My need to be able to tell scripted feature, scripted television, doc feature, doc television.

Now I'm in unscripted, doing an unscripted show. I'm doing animation. That comes from a survival instinct.

That doesn't come from I want to necessarily do all these things.

I mean, I want to be able to always tell my stories,

so I want as many tools and as many weapons to tell my stories as possible.

Hello, and welcome back to the Directors' Cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.

Today's episode features the DGA Special Projects Committee's recent event,

the craft of the director, Ava Duverne.

The series of conversations with master filmmakers features an in-depth discussion about the directing process,

from pre-production through post.

Ms. Duverne's directorial credits include the Academy Award-nominated film Selma,

the Academy Award-nominated documentary 13th, A Rinkle in Time, Middle of Nowhere, I Will Follow,

the DGA Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning series When They See Us, and episodes

of Scandal and Queen Sugar. Please enjoy Ms. Duvernais's conversation with fellow director

Alex Stapleton in front of a virtual audience, wherein they discuss her philosophy on directing

child actors and how she went deeper while directing when they see us.

Well, Ava, I am so excited to be here with you and to start this conversation.

And I know we don't have enough time to go into every single detail that I would like to,

but I wanted to just kick off by saying that I just want

to say that your craft, the way you have approached the craft of storytelling is revolutionary.

You've given such dimension to Black Lives on screen that is deeply inspiring and long overdue.

And I can't believe that I'm getting emotional right now.

...