NBCU Launch has named the 2024-26 class of its TV Directors Program. The 2024-26 class and the NBCU series they are attached to are: Parisa Barani (Law & Order), Winter Dunn (The Irrational), Nina Kramer (St. Denis Medical) and Liz Sargent (Chicago Med).
Founded in 2009, the scripted directing program gives experienced directors with distinct points of view their break into episodic television. It’s the first scripted directing initiative in the television industry to guarantee that participants will helm at least one episode by the culmination of the program. Directors shadow on two episodes of an NBCU scripted series ahead of sitting in the director’s chair themselves.
Each program director has been paired with an alumnus who will serve as their mentor; SJ Main Muñoz (Fear the Walking Dead), Brenna Malloy (On Call), Kim Nguyen (Survival of the Thickest) and Dinh Thai (Wu-Tang: An American Saga) will help guide the new program directors through the process.
Additionally, NBCU Launch hosted a six-day intensive workshop with television directors Mary Lou Belli and Bethany Rooney. During in-person and virtual sessions held over two weekends, they led participants through a range of exercises on practical sets aimed at honing their creative visions, technical craft, and communication and interpersonal skills.
To be eligible for the program, candidates are required to have directing experience in their respective fields, including feature-length films, short films, music videos, commercials, digital content and unscripted programming. Candidates can have no more than one scripted television directing credit.
At the culmination of the lengthy selection process, showrunners and executive producers from the participating shows chose the candidate that best suited the creative direction of their show.
Pictured l. to r.: Parisa Barani, Nina Kramer, Liz Sargent, Winter Dunn
Photo Credit: NBC/Scott Angelheart
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