CHASING BEAUTY
“Beauty and the Beast” was my favorite fairy tale as a child. I’m not talking about the Disney movie, but the story in The Fairy Tale Book that was comprised of 28 fairy tales from around the world, translated by Marie Ponsot, illustrations by Adrienne Segur. I loved the stories, but was swept away by the romantic drawings. And Beauty, wearing a jeweled court dress, holding Beast as he wept in her lap, would transport me to another time and place. It was so important to me that I wrote in pink crayon – because of course, it had to be pink – across the top of the facing page, “BethAnn Out!” which was designed to scare my little brothers from intruding on my favorite book and most favorite story.
That was my birth name, BethAnn. But I changed it when I was applying for a new driver’s license to Bethany, because that’s the name I always wanted. More romantic. More beautiful. And that desire for beauty has lead me to a career in which I could find, mold and express beauty through stories told on TV. I direct television shows, ones you know, all the way from the days of St. Elsewhere up through today’s procedurals like Law & Order SVU and Criminal Minds. But it hasn’t always been a beautiful path, for as in any long-term endeavor, there were ups and downs, deep valleys of despair and majestic mountains of euphoria. In the world of filmmaking, it can be particularly wrenching, since it’s a totally subjective business. There is no math here (except for those who count the money) and no objectivity. It’s a business built on opinion: is it good? Do we like it? And everyone has an opinion, from the crew who contribute to it to the person watching at home with the remote in hand.
My quest for beauty in my work had to rely on my own opinion, my own values. It is in the eye of the beholder, and I behold “beauty,” as it pertains to narrative stories on television, as a method of shooting that is elegant and visually striking. The elegance is formed by telling the story appropriately – speaking in musical terms, legato (or smooth and connected) when it needs to be, and staccato (quickly cut) when pace is required. I don’t shoot everything the same way, but rather, tell the story in a prescribed way that is dictated by the story.
I do have an obligation to the show to stay in the same creative lane as the series as a whole. I am not an indie filmmaker making a one-off, I am on a team of directors who all endeavor to deliver the best episode they can while working under the parameters of style which has been established. Nevertheless, within those boundaries, every director makes choices that will, when cut together, be their visual version of the script. I am always trying to do that in the most beautiful way possible.
Sometimes that gets me in trouble, because producers mainly want an excessive amount of coverage so that, when they are cutting the footage together after I’ve left the show (the “producer’s cut,”) they can tell the story in the way that they envision, rather than in the way they hired me to do.
If I look at it from their point of view, being the Libra that I am, I can understand that. The show is their baby, I am the directing guest. They want to control every aspect. And in today’s world of streaming platforms, that is sometimes possible, since all episodes are shot before they air and one person can direct them all. And then what the audience gets is one person’s creative vision, rather than the collaborative effort that television has always been.
I think there is value in hiring different directors who understand the story and bring their talents and approaches to their individual episodes. We freelance directors are exceptional artists who have conquered a vast number of skillsets, and practiced our craft on multiple shows. Each one of us come at the job from different backgrounds and experience, and those are gifts to the director’s approach to the work. I, for one, am always trying to create beauty with my collaborators, whether it’s in a truly authentic performance, an extremely specific production design, or an achingly appropriate musical score. I have been chasing beauty since I wrote with a pink crayon in my favorite fairy tale book. I am chasing it still. And it’s a joyous experience to sit back after screening a cut of a show I directed, and think, “Ah, that’s a beautiful episode!”
