TV has become so cool it’s hot

From Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson to “Entrapment’s” Jon Amiel to action movie maestro John Woo, directors known for their imprint on the big screen are contending for slots on the small screen. In a remarkable crossing of media, 23 feature directors, including Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Singer, are preparing pilots for shows vying for placement on all six broadcast networks.

At most, only a few will be picked up. But the effort shows an important swing in the entertainment pendulum: the acceptance of television as a creative and thriving medium that no longer stands as the stepchild to the big screen.

“It’s cool to do TV now,” said David Grant, president of Fox Television Studios, which is co-producing Woo’s pilot for the WB, “The Robinsons: Lost in Space.” “There might have been a stigma at one point, but in the last five years that hasn’t existed. These directors all grew up on TV. They didn’t grow up with the thought that film is high art and TV is not.... The lines are broken and blurred.”

Some directors are veterans with household names. Several never worked in television; others are returning to the medium where they began.

There have always been film directors who succeeded in television. “Network” and “Dog Day Afternoon” director Sidney Lumet, for example, got his start on the early TV series “Studio One” and “Danger.” Long before Michael Mann was Oscar-nominated for directing “The Insider,” he was a writer on the original “Starsky and Hutch” TV series and executive producer and driving force behind “Miami Vice.” In the ‘90s, “Rain Man” director Levinson’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” was a favorite among viewers and critics.

Traditionally, feature directors with recognizable names lent their names to TV projects, received producing credits and moved on to their next film. This season, feature directors are directing, helping to set the tone and template for the pilots they hope will sell the show.

Woo has directed two TV movies, “Once a Thief” and “Blackjack,” but his project for the WB is his first for a series. “The Robinsons: Lost in Space” is a remake of the popular ‘60s series that followed the struggles of a space colony family. Although the old series was a camp classic, Woo is a major selling point for the new version, said Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president of drama development for the WB.

“It elevates the project in a number of ways,” she said. “For the acting talent, it’s an exciting proposition to work with John Woo in the TV arena. We work with a lot of great television directors, but he has a lot of experience working on features that are high-profile and attract the best and brightest.” The combination of the story’s multidimensional characters and the necessary use of special effects attracted Woo, who says he is treating the pilot like one of his big-budget action movies.

“What’s challenging about this is that it’s based on an old series and people have a great memory of this show,” Woo said. “So my challenge is to make it better and give it a new element. I will be very unhappy if it doesn’t get picked up, but I have so much confidence that it will.”

During the last 10 years, television shows like “NYPD Blue,” “Homicide,” “ER,” “The Sopranos “ and “24” have paved the way for television dramas that can boast of sophisticated filmmaking and crisp writing that rivals many box office hits.

“The movie business is becoming increasingly polarized,” said Amiel, who is directing “Eyes,” a thriller for ABC about a high-tech security firm. “Fewer films are being made, and the ones that are being made fall between massive tent-pole pictures with a lot of visual effects or the $12-million-and-under bracket. These creative recessions in the movie industry, coupled with a tremendous resurgence in television and the growing power of cable ... basically released a raft of interesting products to the airways.”

“They see the exciting work on television now and they have an interest in being associated with that,” added Gail Berman, president of entertainment for Fox. “People like Bryan Singer (“X-Men”) and Peyton Reed (“Bring It On”) have grown up on this medium and have a love for it and a respect for it and want to be able to do everything.”

One director who has seized opportunities in broadcast and cable is Levinson, who directed “Homicide” and, for HBO, “Oz.” This summer, Levinson and his partner, Tom Fontana, will unveil “The Jury” on Fox, a courtroom drama told from the perspective of the jury, which has been picked up for six episodes.

“There are stories you can tell on television that film doesn’t bother with anymore,” said Levinson, who stars as Judge Horatio Hawthorne in the new show. “Film rarely deals with character behavior and the smaller moments that make up life.... The distinction between film directing and TV directing is fading away completely. You do what excites you.”

For some directors, the lure of television is in the potential for making fast money in between feature film projects. In six weeks of work, a director with an equity stake in a show can make a pilot that, if it becomes a hit, can pay off richly for years. Some turn to the small screen out of necessity when film projects stop coming their way. Others enjoy the adrenaline rush inherent in the time and budget constraints of television.

“It challenges you to be economical and clever as opposed to shooting 9,000 angles of one scene and giving it to the editor,” said Adam Shankman, director of “Mystery Girl” for Fox. “In movies you don’t always have to be judicious, but in television you always do. In the past five years, producers and directors and actors have been noticing that there’s a lot of money to be made in television, and there’s no reason why you can’t do both.” For other directors, it’s their long-term relationship with a producer that persuades them to take the leap into a different medium. “As long as you have a seasoned television producer or a show-runner or writing producer working with a first-time director, it’s a comfortable fit,” said Nina Tassler, executive vice president of dramatic series development for CBS.

J.H. Wyman and “Con Air” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” director Simon West first teamed up last year on “Keen Eddie,” a London-based drama-comedy that premiered on Fox but is now seen in repeats on Bravo. Now, they are working on “Harry Green and Eugene,” a show for ABC about a police officer who reinvents himself as a private investigator and goes on cases with his inept brother in Los Angeles. They plan to work on features as well.

“We all see television as a viable source of media now, but one of the misconceptions still is that a film director will never be able to stay within budget or keep up with the pace, which is twice as fast,” said Wyman, who wrote “The Mexican,” and has written, produced and acted in other films. “At the end of the day, Simon is a savvy director who can be creatively excellent and exercise financial restraint.”

In the case of Levinson and Fontana, it was the director who found his producer 13 years ago. The partnership they formed for “Homicide” went so well, they’ve worked together ever since.

