You are now listening to post-mortem with Mick Harris, where the most influential voices in horror cinema

will spill their guts, literally, to the renowned horror director, writer, and producer.

Now here's your host, Mick Garris.

I'm Mick Garris and this is post-mortem.

Let's talk about the job of the director,

specifically the job of directing films versus directing television.

There used to be a huge difference between the two media

but as television has become more cinematic

and movies more like theme park rides, the lines have blurred a bit.

Much has been discussed about this platinum age of television we're in. Budgets from the broadcast

networks, cable channels, and streaming sources have benefited from the competition and the

production values have never been higher.

And marquee names no longer fear the smaller screen.

The primary job of the director is to corral all of the creative elements of a film or television project into a single cohesive vision.

In movies, the director is the one to answer all the questions

cast and crew throw at them, to guide an actor's performance from the

outside in, to keep in mind what comes before each scene that shot, and what comes after,

to know the context of the film at all times, to have a visual plan that is all-encompassing to set the atmosphere and cinematic language of the movie.

Movies for television and miniseries are very much like feature films in that regard.

Though budgets are generally tighter, the process is very much the same.

But in the land of series television, it is the writer-producer who often takes charge of those elements.

When a director takes on an episode of a series, who often takes charge of those elements.

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