By Robert Goldrich
The ripple effect of good is real–as reflected in SHOOT’s Emmy season coverage. Last month’s Emmy Preview included observations from Christina Voros, director/cinematographer on 1883 (Paramount+). And this week’s installment of SHOOT’s The Road To Emmy Series contains insights from Amanda Marsalis who directed multiple episodes of Ozark (Netflix) for its swan song season.
It turns out Voros and Marsalis share a special bond–both directed episodes of Queen Sugar (OWN) for Ava DuVernay, an experience which proved pivotal in their careers. DuVernay made a concerted effort to give directorial opportunities on Queen Sugar to deserving women.
Voros first met DuVernay when they served together on an international film festival jury. The two struck up a rapport, with DuVernay reaching out to Voros about a year-plus later with an offer to direct an episode of Queen Sugar. Without Queen Sugar, Voros doubts that studio and network decision-makers would have let her direct Yellowstone and then its prequel, 1883. It was Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Yellowstone and creator of 1883, who went to bat for Voros as a director for both series.
As for Marsalis, Queen Sugar marked her first TV directing gig. She had earlier directed the indie feature Echo Park on a shoestring budget, which went on to make a splash at the L.A. Film Festival and shortly thereafter was acquired by DuVernay’s company ARRAY. Later Marsalis got the chance to direct episodes of Queen Sugar.
Thanks in part to Echo Park and Queen Sugar, Marsalis got the opportunity to direct for Ozark, the first go-around being the season 2 finale, then a season 3 episode, and most recently multiple episodes for season 4.
Even with Echo Park and Queen Sugar under her belt, Marsalis felt that the decision-makers at Ozark, including actor-director-EP Jason Bateman and showrunner-writer Chris Mundy, took “a leap of faith” when they offered her the high-profile season two finale. Marsalis proved to be up to the task, justifying the trust placed in her as the season two finale gained critical acclaim.
And it feels somehow fitting for Marsalis to help wrap the series, directing four of the episodes released in part two of the current and final season. Now she’s in the Emmy mix for that marquee work.
Robert Goldrich is an editor with SHOOTonline
Josh C. Kline joins Scripto as CEO
Josh C. Kline has been named the new CEO of Scripto, the innovative real-time, cloud-native platform designed for remote collaborative scriptwriting and production. Kline will steer Scripto into its next phase of growth. Plans call for Scripto to further transform collaboration throughout the writing and production stages, enabling creative teams to accelerate their workflow and enhance teamwork.
Emmy®-winning programs such as “Late Night with Stephen Colbert,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Daily Show,” and the Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live” rely on Scripto’s advanced workflow tools to allow show writers and production teams to work together seamlessly from any location.
“Late Night” host Colbert, co-founder of Scripto, said of Kline, “His deep background in entertainment technology will help take our groundbreaking platform to new heights, and also ensure we are on the winning side when the AIs finally make their move, which we all know is coming. I can’t wait to see what we’ll achieve together.
Kline brings a wealth of experience in technology and media. He previously served as head of media & entertainment at Box. Kline co-founded Sample Digital, where he developed Digital Dailies™, revolutionizing the review and approval process for film and TV production and earning him a Primetime Engineering Emmy Award. His entrepreneurial spirit continued with the launch of Secure Path Technology, a cloud-based content ID and metadata services company. Kline was chief strategy officer at Final Draft before joining Box as head of media & entertainment, and has consulted for major global clients including Microsoft, Avid, and Motion Picture Domain Registry.
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