‘House of the Dragon’ Finale Director Reveals What It Takes To Break Into Hollywood | Forbes - video Dailymotion

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Geeta Vasant Patel is an Emmy-nominated director and producer whose credits include “Ahsoka” for Disney+, “P-Valley” for Starz, and Hulu’s award-winning series “The Great” starring Dakota Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. Geeta serves as Executive Producer and Director on Hulu’s “Under the Bridge,” which stars recent Academy Award nominee—and now Emmy nominee—Lily Gladstone.   This season, Geeta is back in the director’s chair for some of the most anticipated episodes of Max’s Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning fantasy/drama series “House of the Dragon,” including the upcoming season two finale.  Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” “House of the Dragon,” set 200 years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” tells the story of House Targaryen. The cast includes Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, and more.  “House of the Dragon” has been renewed for a third season.  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone. I'm Maggie McGrath, editor of Forbes Women. Gita Patel is an Emmy-nominated

00:09producer and director. She has worked on and directed some of the most anticipated and

00:15most watched episodes of HBO's House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones spinoff. Gita is

00:22here today to tell us all about House of the Dragon and also her career and how she got

00:26to this very fun seat she sits in. Gita, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for

00:31having me. Now, I want to start at the beginning. I know the Game of Thrones and House of Dragon

00:36fans will want us to talk about the series finale, season finale, and we'll get to that.

00:42But you started your career as a writing assistant and you ultimately didn't get your own agent

00:47until the age of 35. And I kind of love that trajectory, right? It just didn't happen for

00:53you immediately. Can you take us through those early days and how you got from point

00:57A to point where you are now? Yeah, I, you know, I'm the child of immigrants and I was

01:04the first one born in America. My parents are from small farms in India. My father's

01:10village pulled their money to send him to America. And so when they got here, it wasn't

01:15in their mentality to be an artist because they didn't have that luxury. Where they came

01:20from, everybody just worked to survive. And I think that continued as they came to America.

01:25And when they raised my brother and me, it was about surviving and, you know, being able

01:31to make money one day and have a job like doctor, lawyer, what have you. And so I knew

01:38early on that I wanted to be a storyteller. But you never know at that age if you, even

01:43in high school, college, if this is something that is just like everyone else. I want to

01:49be a dancer. I want to be a singer. You're just a hobby or something that's real. And

01:53it's hard to know if you really have talent. And so by the time I got to college, it was

01:58very clear that this wasn't going away, this itch. And I was studying in Berlin. I was

02:04studying history. And I went to see a movie at the Berlinale and I didn't even know

02:13which film it was. I just stood in line and it happened to be the English Patient world

02:17premiere. And after the film was over, that was, I would say, if I was going to give it

02:24a term, the defining moment for me, that was it. I knew in that moment that there was

02:29something about storytelling that I was never going to shake and it scared me. And as

02:36everybody came out of the theater, I stayed and the theater emptied out and all the

02:41actors walked out. And Anthony Minghella came out and he looked right at me because

02:47there I was. I mean, I was clearly wanting to say something to him and he just nodded.

02:54And I remember little Max Minghella was there, too. And I just couldn't say anything

02:58because I didn't know what I had to say. I just knew that was it. And so he walked out

03:03to the coat room and I had a friend with me and she said, what is up with you? And so

03:09we walked out to the coat room. I'm getting my coat. And again, I'm just I can't get rid

03:14of this. I'm shaking. And he sees me in the coat room again and he waits for me to say

03:19something and I don't say anything because I truly don't know what's happening. And then

03:24the next day I'm getting ready for school and I call every hotel in Berlin looking for

03:31him. And I finally somebody answers the phone. It's his wife. And she starts laughing. And

03:38she said, you're the Indian girl from yesterday, aren't you? I said, yes. And she said, Anthony

03:42thought that you would call. Let me get him. He's in the shower. And he got on the phone

03:47and he said, ah, it's you. Come to my hotel. Let's just talk for a little bit. And so the

03:54next day I went to his hotel and we sat down. And again, I never said what I wanted, what

04:01I needed. I didn't know. And he just said, you're the child of immigrants. I'm the child

04:05of immigrants. He said, I want to tell you one thing. You're going to feel like you need

04:09to do things right away and do it the way everyone else is doing. But you don't have

04:13that path all the time. He said, take your time. He said, I'm here with you. I will be

04:18with you. Take your time. And so he stayed with me till he passed away. And after that

04:25moment, I knew. And then it was a matter of, you know, the respect I had for my parents

04:31because my parents are amazing. And I knew what they had gone through to give me what I

