Jack Bender (Game of Thrones, Lost, The Sopranos) discusses directing and executive producing a variety of television
We Talk About:
- Directing the Emmy-nominated Game of Thrones episode, “The Door.”
- Shooting on The Sopranos and developing Lost
- The attitude behind a successful television director
- What it’s like to work on both new and established series
- Communicating with actors and giving notes
- Prepping Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes with Brendan Gleeson
- Writing a children’s book for adults, The Elephant in the Room
Quotes from the Show:
“I’m leaving my ego at the door, and my ego is healthy, even though I vacillate between audacity and insecurity depending on the day… that’s, I think, the reality of being an artist.”
“I always feel like you build a pyramid one block at a time, whatever you’re doing.”
“If you’re doing the work… whatever it is…if you are fully immersed in that world, which I’m in when the camera’s rolling and I’m watching the actors… I’m somewhere else, and that’s a wonderful place to be.”
“I have to be making something.”
“I love the idea that it’s just not ever gonna be perfect, whether it’s a painting of mine and a drip of paint happens I didn’t expect, or an actor just does something… I just love when it’s alive.”