The long and winding road to the 2013 Emmy Awards is now behind us, and with the benefit of hindsight we can reflect on the winning work. But some reflections go deeper, including the bittersweet moment during the primetime Emmy Awards ceremony telecast this past Sunday when Henry Bromell posthumously won in the Best Drama Writing category for the “Q&A” episode of Homeland (Showtime).
His wife, Sarah, accepted the award “with deep appreciation to the Academy.”
Also acknowledging Henry Bromell–who died in March of a heart attack–was Claire Danes during her acceptance of the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama Series Emmy Award based on her work on Homeland.
But the remembrances of Bromell extend well beyond–and before–awards night, a prime example coming in SHOOT‘s “The Road To Emmy” series of features (Part 6, 8/16) in which Lesli Linki Glatter–who was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In A Dramatic Series on the basis of the “Q&A” episode–shared her thoughts on Bromell and Homeland.
Regarding what first attracted her to Homeland, Glatter observed, “I was supposed to direct in the first season but I was unavailable. When I saw the show, I was blown away. Usually I’m quick about solving mysteries, seeing what’s going on beneath the surface of a series. But for this show, I had no idea if [character Nicholas] Brody was a traitor. The storytelling was so sophisticated without being manipulative, offering deep character studies along with great story plot development.
“I was grateful that they came back to me after I couldn’t be involved in the first season,” Glatter continued. “And I got to work with Henry Bromell, an amazing writer. It’s bittersweet because Henry has since passed away. I came out of theater where the relationship with the writer is everything. Working with Henry was a joy; we were right in step together. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my career.”
Still, Glatter had some consternation when she first saw the script for “Q&A.” “Thirty pages of the script were set in one room. Of course, I panicked at first. What am I going to do with the action confined to one room? There’s nothing to hide behind. Everything is kind of stripped bare. But I soon realized that I had these amazing words from Henry–and in that room I had Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, two amazing actors. And we ended up taking the approach of shooting things as one piece. We had takes that were 26 minutes long. Claire and Damian were riveting. “
Now as co-executive producer and a director on Homeland, Glatter noted, “I get to live here all the time. As a producing director, I feel like I’m the conduit to help the great directors who come in for their episodes. I want to give them everything they need.”
House Of Cards
Topping the directing category that had Glatter as a nominee was David Fincher for “Chapter 1” of House Of Cards, the breakthrough Netflix series.
Fincher, a founding partner of commercial/branded content production house Reset, directed the first two episodes of House Of Cards and serves as an executive producer on the series. In SHOOT‘s Emmy and TV industry coverage over the past months, several of Fincher’s collaborators on the series reflected on him.
Some three and a half years ago, Fincher approached producer/writer Beau Willimon with the opportunity to adapt the BBC miniseries House Of Cards into a show for American audiences. Fincher gravitated to Willimon based in part on the latter’s work on the script for the politically themed feature The Ides of March, which earned a 2012 Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with writers/producers George Clooney, who directed the film, and Grant Heslov; Willimon additionally was a co-producer on the movie).
Willimon recalled of his initial meeting with Fincher, “We talked about how to make House Of Cards something American, contemporary and our own. I shared my thoughts with him and found that we shared the same instincts about what direction to take.”
Willimon, who is showrunner/executive producer/writer-creator of House Of Cards, was drawn to several prime elements of the series–the quality of the original BBC show and the challenge of adapting it for the U.S.; the chance to collaborate with Fincher; and the high level of support from Netflix which translated into seemingly unprecedented storytelling and character development opportunities.
The latter factor is embodied in “a two season commitment which is almost unheard of,” said Willimon. “If there are other examples, they are few and far between. To think about being able to tell a story and develop characters over the course of 26 hours is a luxury that few, if any, shows or producers have. It’s the kind of up-front commitment that makes for more sophisticated, multi-faceted, layered stories and characters. It’s a game changer.”
This in turn led to attracting high-caliber directors to take on episodes after the first two helmed by Fincher.
“We thought of season one as a 13-hour movie,” related Willimon. “We wanted bold, risk-taking filmmakers. Even some of our directors who have done most of their work in television had also been involved in feature films or approached television with a filmic sensibility.”
Willimon noted that he and most of his colleagues on the show hadn’t worked in television before. “Ignorance is bliss,” he observed. “We weren’t bound by convention or habit. We took a cinematic approach to the storytelling and to the filmmaking itself. Fincher has one of the most refined and exciting filmic sensibilities out there. His aesthetic is unparalleled and he is rigorous about it. His knowledge of the craft, film history and his own visual voice are vast and deep.”
Fincher and Willimon discussed in detail which directors would be best for the show. “We discussed who would bring the most to the show–not only in terms of working within the story we created but also who had the voices in their own right that would elevate the series,” related Willimon. “There’s a consistency visually and narratively to the season. But the directors also beautifully brought their own voices to the conversation.”
The season one lineup of directors included James Foley, Joel Schumacher, Carl Franklin, Charles McDougall and Allen Coulter.
In SHOOT‘s Chat Room (5/17), Coulter–who directed the last two episodes of season one–recalled, “Because Fincher is a director whom I respect and admire, it didn’t require a lot of thought as to whether or not I was interested [in doing House Of Cards]. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on the HBO series Luck with Michael Mann [exec producer on that series and a noted director]. To have feature filmmakers like Mann and Fincher seek me out is especially gratifying for me.”
Coulter added, “Fincher was very excited and interested in this streaming of content without any DVD release and without the traditional broadcast situation. I’m paraphrasing him but clearly he saw this [House Of Cards] as representing the wave of the future and was desirous to get involved and get things moving.”