04:36had and to throw it away, to go try to become an artist. I knew from the outside what that

04:41was. And so I finished college, got a good job in New York in finance. And after about

04:47two years, my dad came up to me and he said, I haven't seen you smell in two years. I know

04:53what you want to do with your life. Go, go to L.A. And so I flew to L.A. within a couple

04:59weeks, I think. It's a little blurry. And at that point, I'd written probably 200, 250

05:07letters to people I admired just telling them I admired them. And then I had been flying

05:11to L.A. to meet them. So I had met David E. Kelly, Leslie Moonves. I mean, so many

05:18people. I'd written with Aaron Sorkin back and forth. It just kept going. And so at that

05:24point, I had all these people that knew who I was and how pathetic I was, probably. And

05:30I had told them that my parents were trying to arrange my marriage and that it was just

05:33like a big, hot mess. But what was great is when I got to L.A., I had a job pretty much

05:39right away. Mimi Leader had gotten one of my letters. She gave it to her showrunner

05:44and I became a writer's assistant for Carrie O'Salem on Mimi Leader's show. And when you

05:52want something that bad, it's kind of like I just went through IVF and did eight rounds

05:56to have my son. Like when you want it that bad, you don't complain. You are there. You

06:01are every moment you're accepting and absorbing. And that's what it was. And so I did that

06:06for about four years. And we did a show. My boss then kept me on and we did production

06:13rewrites. So that means you go to you work on films and and help them get to they're

06:19already kind of greenlit, but you help them in the last weeks before they start production.

06:23And what was great about that is that I have a very independent mind. My background is

06:27in languages and human rights and history. And so I it was nice to learn the rules of

06:33what makes something commercial and then start breaking them. So we did that for a few

06:38years. And then my boss just looked at me one day. He's you know, he's a screenwriter.

06:43He's like that. I can't promote you to writer. That's not how this works in this

06:47industry. Writer comes from writing. And I hadn't written anything because I had given

06:52him everything I had. And let's be honest, at that point, I didn't think I had any talent.

06:56I it was so much easier to hide behind him. That's me. You know, I my biggest.

07:03My biggest enemy has been myself my entire career, just that I I can't do this

07:10impossible dream that's in my head and then having this fight within myself, which I think

07:14many people have. And so I started writing a novel for some reason because I thought it was

07:19easier and nobody would judge as much.

07:22And so I moved in with my parents.

07:24I started writing this novel. The novel was terrible.

07:27And after a couple of years, I thought, well, if I do research on the novel, maybe it'll be

07:31better. And so I went to the war zone of Kashmir, which is the area between India and

07:36Pakistan, to research this novel because I had set it there because my again, my

07:41background's in that kind of thing.

07:43So I went to the war zone.

07:44I got off the plane with my with a couple of friends I was working with.

07:47And we realized right away that there was this war happening in a vacuum and no one

07:54actually understood what was happening.

07:55All the media, everything was completely whitewashed because the people that were

08:00stringers were from either side of the conflict.

08:03And I think you can probably relate to it now with things happening in the world.

08:07And so I decided to stay in the war zone and just document it, because I think at that

08:12point in your 20s, you're just following your bliss, trying to figure out, you know, you

08:16just follow your feelings if you're lucky.

08:18And I was lucky. So we stayed in the war zone.

08:21We got funded by Sundance.

08:22We went to their labs.

08:23And that's where I learned to be a filmmaker.

08:26And I figured out and I realized that I was directing, which I had never expected to do.

08:30I had never dreamt that high.

08:32And to me, directing is just a matriculation from writing.

08:37It's a completion of writing.

08:39You already see everything when you're writing and then or when you're conceiving and

08:42then you get to complete it.

08:44So that project took probably eight years on and off because of us not having money.

08:51I was a secretary almost the entire time on the side to make ends meet and went to two

08:57Sundance labs. And that's where I really learned all these skills.

09:01And, you know, they give you they give you mentors.

09:03They you learn how to work with a team.

09:06And when I came out of that, I knew that I wanted to be making fiction films and fiction

09:11television. I also on a side note, I wanted to start a family.

09:16I was getting old and I didn't know if I would ever meet anyone.

09:19So I thought if I get into TV directing, I can actually do what I love and support

09:23myself. But that's not an easy thing to do.

09:26It's not like that's like, you know, I'll be I'll be a big filmmaker and support myself

09:31like that's just something that, you know, it's just a dream.

09:34But I think there's been a single mindedness even from the early days.

09:38You couldn't articulate it.

