Talk:Film director

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Film or Movie?[edit]

my $0.02: I'm not seeing a distinction between filmmaker and movie-maker as it relates to the medium. anyone that has made movies on both video and film will tell you there is a big difference between the mediums. movies shot on video being referred to as 'a film', in my opinion, is inaccurate. A movie shot on film, to be safe, should mostly be regarded as a movie, but it would not be wrong to call it a film. A movie shot entirely on video should never be referred to as a film and a person who makes movies and never shoots on film should not be referred to as a filmmaker. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.60.244.253 (talk) 16:31, 15 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

no QT?[edit]

you're really going to put a list of notable directors and exclude Tarantino? — Preceding unsigned comment added by VN28 (talkcontribs) 12:50, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Let's not exhaust the list. Otherwise it'll be bloated. Enjoyertalk 12:53, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Salary[edit]

How much do directors get paid? Directors get paid like a piece of bullcrap! They work up to 13 or more hours a day. If you are experienced and working for a good company you can get paid up to $500,000 a year. The average is more like $28,000 or $50,000.

It might be a good idea to explain salary in more detail, instead of briefly speculating. Certainly for the DGA members, the minimums (scale) are regulated according to the collective bargaining agreement. Please refer to the DGA rate cards here: http://www.dga.org/thedga/bas_rate.php3 BradTucker (talk) 12:34, 5 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with that. Sounds very biased information to me and not suitable for an introduction. It looks more like a job advertising rather than a wiki article. 92.20.124.60 (talk) 08:24, 25 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding "Needs Attention"[edit]

The term "Filmmaker" links to this page; however, filmmaker and film director are not all synonymous. A filmmaker makes movies; a film director directs movies. These are not necessarily -- and usually not -- the same thing. Film direction is a quite specific role in moviemaking. Moreover, the world of small independent filmmaking, where movies are made outside of a traditional industry production environment -- sans producer, director, writer, etc., even actors -- is a rich one. Look, for instance, at the work of Maya Deren. Look at the thousands of small animations and home movies created each year and submitted to festivals. The topic of filmmaker needs to be established and expanded. Here is my call for help.


Yup, the director could and should be looked as nothing, it's a Santa tradition he isn't (based only on the title credit he has). This articles intro is not as accurate as the last paragraph in the intro to the producers of film on wikipedia. It's not somethimes, it's all the time. He owns no studio.--BobtheVila (talk) 14:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I quite agree that there is an enormous difference between a film director and a filmmaker and was taken aback when filmmaker redirected me here. Film Director is a very specific job while Filmmaker is a pretty subjective term that simply refers to a person who is responsible for a large part of getting the film made. This person's job could just as easily be line producer, DP, or editor. The second sentence seems to try to address this but poorly. It might be better to create a disambiguation page with links to film director, director of photography, editor, etc. Ilithios (talk) 10:48, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Title[edit]

I've moved this twice now back to Director (film) from film director. This is because the most common usage is to say "director Steven Spielberg", not "film director Ron Howard". If there were nothing else appropriate for Director, this article would reside there primarily. -- Netoholic @ 21:28, 2005 Mar 3 (UTC)

I don't disagree, but it's not that unusual to say "Steven Spielberg is a film director, while Robert Duncan McNeill is a television director, and Harold Pinter is a theatre director" or "Albert R. Broccoli is a film producer, while Norman Lear is a television producer". Seems like they should all use a consistent format, tho' I admit I don't have a strong preference which one. Niteowlneils 21:18, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I wish you would put it back. "Film director" is in common useage, "Director (film)" is not. Your Spielberg analogy is misleading. Spielberg would only be referred to as "director Steven Spielberg" in a film context. In any other context, like an encyclopedia, he would be "film director Steven Spielberg." That's even more true for directors who are not household names. JW 12:00, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Whenever there is some doubt about the best title for a page, its often a good idea to look through the 'What links here' selection to try and figure out what name most editors are already using. The only reason Wikipedia puts articles at the most popular title is that it means most people will guess the right link when writing a new article. You really need to check the links in the original pages since someone may already have dab'ed them. For example on Gabby Goat the link is in the phrase "Clampett's first cartoon as director", so that should be a count for 'director (film)' although the link is currently dab'ed as a link to 'film director'.
In this case we are in luck, because there are already many articles which link here (or unlucky, because if you want to do a comprehensive job there's a lot of links to check ;-). After checking a dozen or so links at random, I get the sense that it is fairly evenly balanced, with quite a lot of links for 'film maker' too. -- Solipsist 13:27, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
But that's misleading because those articles are about films or film directors, so it's unnecessary to keep using the word "film". The fact that the article was originally titled Film director and has been moved back there twice should show that that is the correct title. JW 12:04, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
You have a point, but I'm not particularly supporting either option, I'm just commenting that in general Wikipedia doesn't try to put articles at the most 'proper' title, but mearly the most commonly used. The purpose being that if a future editor is writing an article, they will be able to guess most of the links correctly with the minimum of disambiguating. With a reasonable list of 'what links here' entries you already have good evidence of the links people would like to use.
If it shows a 50:50 split between 'director' and 'film director', I would suggest using the tite 'film director' is the better way to go because 'director (film)' would require more disambiging. -- Solipsist 14:50, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I agree. No-one else has contributed to this discussion to support "Director (film)" so I have reverted it. It seems to me that Film director is the correct phrase. Before anyone tries to revert it in future to "Director (film)" or anything else, please discuss it on the talk page to gauge other opinions. JW 28 June 2005 12:55 (UTC)

