Date
of publishing: 22th June 2005
David Winning is a highly award winner and nominated director
with 50 International Awards and 9 Nominations. The last
to date is for Stargate Atlantis with the episode 1x06 "Childood's
End", the first Stargate Atlantis episode to win an
Award but also his first episode for the show. David Winning
has directed numbers of Andromeda episodes, Dinotopia, Earth
Final Conflict and many more.
Gilles Nuytens: Hi
Mr Winning can you describe us the director's job from the
beginning of a project to its end?
David Winning: Typically a television episode
is produced in a checkerboard fashion; one show is prepping
while the other is shooting. Essentially the main cast and
crew never get a break. Prep is usually six or seven days
and shooting follows with the same number of days. Bigger
budget shows sometimes will shoot for eight or ten days
or occasionally follow with a few days of second unit shots,
etc. Production meetings are held in the boardroom all week
during the prep period. The director and producers usually
meet with the different department heads; wardrobe, special
effects, props, etc in individual meetings to discuss the
particulars of the episode. This is in effect where the
show is created - because all "limitations" are presented
to you and you have to make critical decisions that become
set in stone. Obviously this is where a skill for pre-visualization
is paramount; keep in mind, the prep period is only a few
days and suddenly you're on set. Then just before the first
day of filming on the episode, the main production meeting
occurs where all department heads gather. The assistant
director reads through the script from page one, while simultaneously
reviewing the shooting schedule - triple checking that all
materials are ready for each days work. This is the last
chance we all have formally to make sure our heads are all
on the same show and things are ready to go.
The clock is your enemy more in television than feature
films. Television is a producer's medium and as an episodic
director you can begin to feel like a hired gun or substitute
teacher to an existing and familiar family. Feature films
are more the realm of the director. You have more control
and certainly, my feature experience has been far more personal.
On normal big budget features with a "normal" schedule,
you shoot in the area of 2-3 pages per day. On episodic
television, because of the nature of the beast, you're tackling
anywhere from 8 to 12 pages a day. Makes the day go very
quickly. You start the day with a simple actor rehearsal
so everyone can figure out what needs to happen to get the
scene completed. Ideas are usually tossed back and forth;
becomes a bit like molding clay. Then the actors are released
and stand-ins take their spots so the lighting crew and
director of photography can light the set once the action
has been blocked out. It's a bit like watching grass grow.
Gilles Nuytens: What
is the part of your job which
you prefer?
David Winning: I look working with different
creative people and I like the initial planning stage. I
usually have a newsprint pad and a pen and I just start
scribbling stuff and making some plans. The first time you
read the script, you begin to formulate exactly how you
will stage the sequences and scenes. You have to do alot
of the planning ahead of time so that the entire army of
a creative and technical production team can assist and
support you in getting the show made. Quite often the specifics
of scene blockings happen on the day when you have the actors
on set. Often this is their first chance to add input. It
becomes a conglomeration of elements. Scenes in scripts
will usually remind me of other scenes from great movies
I saw as a kid. So they become homages to the classics.
That's what keeps me inspired anyway.
The creative side of me believes filmmaking is an art form,
but I always tell people the process is a little like painting
a picture when seven people are holding the brush. The director
is the ringleader: the job is to get creative forces working
together to get the best result. I like to create an environment
that's fun for people to work in. It's such a delicate balance,
especially when you're trying to coax the best performances
out of actors, especially when the material is tough. You
have to create a little cocoon for them to work in. In science
fiction the task can be harder because many elements physically
don't exist on set. I've always said I think the best actors
are in SciFi. They're really working with just their imagination
in some scenes.
Gilles Nuytens: In
the Staragte Atlantis episode you directed, what was the
best time and why?
David Winning: I loved working with the
kids obviously, that was a major fun part of the show. Cleo
and Casta played by Jessica Amlee and Sam Charles were both
amazing and pretty experienced for their age. But I think
the most challenging part was just creating this whole forest
village that the kids lived in. With amazing support from
a great effects team (to add the actual treehouses) and
also the art direction and set decoration was incredible.
That village went on forever; just wish we'd had the time
to shoot it completely and show it off. Perhaps the movie
version. I think it's always fun to be in on the ground
floor of a series because everyone is finding their way.
Childhood was such an early episode for Atlantis, that it
was fascinating watching the characters being formed by
a talented cast. I really liked playing with the tension
in the group as Aries starts to get more manic and defensive.
There developed sort of an evil quality to the villagers
amidst the innocence of youth.
Gilles Nuytens: Do
you a a funny story to tell us that happened during your
work on the Atlantis set?
David Winning: It was a great group of
people and the thing I remember most was the incredible
funny chemistry between McKay and the kids. It's the strongest
memory. Felt very at home in the Stargate Universe.
Gilles Nuytens: How
is the work with children? Is it easy? Is it very different
for you to work with children or with adults?
David Winning: I worked on many kid series
for many years with Nickleodeon so this was like old school
to me. Sweet Valley High, Goosebumps, Afraid of the Dark?
Etc. Kids make the greatest performers because they have
yet to be ruined by adult ego. Some of the most fun kids
to direct are ones who've never acted before.
Gilles Nuytens: Which
is the project you are most willing to work on ?
David Winning: Andromeda, the family and
the series, was a major piece of good fortune for me obviously.