09:39You said you didn't quite have your voice yet and know what stories you want to tell.

09:44But you had that instinct internally to just keep at it in some capacity.

09:49And I think over time, it sounds like you developed your voice and what you wanted to

09:53say over those years that led up to you getting an agent and then eventually getting on

09:59House of the Dragon and other projects.

10:01Would you agree? Yeah, I think writing that novel and being a bad storyteller, but

10:09having a story in me was the beginning because.

10:12Writing is rewriting and writing, meaning storytelling, it's such a craft, at least

10:18for most of us, it is something that you have to continue doing, you have to practice

10:21like a violinist, you have to keep practicing.

10:24And so we did the documentary and I felt my voice and it wasn't honed yet, but I felt

10:32it. And then after we did that, I came back to L.A.

10:36and I wrote two films in a row within a couple of months.

10:40And I felt and that was I wrote them for me.

10:42One is totally foreign language in Gujarati, which is a local language where I'm from

10:46in India. The other one was absolutely bonkers.

10:49It's a made up world.

10:50And I just did it for me because I wanted to feel my voice.

10:54I needed to know who I was.

10:55And after I wrote those two, I and as I wrote those two, I was living with my brother

11:01who's a comedian. He's in the show Animal Control right now and he is my best friend.

11:06And he took me in because I had PTSD from the war and he just found an apartment for

11:12the two of us in L.A.

11:14And as we were living together, we both come from this clan, the Patels, Patels, Mary

11:18Patels. And at the time in the United States, they'd have Patel conventions where we

11:23would go to find each other and marry each other.

11:25And my brother is dying, laughing over this and making all these sardonic jokes over it,

11:30whereas I'm in therapy.

11:32So as we live together, Ravi finally said, hey, why don't we make a documentary about

11:37this? This is hilarious.

11:38Let's make it funny. And so we got funded by PBS.

11:42And another six, seven years went by where I documented, you know, Ravi was in front

11:48of the camera and behind the camera.

11:49And I was behind and we watched Ravi go through this hilarious story where he had a

11:54non-Indian, you know, a white girlfriend my parents knew nothing about.

11:58And they broke up and he let my parents set him up in the Indian system.

12:03And we modeled it after Annie Hall and the great rom-coms of our day.

12:09And it was the greatest experience of my career still is because I worked with my

12:14family, but also, again, found my voice.

12:17I, you know, I was so comfortable working with an actor like my brother, a comedian like

12:22my brother. And it just solidified that I wanted to work with those kinds of artists.

12:26And I, you know, had no money again at the end.

12:30I actually sold my car to Finish Post.

12:34And at that point, we finally got an agent from Meet the Mattels.

12:39And I was about 35.

12:42And we walked into the agency and they said, OK, you know, Fox Searchlight wants to

12:47buy the rights to your film.

12:48They want to adapt it into a movie.

12:49This is great. We'll help you sell it.

12:51And then we'll make more documentaries.

12:53And it was the documentary, you know, it was the international sales division.

12:56And I just, you know, at that point, I had found my voice and I just said I want to

13:01direct on Game of Thrones.

13:03And they just I mean, literally.

13:04And I would, too.

13:06Honestly, I would, too. I don't know what's wrong with me.

13:07Like if I was in the room, I would also start laughing, be like, you are crazy.

13:11And so it makes sense.

13:12But I don't know what to say.

13:14Like, I'm my father's daughter.

13:16Like, we are delusional and we think we can do anything.

13:18And so, you know, at that point, I just said it and they just kind of giggled.

13:23And then but once I said it, that was it.

13:25And so for the next years, it was just, OK, I have to qualify.

13:30I have to get to Game of Thrones.

13:33That's incredible. It's really the best example of speaking into existence that which

13:37you want to be. You know, my father always used to say to me in high school, never be

13:42afraid to tell anyone what your goals are because you never know who can help you.

13:46And I think it's a twist on what a lot of us talk about these days about manifesting

13:50our dreams. Right.

13:52A lot of people say, you know, just speak it into existence.

13:54What my dad said is speak it and look for the people who can help you.

13:57So it sounds like you were doing that.

14:00So you find yourself working on House of the Dragons and obviously Game of Thrones has

14:04such a passionate and outspoken fan base.

14:07And I want to ask you, as someone with a voice, with a vision, how do you think about

14:12that fan base when you are making creative decisions?

14:15Do you think about making a storyline decision or a directorial decision that will

14:22perhaps please the fans or do you try to tune out the noise?

14:27I actually never think about it.

14:29I'm so busy just doing the job.

