Well I directed a few feature length things for HBO in the late eighties.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Working with HBO was an opportunity to experience creative freedom and 'long-form development' that filmmakers didn't have a chance to do before the emergence of shows like 'The Sopranos.'
I am very lucky that my first film was fully commissioned by HBO.
Well, I'm directing a lot of television these days.
I had just had small parts in other films, and I'd worked with a lot of directors in TV.
I'm going to start work on developing a series for HBO, because I'm naturally given to episodic stories of considerable length. And I won't have to listen to complaints about how wordy and long my work is if you can watch it on your telephone on the subway: You can make it conform to your day as if it were a book.
After I directed for the first time, I wanted to call every director I'd ever worked with and apologize. In television you are tasked with shooting 42 minutes, or whatever, in eight days. That's not a lot of time.
To say directing was a long-stewing ambition doesn't cover it. If you cut me open, you'd see it.
I did a good bit of episodic television directing, but directing a movie is so much more complicated.
I forget sometimes that I'm in the HBO stable because I am such a fan of so much of their programming. Like, 'The Wire' is my favorite TV show of all time.
I have actually directed over thirty plays and about one hundred commercials for cable TV, but have not yet had the opportunity to direct a feature film.