A Director Prepares

Bobby Roth has directed more than eighty episodes of television, twenty-five TV movies, and thirteen feature films, and he has been teaching film seminars throughout the world for the last ten years. Now, through interviews with more than fifty of his colleagues in the film industry, hours of or...

Bobby Roth has directed more than eighty episodes of television, twenty-five TV movies, and thirteen feature films, and he has been teaching film seminars throughout the world for the last ten years. Now, through interviews with more than fifty of his colleagues in the film industry, hours of or...

It may seem self-explanatory, but how a director reads a script has a large impact on the way s/he prepares. This episode looks at how various key collaborators, such as first assistant directors, cinematographers, and editors, read a script in different ways, and emphasizes the many different ki...

One of the main elements of prep, in both film and television, is producing the shot list. This episode covers not only what a shot list is, how it should look, and whom to give it to, but also how to imbue camera instructions with emotion and personal investment. Extensive case studies from Lost...

Perhaps the single most make-or-break element of directing is casting. It is also the element of directing that differs most between film and television production. This in-depth look at lessons learned from both film and TV, with case studies from Bobby’s independent films Manhood and Jack the D...

Ever-present in the high-stakes world of film production is the element of time. This episode covers the elements directors need to consider when collaborating with first assistant directors on building a schedule for the shoot, from juggling locations to working with different styles of cinemato...

The director’s role is like a conductor in an orchestra, synthesizing different components by working with heads of multiple departments. This episode takes a unique look at building and maintaining relationships with your crew, and examines one of most students’ greatest anxieties about filmmaki...

At the very core of the craft of directing is working with actors. Central to the Bobby Roth method of directing is to prepare as extensively as possible in preparation in order to be available to the actors during production. During production, time is especially precious, and actors require gre...

At the very core of the craft of directing is working with actors. Central to the Bobby Roth method of directing is to prepare as extensively as possible in preparation in order to be available to the actors during production. During production, time is especially precious, and actors require gre...

If casting is the key ingredient of prep, and working with actors is the focus of production, then editors are the main character of post-production. This episode looks at the fast-spaced editing in the television world and compares it with the more flexible possibilities of independent cinema, u...

The final episode looks outside the process of production itself towards what many film students find an even more urgent topic: the business of getting hired, raising funds, and getting brought back to work again. This episode focuses on interviews with showrunners, agents, and executives, who c...