Director/Directress[edit]

A recent edit added the line

A female director is called a directress

which is fine, except that in modern usage, female directors are invariably refered to as 'director'. See for example this search vs this search, suggesting a 10,000:1 preference for using 'director'.

However, it is probably worth mentioning the decline in the use of the word 'directress'. The situation is similar to the drift from 'actress' to 'actor', but even more clear cut. -- Solipsist 07:02, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've lived and worked in Hollywood for quite a while now, and have never heard a female director referred to as "directress." The word would likely be taken as archaic, if not sexist, by any female directors that I've ever known. That sentence should be stricken, by any measure of common sense, so I'm doing so. Drogue 02:38, 2 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Vandalism[edit]

For some reason people keep vandalizing this article. --Smell? 06:59, 21 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]


Similarly (I think), what's with the quote, some directors write their own scripts, "(such as Quentin Tarantino, Hayao Miyazaki or Jason Norman)." Jason Norman? Even IMDB doesn't have a writer or director named Jason Norman. Google suggests he may be a 2005 Harvard Grad. Is this a strange typo/mis-name, or did Jason Norman, struggling film student, log in and promote himself, I'm wondering?

There is no director called Jason Norman, it's just a guy who goes around inserting himself into Wikipedia articles. It's been corrected. see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=24.205.188.180 for evidence of this.

What is Milan Ceko? "They coordinate the actors moves, determine camera angles, and may be involved in the writing, financing, and editing of a film Milan Ceko." Perhaps more Vandalism? I was unsure so I left the edit up for discussion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.201.152.176 (talk) 09:12, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What is Milan Ceko? I am glad to see someone else post this, although it looks like no modification has yet to be done to the original article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.112.27.98 (talk) 04:06, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I know, its getting annoying

The DarkArcher was here 23:46, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

list of famous film directors[edit]

Does Wikipedia have one? I haven't come across one yet. I'll contribute what I can to this article, but I must say it's in extremely poor shape for so rich a topic. I'm surprised. - IstvanWolf 04:21, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I cleaned up[edit]

I cleaned up the article and wikified it, so I'm taking off the cleanup tag. If anyone disagrees please feel free to slap the tag back on with a good explanation. Ben Tibbetts 01:43, 18 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, this needs major expansion[edit]

There is so much that can be added to this article; I would venture to say this is getting mildly rediculous. I'm going off for two weeks as of tomorrow so haven't a lot of time to do it myself, but come on guys! Wikipedia can do a little better than this. Ben Tibbetts 20:32, 8 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've started by moving the union/professional association information over from Film crew. There's more I should be able to add over the next few days.OldCommentator--OldCommentator 17:41, 24 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Request, if I may[edit]

The article on Satyajit Ray, Bengali filmmaker, is up for a peer review. Take a look if possible. Thanks--ppm 17:56, 12 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Page[edit]

What are the requirements for a wikipedia page to be created for a film maker/director? Listed on IMDB?

