I've never worked in the U.K. television industry, but my guess it that it's a tough world for directors.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The directors you want to work with are in the television world.
I directed before I was even in television; I directed in the theatre for seven years, so that was my trade anyway. But in the UK, I've given up any hope of being considered a director.
Do we have good writers, producers and actors in the U.K.? Yes we do.
But in the UK, I've given up any hope of being considered a director.
A lot of directors in television have come up through the technical ranks. They have all the technical skills in the world. They're not all that familiar with actors.
I've really enjoyed my work in television, but the problem for me is the turnover of directors every week.
I've been really lucky to work with some really great film people in the past, but television works on a much quicker schedule, and it's the TV directors I've worked with that I looked to and became a big fan of.
I'm supposed to be the director of a television company, but I've only ever seen that company as a vehicle for making the kind of programmes we wanted to make, getting our ideas on the screen.
British actors used to be scared of the multi-year options that U.S. TV shows demand. That has changed, because the same is now happening in the U.K.
I've been lucky enough to work with some of the best TV directors there are, and I've learned from how they had to handle when things don't go quite according to plan.