What is the role of a Television director? How does their collaboration and creative choices inform the language of a new or established television series?

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 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.

Inspired by living in London, Sebastian started his own production company, Upshot Entertainment, at the age of 17 with an ambition to create the content that he wanted to see: content that was vastly underrepresented – fronted and made by black talent. Created, written and directed by Sebastian, his first drama Just A Couple, about a couple in a distinctly modern relationship, started life as a YouTube series before being picked up by Big Talk Productions for BBC Three.

Sebastian went on to direct the International Emmy-nominated BBC Three comedy Dreaming Whilst Black, and the recent hit ITVX and Amazon Prime drama Riches.  Most recently, Sebastian directed the BAFTA-Winning Supacell, a superhero drama set in London for Netflix.

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. For film, she is developing a feature with the BFI based on the true story of the Cascades Female Factory in Tasmania.

Previous credits include the epic action adventure show Nautilus which aired on Amazon in the UK and AMC in the US in Autumn 2024. Further TV work includes The Devil's Hour (Hartswood Films for Amazon) and BAFTA-nominated Vigil with World Productions for BBC One/Peacock, which had the second highest viewing figures in 2021. The Radio Times described it as “riveting, perfectly-paced”.

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 and was long-listed for the Best British Short Film BAFTA.

Shaun James Grant

Shaun James Grant is a Writer, Director and Film Photographer based in London.

Grounded in emotional intelligence, he is fascinated by the ripple effects of our choices and how each decision can shape destinies in unexpected ways. With a keen sense of empathy, 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.

Fresh off his critically acclaimed work on The Devil’s Hour for Amazon, 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.