I’ve been making films for a long time, and one thing I’ve noticed is that everybody seems to know what a director does—until they actually get on a film set.
From the outside looking in, directing can seem pretty simple.
You yell “Action.” You tell the actors what to do. You sit behind a monitor. Maybe you point dramatically at something every now and then.
And somehow a movie comes out.
Yeah... that’s not quite how it works.
Directing is one of those jobs where the better somebody is at it, the easier they can make it look. But behind that monitor is somebody making hundreds of decisions that ultimately determine what kind of movie everybody else is helping create.
The Director Isn't Supposed to Do Everybody's Job
I think this is one of the biggest mistakes new directors make.
They believe being the director means controlling everything.
It doesn’t.
You hired a cinematographer for a reason. You have a production designer for a reason. You have a sound department, camera department, grip and electric department, wardrobe, makeup and hopefully a good AD keeping this entire circus moving.
Your job isn't to prove that you know more than all of them.
Your job is to make sure all of those departments are working toward the same story.
That's a very different thing.
A good director can tell the cinematographer what a scene needs to feel like without necessarily telling them exactly where to put every light.
They can tell production design what this character's world should communicate before anybody says a word.
They can talk to an actor about what the character wants instead of just saying, "Do it angrier."
That's directing.
You Have to Know What Movie You're Making
This sounds obvious.
It isn't.
If you ask ten people on your crew what kind of movie they're making and get ten different answers, you've got a problem.
The director should be the person with the clearest understanding of the story.
What's important in this scene?
Whose perspective are we experiencing it from?
What does the audience need to know?
What should they not know yet?
Should this moment make them uncomfortable? Should they laugh? Should they be suspicious of somebody? Should they fall in love with this character?
Those decisions affect everything from performance to lenses to lighting to music.
That's why directing starts long before somebody yells "Action."
Your Crew Can Make You a Better Director
Here's something else I learned over the years:
Listen to your crew.
Seriously.
There are directors who think accepting somebody else's suggestion somehow makes them less of a director.
I think it's the opposite.
If my DP sees something I didn't see, I want to hear it.
If my actor has a question about their character that exposes something we haven't thought through, let's talk about it.
If the grip says there's a faster way to accomplish what we're trying to do, I'm listening.
You don't lose control of your movie because somebody had a good idea.
You're still responsible for deciding whether that idea belongs in the movie.
That's leadership.
Directing Is Also About Time
This is the part nobody puts in the glamorous behind-the-scenes videos.
You are always running out of time.
Always.
You planned six shots and now you have time for four.
The sun is going down.
The location needs you out.
An actor has a hard out.
You're three pages behind.
Now what?
That's when directing becomes problem-solving.
What shot do I absolutely need?
What can I combine?
Can I tell this part of the story another way?
Can we lose this setup without hurting the scene?
Those aren't necessarily creative compromises. Sometimes those limitations force you to make better creative decisions.
But you have to know the material well enough to know what you can sacrifice and what you can't.
And Yes, You Still Have to Work With Actors
For all the equipment, monitors, lenses and technical stuff surrounding a director, filmmaking is still about people.
Actors need different things.
One actor may want to talk through every detail of the character.
Another doesn't want you filling their head with a bunch of information before the take.
Some respond to emotional direction. Others need something specific and actionable.
Part of directing is figuring out how to communicate with the person standing in front of you.
Because saying the same thing louder isn't directing.
And neither is giving an actor a line reading every time they don't deliver the line exactly the way it sounded in your head.
Sometimes what they give you is better.
Let them surprise you.
There's a Reason We Call It Set Life
Film sets are strange places.
You can have 30, 50, 100 or more people working incredibly hard just to capture a few minutes of usable footage.
Everybody has a responsibility.
Everybody's watching the clock.
Everybody wants to do their job well.
And sitting somewhere in the middle of all of that is the director, trying to protect the story while an entire production moves around them.
That's the job. Not the chair. Not yelling "Action." Not pointing at things.
It's having a vision, communicating that vision, trusting talented people to help you execute it, and making decisions when things inevitably don't go according to plan.
And trust me.
Something will always not go according to plan.
In fact, something going wrong is the only thing you can really count on!
Welcome to set life.