What is the role of a Television director?

For our first “online” DAILIESESSIONS, we have brought together three award winning directors; Sebastian Thiel (Supacell), Isabelle Sieb (Vigil) & Shaun James Grant (Criminal Record) who will each lead a one-hour session. The directors will break down how they got their first TV job; utilising an episode from one of their directed shows, they will highlight how they prep as lead or second block director. The session will also be an exploration of how they adapt their personal style to fit the tone and visual language of a project, how do they navigate notes from show runners and producers whilst still honing their directorial voice? Finally, how do you build a career as a television director?

Sebastian Thiel 

Sebastian Thiel is a writer, director, and producer. Born in Zambia and raised in North West London, Sebastian is one of the UK’s hottest rising stars behind the camera, having directed dramas for BBC, ITV, Amazon Prime and Netflix. At age 17 he started his own production company, Upshot Entertainment, with an ambition to create the underrepresented content that he wanted to see. Sebastian most recently directed the BAFTA-Winning Supacell, a superhero drama set in London.

Isabelle Sieb  

Isabelle is an Emmy-winning and multi BAFTA-nominated director for film and television. She is the lead director of Matt Charman’s new Netflix thriller The Choice starring Suranne Jones, Julie Delpy and Corey Mylchreest. Further TV work includes BAFTA-nominated Vigil with World Productions for BBC One/Peacock, which had the second highest viewing figures in 2021. Isabelle has also made critically acclaimed shorts including Three Women Wait for Death, which won the Chris Collins Best of Live Action Award at the Encounters Film Festival.

Shaun James Grant

Shaun James Grant is a Writer, Director and Film Photographer based in London. Shaun builds compelling worlds where characters are confronted with tough, often unanswerable, social dilemmas. Rather than imposing judgments, he prefers to observe, capturing the subtle nuances of human imperfection. Shaun recently directed all the episodes of Criminal Record for Apple TV. He is currently directing three episodes for an upcoming season of a major Apple series.