- WP, The Magazine of
- William Paterson University
- P.O. Box 913
- Wayne, NJ 07474-0913
- (973) 720-2967
- We welcome letters to the editor.
- Drop us a note via eamil at
- wpmag@wpunj.edu
- William Paterson University
Bill
D' Elia: Hollywood Storyteller
-
An Alumni finds Success in the Entertainment Industry
by Babara E. Martin
The sun broke through the clouds on a rainy afternoon, splashing its light into the twentieth floor conference room of a deserted Los Angeles office building. Glassed in on three sides, the conference room serves as the location site for an upcoming episode of Ally McBeal, the Emmy Award-winning comedy series on Fox. The production company is rehearsing a scene involving actor Peter MacNicol, who plays John Cage, an attorney in the series. MacNicol, whose character has his fair share of quirks, is pouring water from a clear pitcher on the long wooden table into a glass for maybe the tenth time.
MacNicol, in character,
comically crinkles his face and slowly pours the water, buying time before
he responds to another actor’s question.
Bill D’Elia, the episode’s director and executive producer of
the series, who is viewing the scene through a monitor, laughs quietly
and involuntarily to himself each time MacNicol pours the water. D’Elia
is genuinely and freshly amused each time.
“I view each scene through two different eyes,” D’Elia explains. “One as the director and one as an audience member. As the director, I’ve read the script over and over again, and I know the story so well. I know what I intend as a storyteller. I’m looking for all the nuances and moments that build into a whole that only I, and perhaps the actor, will know about. I am well inside what that moment should be.”
“As the viewer,
this is all happening once and only once for me, and as the audience,
I look at what’s there. So if I laugh as the audience that’s
great — if I laugh for the right reasons.”
For D’Elia, a 1972 graduate of William Paterson University with a
master's degree in communication arts, wearing two hats is second nature
now. He has served as executive producer of Ally McBeal since April 2000
and also directs several episodes each season to fulfill his passion for
directing. His work for David E. Kelley Productions, producers of Ally
McBeal, and currently one of the hottest television production companies
in Hollywood, is just one milestone in a long career in television.
After graduating from Ithaca College with a degree in television and film,
and serving a two-year stint in the Army, where he was in the U.S. Infantry
School posted to Fort Benning producing training films, he moved to New
Jersey. Newly married to his wife, Ellie, he was living in Little Ferry,
and working for an advertising agency in Manhattan when he decided to
continue his education. He picked William Paterson College because of
its outstanding reputation in communication and attended nights and weekends
while working during the day.
One concept he learned early in graduate school is something that he uses
in his work as a director—the ancient Greek ideals of logos, ethos,
and pathos. On the set, the director is the guide whose vision transforms
the words on the page that is the script into a visual medium that is
understood by the viewer.
“These
are tools I use in my work daily,” he states. “Basically, there
are only three ways to convince people to do something. There’s logos,
which is the logical argument: this is the logical way, “a”
leads to “b” leads to “c”; ethos, the ethical argument:
do this because it is the ethical and moral choice to make. Pathos is
the self, the person doing the persuading. I appeal to you through my
personality, my friendship with you.”
D’Elia claims that any one of those tools can win an argument. “And
with a combination of all three, you can’t lose. I use them all,
all the time. That was one lesson I never forgot.
“They’re all honest arguments. That’s important to me.
I’m always going to be honest about why I feel the way I feel. I’m
not saying I’m always right. The other person could be using the
same three tools and convince me. Knowing those three things has helped
me in my work.”
The set where a scene is filmed is staffed by as many as 40 people including
camera operators, grips, electricians, costume designers, sound and visual
effects technicians, set decorators, and hair and makeup artists. Before
the director calls “Action,” they hustle around the set, each
performing his or her own task that supports the filming of the scene.
The work is intense, since time is money. On the command “Rolling,”
all work stops, as the workers listen for the “Action” command
from the director. A concentrated silence descends on the set with each
person listening for the director’s “Cut” command before
springing into activity to set up the next scene.
Although filming is in many ways a collaborative effort, the catalyst
is clearly the director. “The director is the only one who not only
sees what is there, but what could have been, or what’s not there,”
D’Elia explains. “You have to have a specific plan, but try
not to control too much. The decisions I make as a director are often
based on time and budget considerations. But the choices a director makes
speak volumes about his talent.”
D’Elia knew from a very early age that he wanted to be involved in
theater or film. “I’ve always had a desire to be involved in
the creative field in some way,” he recalls. “I’ve been
in love with television and movies all my life. TV shows were an escape
for me.” He grew up in an Italian-American enclave in Queens where
he was surrounded by an extended family with his own house at the center
of activity. His was the age when families still lived on the same block
and the men gathered in the evening to pass the time with relatives. Yet,
the turmoil inherent in living in the midst of a very close Italian family
was inspirational to the young boy.
