“If you don’t know what the scene is about, shots mean nothing,” she concluded.īurton and Allen also spent time talking about working to increase diversity in the field of directing. I want them to tell me, what is the scene about? How are you going to help the actor in the scene?” “When I’m mentoring directors, I don’t want to hear them talk about shots. “Being able to break down the narrative is one of the most important things for a director,” Allen said. Whether working as an actor or a director, Allen emphasized that the most important skill to have is that of a masterful storyteller. Photo by Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging.Īllen encouraged students to focus on the story when directing, and let the technical aspects fall into place. Debbie Allen shared her experiences on making the transition from acting to directing in the fourth installment of SDA’s Multihyphenate Masterclass series. “I call my extras background artists because I want them to have a sense of ownership over what happens in a scene,” she said. “I had never known a director to include the extras, to include all our incredible human people who are part of our storytelling. “Miss Debbie Allen turned to all the extras and said you are all part of telling the story,” Burton recalled. She mentioned that Allen was one of the only directors she had worked with to pay attention to each one of the extras in a scene, knowing that they are valuable contributors to the final artistic vision of the episode. He had put me through so many paces, the number belonged to me.”īurton-who has worked with Allen many times on Grey’s Anatomy-was able to share her own observations and lessons she had gleaned from Allen’s directing. “’Anita, be more vulnerable.’ ‘Anita, kick more ass,’” Allen recalled, laughing. She told the story of Jerome Robbins asking her to perform the same number-“America”-in radically different and seemingly contradictory ways each week. Allen recalled early lessons on directing she had received as an actress, including an episode from her role as Anita in West Side Story. In the fourth installment of SDA’s transformational Multihyphenate Masterclass series, groundbreaking director, actor, dancer, and choreographer Debbie Allen joined a panel of dynamic young SDA alumni moderated by Professor Kate Burton to discuss the unique challenges of transitioning from acting to directing for the stage and screen.Īllen regaled the audience with stories, lessons, and advice she has gained over the course of her legendary career, from her groundbreaking turn on Fame to her more recent work on Grey’s Anatomy, and everything she has accomplished in between.
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