Even by the golden age standards of television today, Martin Scorsese’s two recent pilots – for Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl – make for extraordinary viewing, with the legendary filmmaker launching both those series with a big, brilliant bang. Needless to say, helming the pilot episode is a pivotal task as it not only determines whether a series will be made at all, but it usually sets the tone and style for the production. With that in mind, we look back at ten other film legends who have turned their focus to that crucial first episode of a television series.
1. Jane Campion: Top of the Lake
Jane Campion’s imprint is all over this chilling, atmospheric, New Zealand-shot series, which she co-directed with Garth Davis and co-wrote with Gerard Lee. The series follows a detective (Elisabeth Moss) who returns to her home town and becomes embroiled in the investigation of a pregnant young girl. For fans of the show, a second series has been commissioned, which Campion and Lee are now scripting!
2. Baz Luhrmann: The Get Down
Mr. Luhrmann is bringing his frenetic energy to the pilot of this Netflix series, which unspools in 1970s New York City on the eve of the hip-hop explosion. It stars Jaden Smith, Shameik Moore (who headlined Dope) and Gincarlo Esposito (aka Gus Fring on Breaking Bad!).
https://youtu.be/zejyzr5vW3A
3. Steven Soderbergh: The Knick
Just after announcing his retirement, Soderbergh returned (to the relief of many fans) with this compelling and wonderfully off kilter series pivoting around a pioneering surgeon (Clive Owen), who is as much a brilliant visionary as he is wildly self-destructive. The second series wrapped at the end of last year and Soderbergh (who has directed every episode thus far!) is talking a third season…
4. Michael Mann: Luck
The director behind Heat brought his sleek, slow-burn ethos to this series set in the shady world of horse racing and organised betting, and starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. While a second season was commissioned, the series was unable to overcome the bad press it garnered following the on-set death of three horses, leading the filmmakers and HBO to calling it quits.
5. David Fincher: House of Cards
Just the second original series to be commissioned by Netflix, House of Cards follows corrupt politician Frank Underwood (played to perfection by Kevin Spacey), and it was a huge, binge-watching success. While Fincher only directed the first two episodes of the first season, his elegant and clinical touch have come to define the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwUzF1q5w4
6. Frank Darabont: The Walking Dead
The Shawshank Redemption director lensed just the first episode of this staggeringly popular zombie series, but he was the driving force behind the show, adapting the idea from the comic books. As has been well publicised, Darabont was ousted from the show following his strained relations with AMC, and he subsequently wrote and directed the crime series Mob City, which was sadly axed after just one season.
7. David Lynch: Twin Peaks
Lynch is currently shooting a much publicised follow-up series to the nineties cult show (due out in 2017) that started with the death of a young woman “wrapped in plastic”. Watching the filmmaker work his warped magic within the confines of a network series was a joy.
8. Gus Van Sant: Boss
The indie hero behind My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting and Milk made his television debut with a surprising choice: a political drama starring Kelsey Grammer. Despite its two-season run, Boss never really took off with audiences, and the extent of Van Sant’s creative involvement in the show (he served as executive producer the whole time) remains unclear.
9. Guillermo del Toro: The Stain
The horror maestro behind Crimson Peak, Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy turned his mind to television in 2014 with an adaptation of his own trilogy of novels he co-authored with Chuck Hogan. The series unspools in a city being attacked by a vampire-causing infection, and has been commissioned for a third series.
10. The Duplass Brothers: Togetherness
The multi-talented Duplass brothers’ trajectory has seen them move from micro-budget “mumblecore” gems (The Puffy Chair, Baghead) to scruffy studio projects (Cyrus, Jeff, Who Lives at Home). While they’ve acted in television (Jay in Transparent and both in The Mindy Project), the pair made their own small screen debut with HBO’s Togetherness, a funny and brutally honest drama about the compromises and disappointments that accompany domestic life. That is, the theme that ties much of their work together.