The show has indeed been precedent setting, putting Netflix on the original programming map. Netflix debuted the series in early February, releasing the first full season, all 13 episodes, in one fell swoop to subscribers so they could watch it when it was most convenient for them. House Of Cards earned nine Emmy nominations, including for Best Drama. It was in the running to become the first series not shown on a broadcast or cable network to take the Best Drama mantle. Ultimately that Emmy went to Breaking Bad (AMC). However, Vince Gilligan, the creator of the Breaking Bad series, noted that if it weren’t for streaming services like Netflix, his show wouldn’t have survived to see season two.
House Of Cards wound up winning three Emmys–Fincher for Director, Eigil Bryld for Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series, and casting directors Larry Mayfield, CSA, and Julie Schubert, CSA, for Casting For A Drama Series.
In the first installment of SHOOT‘s The Road To Emmy series (SHOOTonline, 7/11), Bryld said of Fincher, “David has very strong ideas. I like working with directors who are straight forward and not convoluted. He’s very hands on. He was used to shooting less than a page a day. All of a sudden we had to shoot four, five pages a day. We did that while staying true to crafting it all like a movie. I had 10 weeks of prep with Fincher in Baltimore which helped us to craft the lighting in an ambient manner while adding what was required for specific scenes. The prep helped us to be efficient with our setups, how to best use two cameras–we always used two cameras–and capture well-choreographed and composed images.
House Of Cards deployed two customized RED Epics. “Fincher has worked with RED for quite some time and has a strong relationship with RED,” said Bryld. “We didn’t want to work through a certain technology. We wanted the technology to work for us. We kept things simple and close-knit. We never had more than 25 crew members on the floor. We landed in a sweet spot where we could operate and pull off most things, being able to adjust to every curveball.”
As for how he landed the plum House Of Cards assignment, Bryld related, “I got a call from my agent, asking me if I wanted to meet Fincher—’he’s doing this show that’s going to shoot in Baltimore.’ I don’t know how I ended up on Fincher’s radar. My guess is that John Melfi [an executive producer on House Of Cards] does a lot of work for HBO as do I and perhaps my name came up. I hadn’t seen myself doing episodic television. But when I heard Fincher was involved, it made me interested and curious. I knew it would be visual. I’ve always been interested in politics. I got to read the first four episodes before I met Fincher. I loved the universe it resided in and all the undercurrents.”
Meanwhile, nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series category was Kirk Baxter, ACE, on the strength of “Chapter 1” of House Of Cards. (Winning the Emmy was editor Kelley Dixon for the “Gliding All Over” episode of Breaking Bad.)
House Of Cards marked the episodic series debut for editor Baxter but he’s no stranger to David Fincher. Baxter, who cut the pilot and the second episode of House Of Cards, has teamed with Angus Wall to edit feature films for Fincher, garnering three Best Editing Academy Award nominations along the way, two of which won Oscars (The Social Network in 2011 and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2012). Wall and Baxter–who are partners in editorial house Rock Paper Scissors–earned their first Oscar nom in 2009 for Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Baxter initially met Fincher as an additional editor on Zodiac, which Wall cut. Later Baxter edited several Fincher-directed commercials, most notably for the Apple iPhone and Stand Up To Cancer’s “Stand Up For Something.” Then came the high-profile collaborations on Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
For Baxter, working with Fincher on House Of Cards was similar to the experience on all the feature films. “David approached House Of Cards just the same as he does his movies. He covered a lot more ground in a shoot day than he does on film due to budgetary reasons–quite a lot of footage came in at a rapid pace. But I really enjoyed it. It’s no different than a feature in terms of trying to realize what David wants to capture.”
One of the pleasures of working on House Of Cards, said Baxter, was smoothly blending in when Spacey’s character, Francis Underwood, would occasionally talk directly to the camera. For many fans of the show, these moments represent a highlight. “Fincher shot with A and B cameras and it was like a dessert, a little treat, to sneak in those little look-ins. Sometimes it’s just a glance from Spacey, sometimes it’s a full-on direct line from Spacey to the camera. It’s a little ballet without everyone else in the scene catching him.”
Emmy tally
Behind the Candelabra (HBO) scored the most Emmy wins with 11, including for Best Miniseries or Movie, Directing and Editing For a Miniseries or Movie (both honors for Steven Soderbergh) and Lead Actor (Michael Douglas).
Boardwalk Empire (HBO) wound up with five Emmys. Saturday Night Live (NBC) and the 66th Annual Tony Awards (CBS) tied with four apiece. And deadlocked at three Emmys each were The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Disney Mickey Mouse Croissant de Triomphe (Disney.com), House Of Cards (Netflix), and Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (HBO.
Taking two Emmys apiece were 30 Rock (NBC), The 55th Annual Grammy Awards (CBS), American Horror Story: Asylum (FX), American Masters (PBS), Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN), The Colbert Report (Comedy), Da Vinci’s Demons (Starz), Deadliest Catch (Discovery), Game of Thrones (HBO), Homeland (Showtime), How I Met Your Mother (CBS), The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS), The Men Who Build America (History), Modern Family (ABC), Nurse Jackie (Showtime), Veep (HBO) and The Voice (NBC).
Breaking Bad won the Best Drama Series honor for the first time. Modern Family won the Best Comedy Series Emmy for the fourth consecutive year.
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This is the final installment of SHOOT’s The Road To Emmy series of feature stories. For the prior 11 parts in the series, see below:
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 1.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 2.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 3.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 4.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 5.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 6.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 7.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 8.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 9.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 10.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 11.