“In England, people can do television and theater and film, and nobody thinks twice about it,” Fontana said. “But maybe because theater is in New York and film and television is in L.A., it has been historically different. But that prejudice just doesn’t exist anymore because the two mediums are so different.”

When executive producer and writer John McNamara was looking for a director for “Eyes,” he made two lists: feature directors he admired and television directors with proven track records. He quickly realized none of that mattered.

“Movies stimulate the part of the brain that likes roller coasters, and TV is the bastion of heart and character,” McNamara said.

Some feature film directors stay away from television because they do not like to lose their autonomy. Unlike feature directors who call all the shots, television directors are more often workers for hire in an industry in which writers and executive producers have much more control. In addition, they answer to network executives.

“You can’t tell the network to [get lost] because you leave and they stay,” Shankman said. “Their investment is bigger than yours. On the other hand, your emotional investment in the project isn’t as high because you’re on it for a shorter period of time. It’s not that you don’t care, but it’s not the same as investing all of your energy into a project for two years.”

For those reasons, Reitman, who is directing “Cooking Lessons,” a show for CBS that uses cooking as a metaphor, sees his directorial debut in television as an “experiment.” As movie studios have become more cautious and movies more formulaic, directing a story he could not make as a feature became a risk worth taking, he said. Amiel, on the other hand, sees the anonymity of TV directing as a potential blessing, given the medium’s high failure rate.

“It’s good to know if it’s not a good piece of work, it won’t haunt you because nobody sees it,” Amiel said. “Who doesn’t relish the opportunity to fail in obscurity?”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Heading to the small screen

More than ever, the line dividing film and TV directors is disappearing. What follows is a list of directors known for their work on features who are attached to projects competing for slots on the networks’ fall lineups.

Director: Jon Amiel

Features: “Sommersby” and “Entrapment”

Pilot: “Eyes” (ABC):A Thriller set in a high-tech security firm.

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Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Features: “K-19:The Widowmaker” and “Point Break”

Pilot: “High School Undercover” (Fox):A young female cop goes undercover in high schools.

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Director: Danny Cannon

Features: “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer”

Pilot: “CSI: NYC” (CBS):The third installment of the franchise.

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Director: Gary Fleder

Features: “Runaway Jury” and “Impostor”

Pilot: “Blind Justice” (ABC):A detective blinded while saving other cops returns to the force and becomes a partner to a misfit female officer.

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Director: James Foley

Features: “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Chamber”

Pilot: “Hollywood Division” (Fox):Ensemble about three groups of cops on the beat in L.A.

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Director: David Frankel

Features: “Miami Rhapsody”

Pilot: “Countdown” (ABC): SWAT-based series that takes place in real time over the last 43 minutes of a real crisis.

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Director: John Herzfeld

Features: “15 Minutes” and “2 Days in the Valley”

Pilot: “Dr. Vegas” (CBS):Drama based on an unconventional doctor who’s the in-house physician at a second-tier Las Vegas casino.

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Director: Gregor Jordan

Features: “Buffalo Soldiers” and “Ned Kelly”

Pilot: “Numbers” (CBS):An FBI agent works with mathematicians who solve crimes a la “A Beautiful Mind.”

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Director: Mimi Leder

Features: “Pay It Forward” and “Deep Impact”

Pilot: “Jonny Zero” (Fox):An ex-con is released from prison and becomes a modern-day “equalizer.”

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Director: Michael Lehmann

Features: “40 Days and 40 Nights”

Pilot: Untitled (Fox):A drama based on a blended family.

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Director: Barry Levinson

Features: “Rain Man” and “Good Morning Vietnam”

Pilot: “The Jury” (Fox):A courtroom drama that views cases through the eyes of the jury.

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Director: John McNaughton

Features: “Wild Things” and “Mad Dog and Glory”

Pilot: “Ricochet” (Fox):Cop show with a “Memento”-like approach to storytelling.

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Director: Gavin O’Connor

Features: “Miracle” and “Tumbleweeds”

Pilot: “Clubhouse” (CBS):A coming-of-age drama about a batboy for the New York Yankees.

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Director: Peyton Reed

Features: “Bring It On” and “Down With Love”

Pilot: “Oahu” (Fox):A drama about class conflicts between twentysomethings working at a beach hotel in Hawaii and their wealthy patrons.

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Director: Rob Reiner

Features: “When Harry Met Sally” and “Misery”

Pilot: “Everyday Life” (NBC): Comedy about a newlywed couple, both psychiatrists, who move in with the husband’s family.

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Director: Ivan Reitman

Features: “Ghostbusters” and “Kindergarten Cop”

Pilot: “Cooking Lessons” (CBS):Based on the novel by Amanda Hesser.

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Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Features: “Welcome to Collinwood” and “Pieces”

Pilot: “Hub” (NBC):Ensemble drama set behind the scenes at a large U.S. airport.

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Director: Adam Shankman

Features: “Bringing Down the House”

Pilot: “Mystery Girl” (UPN):An investigative reporter solves mysteries with humor, style and Prada.

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Director: Bryan Singer

Features: “X-Men” and “X2”

Pilot: Untitled (Fox):A team of doctors is charged with solving complicated medical mysteries.

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Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Features: “Men in Black” and “Get Shorty”

Pilot: “The Webster Report” (CBS):A character-based private-eye series about a reluctant hero, set in New York.

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Director: Simon West

Features: “Con Air” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”

Pilot: “Harry Green and Eugene” (ABC): A Philadelphia cop and his inept brother open a Century City detective agency.

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Director: John Woo

Features: “Face/Off” and “Mission Impossible II”

Pilot: “The Robinsons: Lost in Space” (the WB):En route to colonize a new planet, the Robinson family is ambushed by aliens.

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--Maria Elena Fernandez