In this three-hour online event, Rachel Raimist defines the role of a TV director and how to get hired as one and covers the steps it takes to be successful as an episodic director, from effective meetings with your crew to the prep process to working with actors.
Resources:
Download the list of resources from Rachel Raimist and Sundance Collab
Topics covered include:
00:00 - Welcome and Introduction from Sundance Collab
03:24 - Introduction from Rachel Raimist
05:50 - Presentation: Rachel’s Path to Directing
09:40 - How to Navigate Meetings
21:54 - The Role of the TV Director
24:22 - Q&A
33:40 - Directing TV vs Directing Indie Films
36:00 - Steps to Prep for Episodic Television
1:02:30 - Q&A
1:17:30 - Location Scout, Tech Scout and Blocking a Scene - Case Study: Wu-Tang: An American Saga
1:24.26 - Q&A
1:39:20 - Break
1:39:38 - Location Scouting - Case Study: The Republic of Sarah
1:57:31 - Floor Plans and Blocking - The Sex Lives of College Girls
2:13:40 - Q&A
02:32:05 - Blocking Stunts/Action and Scriptation - Case Study: 4400
02:43:34 - Collaboration- Case Study: The Big Leap
02:51:09 - Further Study and Readings
02:51:52 - Q&A
02:58:40 - Final Announcements
Past classes have included Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams on Documentary Storytelling, Finding Dory’s Victoria Strouse on Comedy Writing, Emmy-nominated director Lesli Linka Glatter on Blocking a Scene, The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara on TV Writing and more.
Master ClassTeam
Rachel Raimist
Dr. Rachel Raimist is a trailblazing television director and tenured professor of directing whose work centers on smart women, messy families and the magical reality of adolescence. Her directing credits span drama, comedy, action, musicals, science fiction and fantasy. She has brought her distinctive voice to series including Elsbeth (CBS), Bel-Air (Peacock), The Spiderwick Chronicles (Roku), Sex Life (Netflix) and Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), among others.
At the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Raimist made history as the first woman appointed Co-Chair of the Special Projects Committee by President Lesli Linka Glatter. She has also served as Alternate Co-Chair of the Women’s Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the Disability Committee and Alt. Co-Chair of the Latino Committee. A passionate advocate for equity and representation, Raimist co-founded the DGA’s annual Women’s Day and leads initiatives spotlighting groundbreaking, diverse directors. She continues to champion inclusive storytelling both on screen and behind the camera.
Raimist is the Morgan Woodward Endowed Distinguished Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. She also has taught for Sundance, Netflix, African Creative Television, Tyler Perry Studios, the Latino Film Institute and many colleges and universities. She serves on the Advisory Board of Kōawa Studios at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She has taught filmmaking, feminism and storytelling at more than 30 colleges and universities and has filmed and taught in more than 20 countries.
Rachel earned her PHD in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota where in 2010 the Rachel Raimist Feminist Media Center was named in her honor.