In short: WP:Notability (WP:BIO and WP:FICT). In long: if the director has notable films, if he has received well know prize, if he has some important media coverange or if his important in film history, is also considered notable. A sign of notability is to have many links (or citation) from other wikipedia pages. A lot of time it is better to wait some time (i.e. a release of a bigger feature film) before to include new directors. Cate | Talk 07:46, 14 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Methods of film directing" section[edit]

The "methods of film directing" section has essentially become a place to add links to directors. I'm not sure that we need twelve examples of directors who star in their own films, or eight examples of people who collaborate on writing/directing -- the list could theoretically go on forever. I say we either limit the number of examples (two? three?) or just nix them all together. I think the last thing we want is for there to be a description (e.g. "star in their own films") followed by a list of 500 directors. As we all know, Wikipedia's not a link farm, even if it's internal links, so we shouldn't allow it to be. Rockstar915 19:19, 20 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Only the two first points are about the role of the directors. ("Outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue" and "Control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely") This needs to nuanced, and these are the extremes rather than two options to choose from.

This rest of the section could be heavily modified or even deleted. The points listed are things done in addition to directing. That does not help defining a film director. To illustrate: It would not make any sense for a page of about swimmers to list "swimmers who play water polo", "swimmers who play underwater rugby", "swimmers who do scuba-diving", "swimmer who do water aerobics", "swimmers who are coaches", etc. The section could be rephrased as a single sentence stating that it is not uncommon that directors take on other things in addition to directing, such as acting, composing music, writing the films, collaborating with writing partners, editing the films, etc. Charlie Chaplin did it all. Is it really worth to include a statement that some directors use a certain actor in more than one film? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.34.236.75 (talk) 21:44, 14 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Choppy scene"[edit]

Choppy scene redirects here. So where's the explanation? 86.132.137.224 (talk) 21:14, 17 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting nomination[edit]

Someone please nominate this for featured article. 167.128.90.183 (talk) 18:59, 18 February 2010 (UTC) Nothing to edit, it is all correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.112.136.39 (talk) 10:36, 6 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Amended intro[edit]

Exasperated a little, I suppose, but the intro I changed suggested the director might also be the producer - a version not remotely supported by the cite. I have left the cite, having changed the text, but it seems to be a childrens' encyclopaedia. Lame. I also removed the sentence which randomly said "many people" believe a director does some other stuff... Then there was a para about TV directors, and some unsourced stuff about producers sometimes choosing directors. Ugh. Mess, per usual Wiki standards.KD Tries Again (talk) 03:56, 25 May 2010 (UTC)KD Tries Again[reply]

Film directing methods needs to make mention of the director who doesn't rigidly control every aspect of production, but instead works in a collaborative mode, working with and guiding all the professionals on the crew. 173.196.65.228 (talk) 15:17, 5 July 2010 (UTC) Dave V.[reply]

Suggested external link[edit]

If someone could possibly review www.filmdirectorssite.com as an external link for this page that would be wonderful. I feel it follows the wiki guidelines and provides certain information not included in this wiki-article. I realize simply posting this link is not appropriate without first discussing its merit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nathan W B (talkcontribs) 16:21, 27 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Who are the Filmmaker, Director, Editor and Moviemaker[edit]

I need a good answer to this people.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.155.0.130 (talk) 23:56, 25 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

movie[edit]

hi sir i m not from bihar but i want to work in bojpuri movies. what is the way. i have worked in mumbai and want to work in regional movie.


rounit.negi@yhoo.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.125.27.56 (talk) 15:14, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Coen Brothers in recurring actors section[edit]

The Coen Brothers repeatedly use the same actors as one of their definitive qualities. Ex. John Goodman, John Tuturo, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, etc.

I am going to add them in there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.73.43.92 (talk) 22:51, 26 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Shokof[edit]

this exceptionally original arist filmmaker was on thi slist for years and somehow was not anymore?i have taken some off the list and added his name again. my humble opinio but professionally executed and not personal. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.220.121.72 (talk) 13:51, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You took off David Fincher and Christopher Nolan, among others, and repeatedly put Daryush Shokof back on after multiple other editors removed him? No, that's not acceptable. Stop putting Shokof on here. - Gothicfilm (talk) 21:44, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Pissed Off Octopussy[edit]

When Mariah is pissed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.45.126.25 (talk) 23:51, 2 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Akeepan Balasupramaniyam?[edit]

This name was listed under Notable film directors, and was a redlink. I can find no information for anyone with this exact name. I have found people with somewhat similar names, but none described as a Film director (though some have similar descriptions). I have removed the name pending further info. FrankSier (talk) 22:30, 2 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Characteristics[edit]

This whole section seems to lack sources. It is a massive piece of work to gather these names, but the lack of sources means that the reliability of this section is potentially low. There is a risk of people adding in names of fave directors due to OR or POV. Adding a reference for each name would be an epic task. It would take months of work. As an Inclusionist Wikipedian, I am not suggesting cutting this section, but I think readers need to be aware these lists lack sources. IMHO I would rather see a shorter list, all sourced, rather than these huge, unsourced lists. OnBeyondZebrax (talk) 15:46, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In Defense of appending one film to director list[edit]

