Arlene Sanford

FEATURES:
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
A Very Brady Sequel (1996)

SELECTED TELEVISION SERIES:
More, Patience
Boston Legal
Desperate Housewives
Arrested Development
Weeds
Everwood
Malcolm in the Middle
Ally McBeal
The West Wing
Caroline in the City
Friends
Coach

AWARDS:
DGA Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Series (nomination), Desperate Housewives (2004) Emmy, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, Ally McBeal (1997)

Holofcener:  It’s really hard to keep showing up as the new girl over and over on TV shows. If you do one episode and you’re asked back, you can just relax and do a good job.

Gordon:  How often are you the only woman directing the show for the whole season? I do The Office, and I’m the only woman.

Glatter:  A lot. Because once they’ve hired one, they feel that they’ve done their duty.

Gordon: What I find a lot is that there’s a cronyism that steps in. There are shows where I’ve done great work, and shows where I know they’ve loved me in the past. I might not get invited and I’ll inquire why, and they’ll say the executive producer brought in some friends. I think women are the first to be dispensed with.

Leder:  I try to hire a lot of women when I’m exec producing. And it’s always a struggle. Because I always have to get approvals on everybody. I think the studios are much more willing to hire the average guy than take a risk on an exciting new woman. I’ll say, ‘I want to bring this woman in for this slot,’ and I’ll hear, ‘No, better for the back nine. We don’t really know them. Let’s get the show successful before we hire the women.’’

Glatter:  That’s a very common thing.

Sanford:  Isn’t that true for the new male directors too, that they don’t want them in early on a new show?

Glatter:  That’s true. But numerous times I’ve heard people say, ‘We hired a woman once and it didn’t work.’

Leder:  CSI. They’ve only hired a woman once. Because it ‘didn’t work.’

Glatter:  No one would ever say, ‘We hired a white guy, and it didn’t work. So we’re not going to hire any more white guys.’’’

Sanford:  I don’t think they’d say, ‘We hired an African-American person and it didn’t work, so we’re not going to hire any more.’

Heckerling:  Well, they wouldn’t say it out loud.

Dawes: There’s been a tradition of activism in this area, of men and women going out of their way to open things up. The DGA passes out a contact list of women directors to keep those names in front of producers. Many of you have participated in different programs and initiatives. What kind of activism have you found to be effective?

Glatter: I feel it’s important to always have women mentoring. On every show I direct, I have someone shadowing me that I introduce to everyone. That feels like a really direct thing that I can do to promote change. I think what you’re doing, Mimi, makes a difference, because you can hire someone.

Leder:  And bringing people in to shadow you is the way to really train them, and really get someone in the group.

Sanford:  I do that too, and only for women and minorities. The last time it was for a woman who was a commercial director who was married to a key grip I know. She wanted to see what the job was like.

Holofcener:  The production will always say you can bring a shadow.

Dawes:  Is that as a guest on the set, or is it a job?

Glatter:  It’s a guest. But they go through prep, and see what the process is.