How do they go about this?
For example, in the first season of MASH, * the directors of the first ten episodes were: Gene Reynolds, William Wiard, Michael O’Herlihy, Terry Becker, Hy Averback, Hy Averback (again), E. W. Swackhamer, Hy Averback (3d time), Don Weis, and Lee Phillips.
Do the producers just choose any director, or do they look for one with particular style or skill?
Well, there’s directors a producer has worked with before. And of those, there are directors a producer would like to hire for this project and those they don’t want to hire. And of the directors he’d want to hire, the producer needs one that’s available and affordable.
Then there’s directors he’s never worked with before but other producers he respects have good recommendations for them. The availability and affordability issues still apply.
And there are also package deals. “Sure, I’ll do 3 episodes for you, but only if you hire my son-in-law to do one.”
I’m sure there are other ways to hire a director also.
The main skill a TV director has to have is the ability to finish episodes on time and on budget. That’s relatively easy for a three-camera sitcom (e.g., The Big Bang Theory, which is why Mark Cendrowski can direct 181 episodes), but any single-camera comedy or dramatic show there are many ways where things can go wrong. Especially in dramas today, where continuity is a key, you don’t want to have a show uncompleted with it comes time to air.
Basically, TV directors develop reputations. If you manage to be named director for one episode, and you get things done, that producer will hire you for more episodes and other projects.
In movies, it’s similar, but there the director is also a star. Very often the name director picks their project and sees it through. An exception are superhero films, where the director is assigned by the producer; they often go to hot, young directors who haven’t done many features.
Right. A TV episode is very different from a movie. The show’s creators will have made almost all the decisions before the first episode is shot, the director has to be a manager, and it will be one who has a good rep and experience on TV. A movie director has to play a bigger part in developing the movie, choosing sets, costumes, shaping the characters and the story.