14:32I think for me, the reason I wanted to work on Game of Thrones was because it was to

14:38me the Olympics of directing.

14:39It felt like you were working with these high level actors.

14:44You're working with high level writing, high level production, and you're literally in

14:49this rigorous schedule that is just unbelievable.

14:54And I wanted that.

14:56I wanted to take that test.

14:59So for me, it's just head down, doing a good job, telling a story, making sure that

15:06there's emotion in it, asking questions, trying to make things stronger, pushing,

15:10pushing, pushing. That's a big thing of it is I just I push really hard to make sure the

15:16actors have given everything they can give.

15:18The writers have given everything they can give.

15:20I've given everything I can give.

15:22You're just trying to make sure that we're telling a beautiful, beautiful story and

15:27taking advantage of everything that we have, whether it be financial or even talent

15:32wise. So that's what it was for me after all those years of getting there.

15:39I've just enjoyed doing my part.

15:44And your part also involves being a co-executive producer, and I'm wondering, Gita, how

15:49do you think about directing versus producing?

15:52Is it two different sides of your brain and do you find yourself approaching the work

15:55differently or is it all kind of one in the same?

15:59For House of the Dragon, they gave Claire Kilner and me co-executive producer credits

16:05purely as I think it was very awesome of them.

16:08It was a level of respect because Claire and I had done first season and we both were

16:13the two directors who came back second season.

16:15So it was more of a name.

16:17To be honest, nothing really changed in our in our behavior or our jobs, at least for

16:23me. With Under the Bridge, the other show that I did recently, I was the pilot director

16:30for that and I was executive producer on that.

16:32That was where executive producing really came into play.

16:36So that that's where I think I took a larger role in the show and I can go into it if

16:42you'd like. But yeah, so it was different there.

16:44That was a hired executive producer job.

16:47I see. Well, thinking about you, you talked about wanting to work on a Game of Thrones

16:52property because it's the Olympics of filmmaking, so to speak.

16:56And you mentioned the cast.

16:57And I'm curious, what are the tricks you use as a director to get the best work out of

17:04the actors that you're working with?

17:06I read one story where you had kind of instigated a fight before a scene began to get

17:13some real emotion out of them.

17:14Is that a common tactic you use or how else do you bring the best to the screen?

17:20When I was working with my brother, Amita Patel's, one of the things that I discovered

17:26with my brother was the beauty of improvisation, and I think that not everyone is

17:33comfortable with improvisation, directors and actors, probably myself before then.

17:38And once we, you know, my brother is an improviser because he is a comedian at heart.

17:42Like if he's not coming from within himself instead of, you know, he's an inside out

17:48person and most comedians are and most actors are.

17:51So when we practice that, I came out of Amita Patel's feeling incredibly comfortable,

17:55but also understanding what you can get out of improvisation that you just go five

18:02rungs higher than just saying these are the words on the script.

18:06Improvisation to me is not just it's not making up new words, per se.

18:10It's actually feeling from the inside out rather than projecting what people want from

18:15you. And so as I went on to different projects after that, I worked with more comedians.

18:20And again, each comedian, I could tell, oh, OK, this person, if they if they could just

18:27loosen up and actually feel this from the inside, we're going to get a better performance

18:32out of them. So a lot of times.

18:34And then I took that all the way to House of the Dragon, all the way to Under the Bridge,

18:38where at some point, like I was working on shows where there was a kitchen scene on one

18:43of the shows I was working on, and it was just so stiff.

18:45Everyone was just saying the words they were supposed to say.

18:47I don't know why it felt so shit.

18:50I don't know why it felt like that.

18:51But what I asked everyone to do is I said, OK, guys, throw away the words just for a

18:56moment, as an exercise.

18:57And you guys are all cutting things and doing things at this one table.

19:02Only come here if you have to talk and say it however you want to say it, whatever your

19:06point is, just say it in your own words.

19:08And so we called action.

19:10We had the cameras on.

19:11And next thing you know, they're buzzing around the kitchen.

19:13They're doing other they're finding their characters.

19:16And then they come back with their words.

19:18And it's just so natural.

19:20And it's so Woody Allen and beautiful and Altman.

19:23And so then we then put the words back in them and they did it again.

19:29And the cinematographer and I are scrambling as usual because, you know, that's the thing.

19:33If you're going to do stuff like this, it's going to be a little crazy, a little chaotic.

19:36But we did it and it was beautiful.

19:39And that is what I do on every show.

19:42Now, if if I feel something is stiff, we just do an exercise like that.

