This Is How To Spot A Bad Director - Jason Satterlund

Jason Satterlund is an award winning film director who has been working on films for over 25 years. He has extensive experience in all areas of production including directing, producing, writing, cinematography, and editing. He works all over the world directing, commercials, documentaries, music videos, and feature films.

Early on he developed his skills as a storyteller and uses them to this day on projects as diverse as sci-fi steampunk action films, high end commercials, underwater sea life in the tropics, television shows, top country music artists in Nashville, Tenn, and feature films. He is the only person ever to conduct a night shoot in the ancient city of Petra, and the first person in America to use film lenses on an HD camera.

Satterlund has done extensive work for clients such as Warner Brothers, Bon Jovi, Amazon, Microsoft, Jack White, CNN, Hallmark Entertainment, ABC, and the country of Jordan.

He is creator and director of the award winning feature film, "The Record Keeper," which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London, and won the first annual Geekie Awards.

Satterlund's latest film THE ABANDON (written by Dwain Worrell) features a wounded soldier awakening in a strange cube that tests his physical and mental limits as he attempts to find a way to escape against a ticking clock.

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[movimox]

No intro, no outro, no music, no logo, no zoom ins, no zoom outs. Just 1 camera angle. Just Talking freely. With sometimes, as in this episode for exemple, a reflection on our own lifes. Thank you

[chasehedges]

“They are just trying to power through the day.”

This guy nailed it.

[kathrinphone]

At timecode 0:02 he already had me. I fell in love with his laugh right away.
I think Jason has everything a good director needs, among others : a good sense of humor, of responsibility, a clear vision and respect for the work of others.


And he's right: I also watch more videos of Film Courage than I write, but I count that as further training

[corpsefoot]

Not only do I NOT think Jason is a “bad director”, I actually think he’s an obvious professional, and more importantly a decent human being :)

[johnhudecek]

You absolutely nailed that pre is so important. I was on a show we’re literally every day we were at least a scene behind after a 14 hour day. It was beyond frustrating. Even though the results were good on the project but dealing with this director’s indecision was maddening

[williamshakespeare]

Hes made so many great points here. We have all worked with directors who dont have a vision and its sooo frustrating. Even if thr vision doesnt work, its better to have a vision that doesnt work than none at all.

[drican]

Oof! "The thing about resistance is that no one else can tell. We're really good at making ourselves look busy"
Why you coming for me like that man??

[AlexKurilovMusic]

Very insightful outro about social media. I've been trying to define its role for myself as well. It's indeed a very huge time sink, motivation killer and anxiety inducer. Everyone just seems to appear so busy and successful in there.

On the other hand I've had it several times in my life when I found an online community that really elevated me as an artist and I found many online friends that way.

But I noticed that in recent years it's been becoming more and more difficult finding meaningful connections online without practically living on social media or becoming very outgoing beyond my comfort zone.

[kuramobay]

No, a director deserves respect until proven otherwise. It's the position we respect at first, and then we may or may not respect the individual.

[readingbetweentheframes]

Agree 100% about knowing how to talk to actors. I think it also a problem when the reality of the scene is forsaken for the look.

[filmcourage]

What do you think? Please post a comment below.

[wildpatagoniafilms]

cool dude.. I liked this interview. he was simple and to the point.

[gnarthdarkanen]

As a Voice Actor, I can assure you that it's NOT just whether or not you know what you want... nor just how to talk to actors... It's whether you can (at base) articulate what you're trying to do...

Stories revolve around the very laughably simple premise of someone wanting to get something and the struggles against all the obstacles preventing him or her... The emotions in context depend upon the Character AS YOU (director) have interpreted the thing from the script... even if you wrote it... AND YOU need to be able to at least articulate whether the Character is more pissed off or acting out of fear... anguish or despair... something reasonably articulated...

The actor still has whatever judgment for flare and finesse for the part. It can still take multiple tries to "dial in" what you precisely need out of the part... AND sometimes those words on the page are NOT the right way to go... They DON'T flow naturally when they're supposed to... OR there's the one line in the WHOLE thing where the flow is natural when the Character's been practically babbling incoherently EVERYWHERE else... so it doesn't fit...

If there's a purpose... so be it. An actor can handle that, IF YOU (director again) can manage to explain that. The words are awkward and clunky BECAUSE there's extra sexual tension leading to anxiety... or because the Character really IS figuring out that he's scared sh*tless... OR maybe the one articulate line in the whole show is because that's the ONE time that passion about the subject overtook the Character's usually awkward, angst-rittled and incoherent garble... BUT it HAS to have a point... Otherwise, it's just breaking the Character...

You can certainly know what you want, and not be able to put it into words... SO the idea is stuck in your head, and I (for one) am NOT a mind reader. I'll flail at it, but only so long before you'll be looking for a replacement. ;o)

[cruxofthecookie]

Best end-quote of a Film Courage video _ever_ :)

[James_Bowie]

As with any role in life, respect is earned. Directors earn respect by being professional, and IMO, diplomatic. If a director has significant acting experience, so much the better.

[robbartley]

My friend gave me Murphy when I started writing novels. He's 100% correct.

[BionicDance]

I have to admit, _people skills, _ and whether or not I have enough of 'em is what worries me most as a director. I'm autistic with ADHD; my people skills are...off the beaten path, let's say. Not non-existent, just...to the side of normal. I'm often quite tense when dealing with actors, trying to stay supportive and positive even while asking for something different than what they're doing while not pissing them off by being hypercritical is _exhausting._ (It's a me problem, not a them problem, and I recognize that.)
Fortunately, I'm an indie animator and the only crew is me (except for the fella doing the score, anyway), so I can take the time to 'um' and 'uh' over which shots to do in what way; I only have to storyboard if I _want_ to.

[maouliamediaofficial]

For me, it's an unwillingness to even listen to someone else's input on a character or story. Cause one time, someone gave me their pitch for a spin-off for characters on a show we were supposed to be working on. He would always give me suggestions for the story so that way it wasn't all entirely me. So when he gave me a pitch, I gave a small, very tiny suggestion that everyone else I told the idea about said would have helped the story out tenfold. And this person threw the biggest hissy fit, and tried to attack me for it. I had already lost a lot of patience with that guy for constant crap and unwillingness to let me run the company, but this really pushed me over the edge. Because at that point, it became clear to me that he wasn't a collaborator, he was a controller. And you desperately need to be a collaborator to even think about working in the film industry

[Lifesizemortal]

If you can't figure out where the camera goes... just go home. We need visionaries to be directors.

[Ketchuploc]

oh man, the conversation was starting to get interesting towards the end. That was cool, i've never heard it put as "resistance" but I think about it all the time. I've developed a schedule for when i work on my projects like a job and then have time to let myself "resist". But for sure I consider myself to not have free time, ever. On the shorts I've directed, that had no budget, I won't even start contacting anyone to be cast or crew until I've done all the prep and got the shot list and storyboarded he entire screenplay.