Christine Gernon ~ Director | Research

After looking at a director for a studio sitcom, I thought I would look into another director of one of our sitcom influences, but not a studio based one. We have used Gavin & Stacey quite a lot as inspiration throughout this project, so I thought I would look into the series director, Christine Gernon.

Christine Gernon

Gernon is a director and producer and is mainly known for Gavin & Stacey (2007), One Foot in the Grave (1990) and I'm With Stupid (2005), and has been directing since 1997 - based on her IMDB profile.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0314641/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1

It has been said that Gernon has directed some of the most successful comedy series of the last two decades, which is quite an achievement. Along with that, she directed all three series of the BAFTA award winning comedy series, Gavin & Stacey which is well-known to most UK citizens. Not only does Gernon direct British comedy, she also tries her hand in directing US comedy series such as, New Girl, The Goldbergs, and more recently Speechless which is a new US series, showing on ABC.

https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/christine-gernon

Gernon explains in an interview that she "didn't want to direct (or even know what directing was) until [she] walked onto a set and thought, that's what I want do." It's clear from this quote that she is quite a determined person, which in turn helps her skills as a director as they should always know what they want and find out a way to get it. Determination is a good skill for a director to have, and I will remember this throughout my time as a director in our own project.

She started off working at the BBC as a clerk in radio, then became a broadcast assistant, it was after that, that she moved over to BBC comedy for six months and worked as a runner/production secretary on the first series of One Foot in the Grave. She says "I realised being a director was a job and I went all out to become one." 10 years later her hard work payed off as she directed the last ever series of that show, which is quite a progression and experience to have. This meant that she had a lot of knowledge about the role of the director, which gave her the confidence and knowledge she needed when becoming one herself. Similarly, by doing this research, it will help me be a better and effective director, and I'll have the knowledge on being a director to help me along the way.

Gernon explains her job as taking the script and translating the words on the page onto a TV screen. She mentions that her job might start before the script as she'll work on ideas with the writers but the bottom line is she will read something and then make it into a visual thing. The whole look and feel of the show she is directing is done to her with help from a lot of people. This tells me that there are a lot of people that the director will work with when trying to make her vision come to life. Obviously, in our small production team, there isn't a big group to work with and communicate with, but all three of us will definitely work together in an effective way.

The way in which Gernon speaks about directing gives me a good outlook on the role. Even thought it's stressful and time consuming at times, it's still fun and you have to remember that especially when doing a comedy.

http://standardissuemagazine.com/voices/odd-job-christine-gernon/

When looking at the directing style fo Gavin & Stacey it is very natural and realistic, and if you were to watch it you wouldn't even think it was a scripted, rehearsed show. This is something I want to take into our own project, and I think Gernon's directing style will be one of my biggest influences, if not the biggest, when directing Young & Famous.