19:47Or with the two men in House of the Dragon, they had a kind of a eye for an eye situation.

19:55These two families had been fighting for many, many generations, but we don't get to see

20:00that. And also after they speak, we don't get to see the war between the two of them.

20:05So all we have, we don't have a history.

20:07We don't have the future. We just have the present.

20:08And these two characters, we've never seen them before.

20:11Literally, they're in one scene.

20:12So that's a high order because a tall order, because you have to make people feel

20:17something, because this scene is actually the inciting incident for the rest of the

20:21episode. All the action comes from these two strangers.

20:24So what we did is these two actors came in the room.

20:26And I instead of talking about the script for a minute, I just said, think that this

20:32guy across from you just killed the most important person in your life.

20:35Who is the most important person in your life?

20:37You don't tell me. Just think it.

20:39And then we did it with the other gentleman.

20:41This person, whoever is the most important person in your life, just killed him or her

20:46and killed them.

20:47Now, rape them, stab them, slaughtered them.

20:52And in that moment, that was it go.

20:56And they just it was palpable for me, at least.

21:01And then when when we shot the scene later after that rehearsal, it was pretty much

21:05that. And it's just such a thrill.

21:08I mean, this is why I love to do what I'm doing.

21:11I think it's like being privy to the beauty of these.

21:17Talented people, you know, it's I wish I could do what they do, but I can't.

21:22But you can do something else.

21:24And what's interesting to me is I was going to ask because you've worked across genre,

21:27you've worked in comedy and you've worked in drama.

21:30And if if your approach is different depending on genre, but it sounds like you take

21:34aspects of both and just bring it to every project that you're working on.

21:39Yes, I think one of the things that has been really fun for me is genre, a lot of

21:43times, whether it be comedy as a genre or fantasy as a genre, sometimes

21:48it's easy to lose heart, like lose the actual heart in it.

21:52The comedy can get too hard and the fantasy can get

21:57too intangible.

21:59And so what I feel like my contribution tends to be more

22:04is bringing heart and grounding things, regardless of whether you're on a dragon,

22:10you've got laser Marvel powers or you've got this slapstick

22:15comedy. It's actually finding, OK, that is hilarious,

22:20but let's take it down a minute.

22:22What if this actually happened to you right now?

22:24You know, and then there's this different but it's still grounded.

22:28It's just a different tone.

22:29And so that's what I love to experiment with the most is

22:34making it something that is visceral to all of us watching.

22:37So we're not watching it, we're feeling it.

22:41Now, you mentioned that that conflict between the two men was an inciting incident

22:45for so much that followed in the rest of the episode.

22:47And I wanted to ask you, because specifically in episode three

22:52of season two of House of the Dragon, that was that set up so much for what

22:56came next. How do you think about directing an episode like that, where

23:01it's effectively the setup for many episodes that follow?

23:05It's tricky because a lot of times when I've gotten set up episodes,

23:10they can easily feel like this happens, this happens, this happens, this happens.

23:14And there's less of a build in which compared to other episodes,

23:18because it's setting up literally what's going to happen the next episode.

23:21And this has happened so many times.

23:23And so what I try to do is and it's TV.

23:26That's the way we work.

23:27I try to take the episode and break it into three acts.

23:31So really challenge myself and my team to treat it as a standalone film.

23:39And we have to figure out where there's the inciting incident within it.

23:43OK, now, where is the midpoint where certain things have to happen there?

23:47OK, now, where is the end of the second act where all is lost?

23:50There's got to be something like let's shape it so that we do feel that.

23:54And it's always little things.

23:56And we work very closely with the writers and the showrunner

24:00because they actually have already thought about all this.

24:02It's just about myself and my team making it visual

24:06so we can remind the audience that that's how this is structured,

24:09because obviously these are incredible writers writing these episodes

24:14and they take so long to do them.

24:15It's not like they just slap all this stuff down.

24:17But I think we can actually do a disservice as a visual artist in flattening it.

24:23But if we know where those cases are, then then that's that's what we should be doing.

24:29Now, I mentioned I'm the editor of Forbes Women.

24:31I know that film and screen have not always been the kindest to women.

24:35But House of the Dragon centers around two very strong female characters.

24:39What has it been like to tell their stories

24:41and to interact with these characters as a director?

24:46It's been really wonderful to work with these strong female characters.

24:52Most times I can relate to them in moments of, for example,

24:56leadership versus family.

24:58And sometimes it's a moment of coming across a certain way

25:04because you're a woman, you can't be vulnerable when you're a leader.

25:09There's there's a lot of things that are in our head that are not real.

