Tuesday night Bethany Rooney, one of the busiest directors in television, shared the story of how she started out as a secretary and worked her way up to become the director of nearly 200 episodes of one-hour television.
She went to college in Ohio, but someone a year or two ahead of her had landed a job as a writer on the TV series Lou Grant. So Rooney asked if her old college chum could get her an interview. As luck would have it, a secretarial position opened up that week. Rooney snagged the job and “made sure I got people’s lunch order right, brought them coffee with a smile, and learned everything I could about TV.” She soo got promoted to postproduction supervisor where she learned everything she could about editing. After 5 years of hard work (and taking acting classes to learn that vocabulary and craft) Rooney got her first shot at directing – an episode of the classic medical drama St. Elsewhere. Not a bad first gig – directing Denzell Washington!
She’s been directing ever since. The secret to success, according to Rooney: work hard, know your craft, and be nice to everyone.
