Pop Culturalist Chats with Joshua Butler

So much work goes on behind-the-scenes of our favorite shows and movies. Without the immense talent that works together to create great stories we see on television and film, we wouldn’t have such a rich entertainment industry. One such talent is director Joshua Butler. Ever since he graduated from USC Film School, Joshua has been busy. He’s directed a plethora of television episodes for shows like Shadowhunters, The Magicians, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, and Limitless. Not only is he an experienced television director, he has also worked on a number of other projects–ranging from directing music videos to running his own production company, Iceblink Films.

We were lucky enough to get to hear all about Joshua Butler’s thoughtful insights on directing and having your passion be your job.

PC: What made you want to become a director?
Joshua: On my 8th birthday, two momentous things happened. First, I saw a beautiful 70mm film print of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and thought that if movies can take you to Jupiter, that’s exactly what I want to do with my life. Second, I got a video camera as a birthday present and instantly started creating content with it. I like to joke that becoming a director is a childhood dream that no one actually talked me out of. Also, I never had a backup plan or got a backup degree or pursued a backup career. I’m all in on this one.

PC: What is the process like? For instance, how far in advance are you working on a particular project versus how long it takes to complete the shoot?
Joshua: The process is nothing at all like I imagined and nothing at all like I expected after a film school degree. It is a commitment to a life of permanent freelance—which means that when I’m not actually directing a project, I’m doing even more work to maintain relationships and create content and find opportunities for future directing projects. In most cases, I am hired weeks or months in advance of an actual job, and, thanks to tax incentives that have largely driven television production out of Los Angeles, I must plan to spend weeks in a hotel room in a different city actually doing the job. Thus far, I have spent a large percentage of my working life in Vancouver, Toronto, New York City, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, Charleston, and New Orleans. My commitment to directing a one-hour episode of television equals about one month of my life. Usually it’s a week and a half to prep, a week and a half to shoot, and then a week in the editing room where I supervise my Director’s Cut. Most people I talk to about episodic television are very surprised to hear how much time and labor goes into 42 minutes of content. It’s my job to make it look easy so that viewers can simply sit back, relax, and be entertained.

PC: Two of the more recent shows you have worked on are Shadowhunters & The Magicians—both TV series based on bestselling books. Were you familiar with either series before you directed their episodes?
Joshua: I was familiar with both book series before I directed the shows. I was also familiar with The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the movie that was initially made from Cassandra Clare’s excellent novels (before the franchise was reimagined for television). As usual, once hired, I instantly went from familiar with to immersed in these worlds. Given that the visual medium often deviates from the written word, it is usually easier for me to study how the showrunners have adapted the material than to focus on what was originally in the books.

PC: Both of those shows also use a lot of special effects—what is it like directing something that has a lot of post-production work that goes into it?
Joshua: It is truly mind-blowing how computers have evolved in the last few years, allowing us to accomplish so much more in post-production than ever before. When I direct a show that incorporates lots of visual effects, it is necessary to have a close relationship with the on-set effects supervisor who often stands with me at the monitor to discuss my vision of a particular shot and what elements we need to capture on set in order to achieve it.

PC: What is the biggest challenge you have as a director working on only a few episodes of a TV show (rather than, say, a film where you direct the entire thing)?
Joshua: The majority of episodic TV directors rotate from show to show, each of them hired for one episode at a time. Because many episodes are in production all at the same time, there’s simply no way for one director to do the entire thing unless you have a schedule designed that way (a rare example being True Detective Season 1). Also, showrunners expect a director to put their individual stamp on an episode while staying true to the style and the tone of the series. Thus, I usually walk into an already-established cast and crew and environment having done as much research as I need to to get up to speed on what the show looks and feels like. Then I have to make it clear to the writers, producers, and the entirety of the cast and crew that I am there to make a collaborative contribution to the series and make the episode I’m directing a truly epic hour of television.

PC: What is your favorite genre to work on?
Joshua: It’s a tie between romantic drama and science fiction. My dream jobs allow me to combine the two.

PC: What is one current franchise that you’d like to direct?
Joshua: Is it too clichéd of me to say Star Wars? Oh well, I’m going with it. I’d also absolutely love to direct a James Bond movie.

PC: You recently directed MENEW’s “Baby You’re Like a Drug” music video. Did you come up with the entire concept of it, or was it more of a collaboration with the band?
Joshua: I met MENEW through a mutual friend and hit it off with the band (Nathan, Key and Shade) right away. They proposed the basic idea of the video soon after we met, and I ran with it and created a full shot-by-shot concept for “Baby You’re Like A Drug”. Nathan, Key, and Shade then asked their buddy Joshua Jackson (well-known, of course, for Dawson’s Creek, Fringe, and The Affair) if he’d do us the honor of starring in the video. Joshua agreed, and I put together a crew of trusted people—including the brilliant Yasu Tanida, who was my director of photography—and we had an amazing shoot.

PC: Why did you decide to found your own production company?
Joshua: The only real leverage you have in Hollywood is the ownership of content. When one has an original screenplay, book rights, life rights, or any number of intellectual properties, one can negotiate a greater amount of creative involvement and artistic freedom. My production company, Iceblink Films, is in the business of supporting other filmmakers through funds and resources, as well as finding and developing projects for me to write and direct.

PC: If you were not a filmmaker, what would you be doing for your career?
Joshua: There’s nothing else I can even imagine doing in my life than filmmaking.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Guilty pleasure TV show?
Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives

Guilty pleasure movie 
Fifty Shades of Grey

Favorite play or musical?
HAMILTON, HAMILTON and HAMILTON.  (Did I say HAMILTON?)

Favorite book?
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Favorite social media platform?
Twitter.  Can’t more things in life have a 140-character limit?

Hidden talent?
I am a pretty amazing DJ, if I do say so myself.

If you could have dinner with five people, alive or dead, real or fictional, who would they be and why? 
I’ll go with alive and real.  Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.  Why?  Because if I had the power to hire five people to change the world for the better, it would be them.

Make sure to follow Joshua on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Photo Credit:Brant Brogan