Sharing his own process honed over a decades-long career, Emmy-nominated director Dan Attias brings you into the actual experience of directing series television. Whether it’s the high-stakes pressure of solving a last-minute problem on set, or the joy of pulling off a perfect shot by the skin of your teeth, Attias brings you right into the director’s chair, sharing his knowledge and taking you through the process one challenging episode at a time. Offering a fundamental focus on story, and eschewing industry language for plain talk, Attias offers in-depth guidance how best to work with actors, how to “speak” through the camera, how to work with a showrunner, and how to be ready for the many ways a director will be challenged, large and small. Directing Great Television is a fascinating window into television’s best shows, compelling to directors and non-directors alike. Attias’s book transcends other filmmaking guides by detailing his journey to a surprising place of self-discovery, one with applications beyond entertainment.

Editing for Directors guides directors through postproduction, starting with planning for editing during the shoot and ending with the completion of their film. This thorough, well-illustrated book: Describes the artistic, organizational, and technical skills editors bring to the party; Tells directors what to look for when hiring an editor and the best ways to work with an editor; Explains how and why directors should plan for editing before they shoot a frame; Devotes a full chapter to relating the history of editing and cutting tools and how they have affected the language of cinema and present-day editing; Defines and discusses cutting-room terms, practices, and workflows; Reveals how editors approach footage and put shows together; Details the postproduction process from dailies to director’s cut to locked cut; Covers creating and overseeing VFX (video effects); Demystifies spotting the show with the sound and music crew and creating, editing, and mixing sound and music; Describes titling, color grading, the DI (digital intermediate) process, and producing your show’s final deliverables; and Spells out ways to archive your show and why doing so matters.

Collaborating with actors is, for many filmmakers, the last frontier―the scariest part and the part they long for―the human part, the place where connection happens. Directing Actors: 25th Anniversary Edition covers the challenges of the actor-director relationship―the pitfalls of “result direction”; breaking down a script; how to prepare for casting sessions; when, how and whether to rehearse―but with updated references, expanded ideas, more detailed chapters on rehearsal and script analysis (using a scene from The Matrix)―and a whole new chapter on directing children. For twenty-five years the industry standard for instilling confidence in filmmakers, Directing Actors perseveres in its mission―to bring directors, actors and writers deeper into the exhilarating task of creating characters the world will not forget.

This edition features a brand new section: The Director’s Survival Guide to Episodic Television and explores the political danger zones faced in the ever expanding world of Streaming, Cable and Network television.

A fun, insightful insider’s look at the nuts and bolts of writing action movies, from concept to completion, by a professional screenwriter and professor of screenwriting. Full of witty anecdotes from the front lines (and tricks of the trade from between the lines), Crash! Boom! Bang! promises an enjoyable and educational read for writers and students of all levels. Although bullets and bloodshed abound in cinema, the lessons within will benefit screenwriters of all kinds of movies.

“What lurks in the shadows, just below waking consciousness?”
Subtext can be the most important element in text and in a performance. It’s an unseen force that speaks directly to the reader’s unconscious, deepening meaning and understanding. Great subtext reveals more than simple dialogue and action and is at the heart of the best books and films. It is what glues us to the screen.
This book goes far beyond dialogue, action, gestures, genre, and images. Written by one of the foremost script consultants in the world and the most prolific writer on screenwriting, this new edition adds new examples with chapters on analogy and love, and provides deeper explanations of how subtext works beneath the text. This edition has been expanded to be relevant to all fiction writers.