The downside to selecting one film is it is subjective. The upside is that people will see a directors name they don't recognize, then see the film name and say "oh, I've seen that!"OnBeyondZebrax (talk) 18:45, 26 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism[edit]

The first paragraph of the article requires editing. Two instances - 'Logarithm' and 'Martian' should be amended. Would do it myself, but not sure of the OP's original wording.Widneymanor (talk) 20:38, 26 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Helmer[edit]

Should the term helmer be added to this page? According to the disambiguation page for Helmer, Variety magazine often describes film directors with this term. I believe the usage by this publication and others meets the criteria for Wikipedia:Notability. - DutchTreat (talk) 09:29, 31 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Example 1: "Savoy inks writer/helmer for own pic". Variety. March 26, 1995. The helmer's feature directorial debut...
Example 2: Lyons, Charles; Brodesser, Claude (December 20, 1999). "Paramount to open its 'Tomb' for helmer West". Variety. Earlier in the year the producers were developing the script with helmer Stephen Herek...

Unbalanced template[edit]

We would like to bring attention and call for collaboration to improve this page, because this article has unbalanced gender representation. As to now, it stands as the gender neutral page for film director, however there are no images and hardly any mentioning of female film directors. By november 12 2016 15h15, in the section characteristics, amongst the 258 film directors mentioned, 256 were men and 2 women. Take a look:

  • Those who outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue: 19 men
  • Those who control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely: 21 men
  • Those who write their own screenplays: 54 men / 1 woman
  • Those who collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners: 45 men
  • Those who edit their own films: 31 men / 1 woman
  • Those who shoot their own films: 13 men
  • Those who appear in their films: 45 men
  • Those who compose the music score for their films: 11 men

We are starting to work on it, and surely need your help! Léonie Butler (talk) 14:21, 12 November 2016 (UTC) working with the collective Just for the Record[reply]

The issue has been dealt with. --Omnipaedista (talk) 21:35, 4 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Improving the format of the 'characteristics' section[edit]

I am a new Wikipedia editor and thus don't have extensive knowledge on formatting. However, from a reader's perspective the 'characterstics' section is very hard to read as all the names are bunched up. Is there anything we can do to resolve this? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hay232 (talkcontribs) 02:33, 16 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Changes to the page[edit]

This can be expanded upon significantly. The beginning of the article gives a sufficient overview of what a film director is, but the rest of the page is missing a lot of information that could be helpful for someone attempting to research film directing. The third paragraph in the beginning of the article is redundant as there is a separate section where career pathways are discussed. In addition, the overall organization of the article needs to be worked on. There is information under each section that does not entirely relate to the topic of its section, so it should be moved to its own distinct section. The article could be vastly improved if it were to include additional information, such as a history of the film director position and notable film directors for each era of the job's history. The FVP (talk) 23:08, 1 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I hope to represent[edit]

Hello I'm Joseph from Egypt I hope to represent Dream of my life to become a representative I hope someone will discover me

I hope to represent[edit]

Hello I'm Joseph from Egypt I hope to represent Dream of my life to become a representative I hope someone will discover me — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.176.159.193 (talk) 13:52, 28 May 2018 (UTC) [reply]

From chris[edit]

For pirates i would like to take part of pirates of the caribbean And doing the 18th century in ga Tunnel hill ga and resaca ga and allatoona pass ga

Chris Haggis322 (talk) 16:11, 25 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Abdi Mohamud Abdi[edit]

Is One of the most learned somalis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.79.9.30 (talk) 07:08, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion[edit]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 13:23, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Pictures of directors[edit]

I'm not what you call a feminist, but when the text has its own segment about gender disparities, there should be at least one female director among those 20 pictures of directors in the articles introduction (Agnès Varda or Kathryn Bigelow come to my mind).

Added Varda and Zora Neale Hurston. Pretty embarrassing that this article went as long as it did without a single female director in the main infobox! Morgan695 (talk) 17:59, 8 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I moved the list of directors to it's own section and used the standard sidebar for film-making articles. I also increased the size of the images and performed other formatting. Sparkie82 (tc) 01:26, 6 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion[edit]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 01:09, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The redirect United States film directors rehearse has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 June 14 § United States film directors rehearse until a consensus is reached. Fram (talk) 15:54, 14 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]