The longevity and creative excellence of filmmaker Lesli Linka Glatter’s career is reflected in her ongoing track record at the DGA Awards, which began with her nomination in 1991 for Dramatic TV Series on the strength of an episode of the breakthrough show Twin Peaks. Then we fast forward to 2010 when Glatter won the DGA Award in the same category for the “Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency” episode of Mad Men. Her third and fourth nominations came in 2012 and ‘13 for Homeland episodes “Q&A” and “The Star,” respectively. And last month on the basis of her fifth career DGA nomination–this one for the “From A to B and Back Again” installment of Homeland–Glatter won the coveted Guild honor for the second time.
Of last month’s DGA win, Glatter–who is also executive producer of Homeland–observed, “It was particularly wonderful because we are in such an extraordinary golden age of television. Any of the nominated directors or series–Game of Thrones, House of Cards, True Detective-deserved to win. It’s an embarrassment of riches, so many good series and amazing directors. For Homeland to get recognition in this DGA category is gratifying because this season [#4] was a big reset for the show [after the death of Sgt. Brody, played by Damian Lewis, in season 3]. The challenges of season 4 were thrilling, exhilarating and terrifying. People responded to the new plot direction and darker twists, and we had two episodes nominated [the other being ‘13 Hours in Islamabad’ directed by Dan Attias].”
Glatter was part of another splash made at this year’s DGA Awards–by women directors who came up winners, including: Laura Poitras for Citizenfour in the Documentary category; Jill Soloway in TV Comedy Series for Transparent; and Lisa Cholodenko for the TV miniseries Olive Kitteridge.
“The fact that four women directors won in major categories is fantastic and sends a great message,” assessed Glatter. “It’s even more impressive when you consider that not that many women directors are even getting up to the plate. The statistics in terms of opportunities for women are about the same as when I started some twenty years ago–which is shocking. Women have made inroads into other fields but the entertainment business has been behind the curve. At least those women who have gotten up to bat have hit it out of the ballpark–that’s a big statement made by the showing at the DGA Awards.”
Still, tempering that achievement is the big picture. “If you asked me when I started years ago if the lack of diversity and the limited number of women directors getting opportunities would still be an issue in 2015, I would have said, ‘absolutely not.’ Sadly, things haven’t changed all that much.”
Yet while opportunities for female directors remain relatively scarce as evidenced by assorted studies, Glatter has worked consistently over the years on lauded, high-profile, creatively ambitious projects ranging from such cult favorites as Freaks and Geeks and Twin Peaks to the likes of NYPD Blue, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, The West Wing, The Closer, ER, Weeds, The Mentalist, House: MD, The Good Wife, Mad Men, True Blood, The Walking Dead, Justified, Masters of Sex, The Newsroom, and Ray Donovan.
Asked how she has managed to be involved in such high-caliber fare throughout her career, Glatter cites her earlier work as a modern dancer and modern dance choreographer. “Being in modern dance was a choice where you make zero money. You don’t go into dance unless you absolutely love it. You accept what goes with that–otherwise it’s like being a poet and somehow thinking you’re going to make a boatload of money. I would look at material and if I didn’t relate to it, I just didn’t do it. I’m glad I did that from the beginning of my directing career. Looking back, it had me doing only the most interesting work.”
Oscar nominee
After living overseas for a prolonged stretch when in her 20s, spanning such places as Paris, London and Tokyo, Glatter returned to the U.S. where she was turned onto the Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute. “It was for women in the film business who hadn’t directed and I was fortunate to get in, unqualified as a dancer and choreographer. They let me in anyway,” she recalled, “and I made my first short film. I was pretty much told by everybody not to make that film if I wanted a job in Hollywood. Three-quarters of the film was in Japanese, there were subtitles, flashbacks, narration, just one Caucasian character. It was hardly the formula for a commercial success but that’s the story I wanted to tell.”
Titled Tales of Meeting and Parting, the film went on to earn a Best Live-Action Short Oscar nomination in 1985 and opened up “a window of opportunity for me” that translated into TV directing. “I’ve been lucky that television has given me the chance to deal with a lot of different genres, making it harder for me to be pigeonholed. I love doing action if it’s action motivated by character, if it moves the story forward. I come out of dance and doing action doesn’t feel foreign to me. Somehow it’s believed that male directors can do action/adventure better. That’s like saying male directors cannot direct women well. I’ve always gone for the best material I can find. I loved the coming of age stories in Freaks and Geeks. And when I saw the material for Twin Peaks, I knew it was brilliant and instantly wanted to do it.”
Twin Peaks has been credited by many as having been a catalyst for today’s golden age. Glatter noted that though Twin Peaks was made for ABC, in some ways it marked the beginning of cable television sensibilities because the show broke boundaries and attracted a following. The best shows on cable are cut from that same cloth.
“More individual creative voices are being heard on different platforms,” observed Glatter. “Beyond cable, you have Transparent on Amazon, House of Cards on Netflix. That dynamic is an important component of the current golden age.”