25:13I think when we're new to a leadership space

25:17and then there's the final thing is just like, forget it, man.

25:20I'm a person. Let's just do this.

25:22You know, I'm going to wear whatever I want to wear.

25:24I'm going to talk however I want to talk and I'm going to have a heart.

25:27So I think there's a beautiful dance

25:30that the female characters do in House of the Dragon

25:33that is incredibly relatable.

25:35We see in politics as females have fought to have a space there.

25:41And sometimes it's interesting because you're like,

25:43it shouldn't matter whether this person is a female or not.

25:45And other times you're like, dude, it's, you know, it is what it is.

25:48Let's just call it, you know, let's just call what's happening here.

25:51So I find it incredibly interesting.

25:54And I think all of the credit goes to the writers of the show and Ryan Condal.

26:00I'm glad you mentioned him as a director.

26:02What is that director showrunner relationship like?

26:05And how do you build a successful and effective director showrunner relationship?

26:11When I made my two films, I was the leader,

26:15the visionary of those films, or I and myself and my directing partner.

26:21When I transitioned to television, everything shifted.

26:24So I am not the head of this.

26:26I am not the visionary of any of these shows.

26:29I work for the showrunner.

26:31And that is a huge understanding that needs to be clear,

26:36because otherwise things don't work the way they need to work.

26:38You know, the pyramid of leadership.

26:40So in television and on House of the Dragon,

26:44Ryan Condal is the visionary.

26:46He leads a team of writers and they're all on set when we're shooting.

26:51And it's their vision that we are delivering.

26:55That being said, Ryan particularly is incredibly collaborative,

27:00and this will change from show to show.

27:02He is masterful at allowing and.

27:07Inspiring the directors to come up with ideas or take this and run

27:13if there's things that are not on the page that are more visual.

27:17He really lets us try things.

27:19There's so many times in season one and season two where.

27:23I'll just have this feeling or an actor, I'll have a feeling like, hey,

27:26I know this is the way we're supposed to do this, but what if we did it this way?

27:30We still will make the day.

27:31We'll still come out ahead.

27:33But can we try this?

27:34And he I've never heard him say no.

27:36He always says, OK, yeah, cool.

27:38Let's try it. Let's try it both ways.

27:40And I think that's a really wonderful thing because we all have departments

27:45that we're leading, and I think that's what really makes it such a joy

27:49to work in any field, not just film and television.

27:54So that's really how the relationship works is he's, you know,

27:58I'll read the scripts and I'll give reams of notes to Ryan.

28:02And he's so smart in that he will read everyone's notes.

28:06I'm not the only one.

28:07I'm sure the other departments are giving notes

28:09and he takes it all in and makes his decisions

28:12because he knows that what he's writing is really strong.

28:14And all of us are here to support him and be his soldiers.

28:20That sounds like a healthy relationship, though, I wonder,

28:23how do you maintain to your voice and vision when working within that structure

28:27versus being your own showrunner and director at the same time?

28:33I feel like the last two shows, maybe not the ones as much before

28:37where you really there was much more of a strict

28:39there were strict parameters.

28:42These last few shows, particularly under the bridge in House of the Dragon,

28:46I feel like I very much use my voice.

28:49It may be, you know, I can tell you more specifically when we get the script.

28:53I give my thoughts and Ryan and I work things out together.

28:59And he ultimately it's his decision.

29:02But I feel like I have a voice.

29:04And I again, I give him credit for that.

29:06And then when it comes to the visuals, he pretty much allows us to go with it.

29:11And it's not just visuals, it's performance, it's character creation.

29:15We have a lot of new characters this season.

29:18There's one character that, you know, we we knew we wanted her to be a certain way.

29:22And so I just pitched I think this would be this is what I'd like to do.

29:26I'd like to do about a month, month and a half of work

29:29where we would find her character together.

29:31She and I in a room will improvise her whole history.

29:34And so we did that.

29:36And then, you know, I came up to Ryan and said, OK, this is what we came up with.

29:40I think this would be great.

29:42And he was like, cool. Yeah, that sounds good to me, too.

29:44And I think that that allowed me to also be a filmmaker in places on the show.

29:50And I really appreciate it because it's not it's not about my ego.

29:53It's more about the craft.

29:54I really give everything I do, everything I have.

29:58And now, as I get to the end of the second season,

30:02I I do feel like it's time to do films and take the next step.

30:09I think that's that's definitely an exciting thing that I've been hiding behind.

30:14Again, I've been hiding behind TV for a while.

30:17And now it's time to take that next step.