Also I really enjoyed the dramatic impact and powerful writing
of the Pax series TWICE IN A LIFETIME. I directed ten episodes
in 1999 and 2000 and got to work with a brilliant producing
writing team of Steve Brackley and Pam Long. Also in the
first season, got to work with the old master Barney Rosensweig
who created Charlie's Angels among other things in the '70's.
The series was a remarkable blend of humour and bittersweet
drama and I got the chance to direct some amazing gueststars
and characters actors from Patrick Duffy to Michelle Phillips,
Markie Post, Bruce Boxleitner, Earle Hyman, Daniel Baldwin,
Martin Mull, Jere Burns and Brent Carver.
I'm pretty proud of just plain "surviving" in a very tough
industry. Lots of twists and turns over the years. My favourite
feature project I've directed would probably be EXCEPTION
TO THE RULE, starring Sean Young, Eric McCormack, Kim Cattrall
and William Devane. They're have been so many great moments
over the years. I think one that sticks in my mind is taking
EXCEPTION to the 1997 Houston Film Festival and showing
it to a packed movie theatre. We won best thriller that
year and it was just a wild night. Nothing like watching
one of your films with 600 excited moviegoers; people jumped
and laughed in all the right places and afterward Michael
Bateman, the film's editor, and I answered questions for
about an hour. I think that's really the payoff for all
the hard work, to see a movie with a crowd and have it really
work for them.
Gilles Nuytens: Regarding
the CGI visual effects what is your level of involvement
during their conception/development ?
David Winning: Mark Breakspear and his
team at Stargate Season One were incredible to work with.
As with all things in television; it's a collaborative medium.
Most visual effects are designed and discussed for weeks
in the boardroom before production. We usually will generate
many sketches to make sure the ideas are similar and the
outcome will what we're both happy with. Their input and
creative ideas are amazing and invaluable.
Gilles Nuytens: Which
advice can you give to a newcomer in that job?
David Winning: The best way to break into
television or movies to write a great original script. The
power of a good script is unbelievable in Hollywood. Then
everything else has to come together just right too. A really
good story is so rare. It's hard to make a good movie from
a bad script, although I think I've done it a couple of
times :) Syd Field's books on screenwriting are great -
as is anything by William Goldman whom I think is a genius.
The most original writers in Hollywood today are the Coen
Brothers and Tarantino. Hey, it's just my opinion.
Gilles Nuytens: How
do you work, can you give your opinion on a script which
is given to you? In the affirmative do you often make some
changes? Has it happened on Stargate Atlantis?
David Winning: The creative side of me
believes filmmaking is an art form, but I always tell people
the process is a little like painting a picture when seven
people are holding the brush. The director is the ringleader:
the job is to get creative forces working together to get
the best result. I like to create an environment that's
fun for people to work in. It's such a delicate balance,
especially when you're trying to coax the best performances
out of actors, especially when the material is tough. You
have to create a little cocoon for them to work in. In science
fiction the task can be harder because many elements physically
don't exist on set. I've always said I think the best actors
are in SciFi. They're really working with just their imagination
in some scenes.
Gilles Nuytens: What
was your inspirations when you created that children village?
In general, what are your inspirations when creating the
various universes of the shows you realise?
David Winning: Logan's Run and Lord of
the Flies were pretty foremost in my mind. The atmosphere
on the set was incredible so it all helped. This is a very
well-oiled machine by now believe me. The actors all have
great senses of humour and I've always believed that the
best work comes from an environment that is light and positive
anyway; they were a pleasure to work with. Actors always
have input. The secret is to steal all their good ideas.
In order to actually make an episode in a very limited amount
of time, obviously you have to plan and replan everything.
But when the actors are physically there and saying actual
words, things change rapidly. They bring a vital third dimension
to the planning on paper and the ideas and input is always
welcome and interesting. As in most series, the regulars
(certainly the star) always have input into the scripts
from week to week. After all, they get to know the characters
intimately because they play them every day. Improvisation
and finding something on set minutes before you commit them
to film (or tape) forever create happy "accidents".
Gilles Nuytens: Who
are your director's models ? What are the films, the directors
you consider as examples to follow?
David Winning: My idols has always been
a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick and John Carpenter. Am a big
Tarantino fan too. I struggled for a long time in my twenties
working on passionate projects that took years to finish.
Most of my twenties were spent making my first feature STORM;
which I loved. In some ways, you realize later that if you
hadn't spent years making those first films, you wouldn't
have had the career that followed because STORM led to everything
else I've ever done. I was asked at age 27 to direct episodes
of Friday the 13th: The Series for Paramount Pictures Television;
filming in Toronto, Canada and that became my first paying
job. Seventeen different series followed that over two decades.
Gilles Nuytens: Concerning
the accompanying music track how does it work between you
and the composer? How is it working in general?
David Winning: In television the pace is
a bit faster obviously than in long form features. Also
in television the composer has a certain formula he's working
with so the director is a bit less involved. A series need
to have a continuity in terms of the music. I was impressed
with Joel Goldsmith's amazing work on this series; this
week he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding main theme.
Gilles Nuytens: Thanks
a lot for taking the time answering this interview. We hope
to see you again soon working on another episode of Stargate
Atlantis, SG-1 or both!
David Winning: I certainly hope so, I had
a great time. You know, fans could always write to Stargate
with this request. Thanks for your interest. More cool stuff
at http://www.davidwinning.com
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