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I have heard lots of complaints about the recent Star Wars trilogy focusing on the directors. The first that it was a retread. The second that it tried too hard to subvert expectations. The third that it threw out everything in the second. How much of this is the director's fault? Don't the plot beats come from the screenplay? Shouldn't the screenwriters get more of the flack since it is their story being told on screen?

Is television any different in this regard to film?

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    While an interesting question, this might also be a bit too broad to assess in a general sense. However, we treated a similar question quite a while back, which it might even be a duplicate of: Whose picture is it anyway?
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Feb 25, 2020 at 17:38
  • I understand the question could be interpreted broadly, but I specifically would like anyone to chime in on how much influence a director has on the story. I read the possible duplicate and agree it may overlap. If there is a consensus I will remove.
    – quantomb
    Feb 25, 2020 at 17:49
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    Seems too broad to me. If you want to narrow this down to a specific movie I think that might be fair but in many cases the director is working from instructions by the studio. He might have significant input but at the end, he's not paying for the movie.
    – Paulie_D
    Feb 25, 2020 at 20:11
  • As for television, I understand, certainly in long-running series, the director has even less input. The stories are already written, the actors don't need any real assistance or guidance on how to perform, the director just points the camera and make some stylistic choices. It's worth finding an interview with Kevin Smith on his directing of some of the Arrowverse episodes..he makes the same comments.
    – Paulie_D
    Feb 25, 2020 at 20:14
  • In one of his stand-up specials, Kevin Smith tells how he was directing episodes of Supergirl etc. and basically had next to nothing to do except yell "start" and "stop", and thus he went out and got burgers etc. for the crew while leaving that job to the AD or someone like that. On other shows however the showrunner might also be the director (e.g. True Detective season one) and might have massive influence.
    – BCdotWEB
    Feb 26, 2020 at 10:21

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