Veteran TV director Jeremy Podeswa talks to Scorsese about ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and why the ‘streaming economy’ never made sense – Thessaloniki

“We are so lost.” How do we do that?” Veteran television director Jeremy Podeswa said this was the first reaction he and a colleague shared after seeing an early clip from Martin Scorsese. Boardwalk Empire Pilot for HBO.

“It was big, very expensive and took a long time to make. Filming took 33 days and cost $35 million, which is a lot today, but back then it was even more.”

Podeswa told the story during a career masterclass at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece, telling the sold-out audience that he was called into Scorsese’s personal screening room to watch the episode because he was directing a follow-up episode for the network. manufacture. has been put into use.

“To give you a comparison, 33 days and $35 million, and then I came and shot an episode in 10 days for $10 million, which also sounds like a lot of money, but it’s not $35 million,” Podeswa said.

The Canadian filmmaker called it a “great experience and challenge” to find his own path as a director Boardwalk Empire after Scorsese’s pilot episode, adding, “You’re just figuring things out.”

“‘You can’t be Scorsese.’ I won’t do it, but somehow it will still feel like the same show,” he said.

Shadow Scorsese Boardwalk Empire was just one of the anecdotes Podeswa told during his early-morning masterclass in Thessaloniki, the centerpiece of the festival’s AGORA sidebar.

With credits in programs like Six Feet Under, Game of ThronesAnd The Handmaid’s TaleWorking primarily in television, Podeswa directed a number of films in the 1980s and 1990s, most notably the 1996 film eclipse.

“Television is often very fast. You don’t have a lot of time for rehearsals or filming, so everything is like feature films, only more compressed,” says Podeswa about the difference between working on narrative features and working on series.

Podeswa added that he tends to avoid traditional table readings with a full televised cast, which he says is not very “useful” for him, preferring instead to meet individually with actors to work out the script’s narrative rhythm.

“We go through the script together and discuss what we think and whether we need to make any changes,” he said.

Later in the session, Podeswa was asked for his thoughts on the current state of television. In response, he said he believed the industry was at a “tipping point” as he took the “pay TV” model off of subscription-based appointment television.

“As we all know, there are 10,000 shows across multiple platforms and you can scroll through 10 million things before you find something to watch.” “It’s different and I think there’s too much choice, which is never a good thing,” Podeswa said. “It is very difficult to get people to focus on one thing. i find game of thrones is probably the last. I can’t imagine another show where everyone is watching the same thing at the same time.”

Taking direct aim at streamers and their productive output, Podeswa said, “They can’t continue to produce at this rate.”

“I think what they’re finding now is that the economics of streaming, as you can see with the strikes, streamers got into this business pretty quickly and the economics of it weren’t that clear to begin with,” he said. “You can’t keep doing thousands of shows and throwing money at them. It won’t last.”

Despite sweeping changes in the industry – which he often described as negative – Podeswa concluded that truly creative TV shows are still being produced. He has highlighted the Netflix limited drama twice beefwith Ali Wong and Steven Yeun during the session.

“The show is great and a huge success for Netflix. It was done for free, but it doesn’t matter. The show is so fresh and smart. It’s still about creativity, and it’s always been about creativity. The fact that the industry is changing will never change that.”

Podeswa also praised the Hulu/BBC drama Normal peoplethe first Sally Rooney adaptation directed by Irish filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson.

“This is one of the greatest shows of all time. In execution, it is one of the most beautiful things you will ever see.”

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival runs until November 12.