30:19I think doing Under the Bridge was another place in which

30:24I had a certain vision for the show.

30:26And the showrunners had had a certain vision.

30:29And we worked together.

30:30And, you know, here we're all convincing each other.

30:32This is what I think we need to do.

30:33This is why anything we do.

30:34So I feel my voice in that I am a collaborator with them and saying, look,

30:39I think we need to push the thriller further.

30:41Let's let's go. Silence of a Lamb.

30:43Let's darken the set.

30:44You know, there's certain things that I I feel very strongly about.

30:49And I feel very heard and collaborated with by my partners in both those shows.

30:54And also when you do a pilot like Under the Bridge, where I was the pilot director.

30:59I have a strong voice in the casting, along with the studio and the showrunners.

31:03And same thing with Under the Bridge.

31:06We had a very young cast, so I don't know if you're familiar,

31:09but Under the Bridge is about a 14 year old girl, a true story.

31:12She was killed and found dead under a bridge.

31:15And it turns out that it was these girls who bullied her.

31:20And so I directed the pilot for that and was the lead director.

31:25And for that, there were four girls who didn't have the experience

31:29yet of the grounded kind of

31:33eight mile feeling that you need for a show like that.

31:35And so I went to the studio and I said, look, this isn't going to work.

31:38This cannot be presentational.

31:40We need to give these young actors that we have to set them up for success.

31:45And so I said, can I please workshop with them for about a month and a half

31:50where we literally improvise all their backgrounds?

31:54I think most of them had not experienced any of the devastating stuff

31:57that their characters had experienced because their characters

32:00are from really bad parts of town.

32:03And so they said yes.

32:04And the showrunners said yes.

32:06And so I took these four talented actors and we just rehearsed

32:10like you were to play and found their characters.

32:13I'm like, you know, at one point, three characters were bullying

32:16the main actor who had never been bullied before.

32:19And she was down on her knees, but she needed to feel that.

32:22And so that's me being a filmmaker.

32:25That's me having a voice.

32:26And that's them being so talented that they did this for a month and a half.

32:31They went to screen and just did such a brilliant job.

32:35And those are the things, right?

32:37That's that's where I feel very lucky to have the showrunners

32:41and the studios who allow us to really go after the art.

32:45I did not have that as much when I first started out

32:47because there were different shows that, you know, had different

32:52different goals.

32:53And and that was right for those shows.

32:57I could listen to you talk about storytelling all day.

33:00I think you have found the perfect career for you

33:02because you're so good at even telling these stories.

33:04I'm just in trance.

33:05But I do have two final questions before we let you go.

33:07I know you have an eight week old at home and I feel bad keeping you this long.

33:11But we did talk about the season two finale of House of the Dragon coming up.

33:16And without getting in trouble with HBO, is there anything you can tell us

33:19and our viewers about what to expect from the finale?

33:23Oh, gosh, nobody wants to get in trouble with HBO.

33:27I don't know what I'm allowed to say.

33:28I didn't even talk to them about this. I don't know.

33:33I will say that everything that was set up in episode three, particularly,

33:38which is the one I directed, that wasn't it.

33:40It wasn't a coincidence that I directed episode three.

33:42There's a lot of things in episode three that are bookended

33:46in the season finale that come full circle.

33:50So that's a pretty exciting thing that while we were shooting,

33:54it did feel like a film shoot in that I knew the beginning and I knew the end.

34:00But I also was lucky enough to be able to direct those two pieces.

34:05I like that. I like that tease.

34:07And then my final question, hopefully a broad question,

34:11but you talked about finding your voice.

34:13You talked about kind of recognizing when you were hiding behind other people

34:16or the institution of television.

34:19And I want to ask, what is your advice for aspiring filmmakers

34:22and especially aspiring filmmakers who might be women of color

34:25who are looking to break in and follow in your footsteps?

34:31My advice in general would be follow your bliss.

34:35I think there are certain points where it's so much easier to be

34:40to to project on yourself what you think people want,

34:45whether it be English language, whether it be a vampire.

34:49I remember I had a writer's assistant for myself who thought she had to write

34:53a vampire movie because everybody was writing vampire movies.

34:55And there's no way I'm going to get a job unless I do.

34:58You know, I think follow your bliss.

34:59Go from the inside.

35:00If you have a story, what is your story to tell?

35:03And if you don't have a story to tell, go live in the world.

35:06Find the stories, find the things that you want to say,

35:09because ultimately, I think one of the problems that I see as I'm reading

35:13and looking around is people don't have something to say.

35:17And so they're making that.

35:18There's no heart in so many projects that don't make it to the screen.

35:22You'll never see them. But I do.

35:24So I think that's one thing.

35:25And I'm really glad I followed my bliss and was allowed to.

35:28The other thing is there's three things, probably.

35:31The other thing is there was a point in my career

35:35after I finished Meet the Battalas where I was broke again

35:39and I was about 35, I had not gotten the agents yet

35:43because nobody actually wanted Meet the Battalas when it first came out.

35:46It became a hit later through the underground small festivals.

35:51So at first we actually didn't get into any of the big festivals,

35:54Sundance, Tribeca, whatever.

35:56And I thought, OK, I'm done.

35:58I'm washed up.

35:58Like, I have got to go get a real job.

36:00I've got to start dating.

36:01Like, there's things that I have to do at this point.

36:04I had given so much up to do this, you know, art.

36:09And I went on a walk and I thought to myself, OK, I have no money.

36:15I go out with my friends and we split the bill.

36:18I asked to split the bill.

36:20But everybody else just, you know, I'm saying I have no money.

36:23So I'll be like, I had a lemonade. You guys split it.

36:25I just had no money.

36:26I was that person.

36:27And everyone knows that story in their life

36:29where everyone has more money than you.

36:30Everyone had big houses, big careers.

36:32They had 401ks, they had insurance and I had nothing.

36:36And I thought, if I leave right now and get a real job, I can have all that

36:40or I can stay and continue for the rest of my life

36:44to do what I love and make no money and be a secretary on the side.

36:48But I will be happy.

36:50And in that moment, I made a decision

36:52that I would choose to be happy and live on beans.

36:56And I never would expect to make money doing it.

37:00You know, I would just make my little films and

37:03this is the way I live.

37:04And that was the greatest decision I ever made, because, yes, of course,

37:09now I have a big career, but I never expected it.

37:12And to this day, I'm no different than I was in that moment.

37:15I am the same level of happy that I was in that moment.

37:18And I wish that for everyone that if you love something, just do it,

37:23because that's what that's success.

37:26Success isn't having money.

37:28And the third thing is for women.

37:32I will not lie.

37:33There were times where along right from the beginning, it was tough.

37:39I didn't feel accepted when I first started directing.

37:43I don't know if it was because I was a woman.

37:45I don't know it was because of something else, but I literally had

37:50people testing me.

37:51I had in my second show, the the DP was asking me

37:56if I knew terminology of lenses and film,

38:00which nobody needs to know to be a director.

38:02But he he did it in front of the crew.

38:06I had actors refuse to talk to me.

38:10I had I'm telling you the bad stuff.

38:12There were great things, too, but it was just tough.

38:15And I wished that I had believed in myself more

38:19and understood that it wasn't my fault.

38:21I had another director tell me the reason I got a job is because of the quota.

38:25And yes, maybe, you know, but there are so many things along the way

38:31because there is this incentive to hire women.

38:34I think sometimes it can feel like

38:37people think that you're only hired because they needed a woman.

38:40In fact, I interviewed for a show and they literally said to me,

38:43we need a diverse female.

38:45So we thought we talked to you.

38:46Like, it's not like you're making it up in your head.

38:48And I think my advice would be and I say this to myself constantly is.

38:54You are talented.

38:56You wouldn't be here if you weren't talented

38:58and you are going to do a great job and you will keep going

39:03and do not listen to any of this because it's not productive.

39:08Just keep going.

39:09And what's interesting is now I'm almost 50 and so many people from the past

39:15who took me down and I did go down for a couple of weeks,

39:17you know, where you feel like like crap have come and apologize and said,

39:21hey, I just want you know, we really gave you a hard time.

39:24And I'm like, oh, my God.

39:25So it wasn't in my head, you know, stuff like that.

39:27And so I remember that now.

39:29And for my daughter one day, I just want to tell her, like, just keep going,

39:33you know, regardless whether it's because you're short, you're you talk funny.

39:37I don't care. Just keep going.

39:40You know, just know that you are talented.

39:43Keep going. What good advice.

39:45Gita Patel, thank you so much for joining us.

39:47I really could talk to you all day,

39:48but I'm going to let you get back to your eight week old

39:51and thinking about your next step.

39:53And please come and talk to us when you have your next project.

39:56I really want to follow everything that you do.

39:58And I think our audience does, too. So thank you so much.

40:01Thank you for having me. It's been a joy.

‘House of the Dragon’ Finale Director Reveals What It Takes To Break Into Hollywood | Forbes

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