“I gravitate to chaos. Growing up, I was able to make sense of what
was going on around me and thrived on it,” he remembers. “I
grew up listening to stories at the table in my parents’ house, and
I knew I wanted to tell stories too.”
D’Elia
and his two brothers were the first in his family to go to college. His
father was a first-generation Italian-American who owned a newsstand in
New York City on the corner of West 33rd Street and 7th Avenue for 50
years. His mother stayed home and took care of the family, as many women
in the 1950s did. But she had a love of the arts, and especially loved
attending plays. “She was a calming influence,” her son remembers,
and “probably would have gone into the arts in some way, if things
were different.”
However, his father
was a practical man, and was not happy to see his son go into the arts;
he wanted him to have a real profession.
“My father was
against my involvement in the arts,” D’Elia recalls. “He
wanted me to be serious and have a profession and went into paroxysms
of anger when I said I wanted to be an actor.”
Acting in the theatre and writing were his first forays into the creative
arts. Eventually, he decided that he wasn’t cut out to be an actor,
and found writing to be too solitary an activity for him. “I work
best with a lot of people around me,” D’Elia states. “I’m
calmest in chaos.”
It wasn’t until
Bill D’Elia formed his own production company in New York that his
father began to appreciate and understand his work.
“My father would
come to the shoots and watch us work,” he says. “It was then
he realized what was involved and how hard we worked. After that he was
so proud of me; he told everyone about his son the director.” D’Elia’s
work in commercials earned him many industry awards, including the Addy,
Clio, and Telly.
In 1988, after success in commercials, he optioned a novel, The Feud,
by Thomas Berger, turned it into a screenplay, and tried to interest some
industry people in Los Angeles in producing it. Although none did, the
meetings he had convinced him it was a viable project. Then, he did what
he calls a “bold, arrogant, and stupid thing,” and closed his
commercial production company and concentrated full-time on arranging
the financing for the movie. “Miraculously, I raised the money. I
closed the production company in March, and started meeting with investors
in April. By July I had raised the money and by October I was making the
movie.”
Working independently
in an industry where studios usually have enormous budgets to finance,
produce, promote, and distribute a film, D’Elia cobbled together
all these pieces for his film, which opened in New York City to good reviews.
Although the film did not make any money, it did attract an agent for
D’Elia, which led to Steven Bochco, an influential television producer,
who saw and liked the movie. Bochco hired D’Elia to direct an episode
of his hit series, Doogie Howser, M.D.
This led to directing episodes of the Emmy Award-winning season of Northern
Exposure. The combination of those two “put me on the map,”
he says. “When Northern Exposure first went on the air, it was huge,
and changed the landscape of television. When the producers of that show
were asked about their favorite directors, I was always on that list.
And I began to get calls for some of the best television that was on the
air. At the time I was still living in New Jersey but had hardly spent
any time there, so in 1992, we packed up and moved to California.”
Other directing credits followed in quick succession, including award-winning
seasons of Picket Fences, Law and Order, Chicago Hope, Lois and Clark,
and Beverly Hills 90210. He was a consulting producer on the CBS series
Courthouse. He also directed some television films, including The Dottie
West Story and In the Name of Love: a Texas Tragedy.
In the spring of 1996, he joined Chicago Hope as co-executive producer
and became executive producer of the show later that year. In the following
three seasons, that show garnered 33 Emmy nominations. As executive producer
D’Elia received two Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations. In 1998,
he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
for the musical episode of Chicago Hope titled “Brain Salad Surgery.”
In 1999, after co-creating the CBS hit show Judging Amy, starring Amy
Brenneman as a family court judge in Connecticut, and directing the fifth
season finale of Chicago Hope, D’Elia served as consulting producer
of that show’s final season, and also directed
The West Wing during
that show’s Emmy-winning premiere season. He joined Ally McBeal as
executive producer and director in April 2000 and was nominated for an
Emmy Award in the Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series category for
the first show he directed. In February 2001, he was nominated for a prestigious
Director’s Guild Award for an episode of Ally McBeal that starred
Robert Downey, Jr., something he’s very proud of.
“It’s a kick to be nominated,” he says. “But right
now I’m 0-4. The closest I’ve come to actually holding an award
was when Christine Lahti (of Chicago Hope) was nominated for a Golden
Globe Award. She was in the ladies room when she received the best actress
award. While she slowly made her way to the stage, I was the one who went
up and vamped with Robin Williams until she arrived to claim the award.”
Despite his lack of awards, he deems his life and career successful. “I
consider myself fortunate,” he remarks. “I am who I wanted to
be when I grew up. I get to do as close to what I thought I would be doing.
I’ve been happily married for 29 years. My wife, Ellie, is a successful
interior decorator. My son Christopher is 21, and is an actor and screenwriter.
My younger son Matthew, who’s 17, is studying film at NYU. I’m
the head of a show business family, and my life is exactly as I want.”
Success, he claims, comes from the combination of personal and professional
accomplishments.
“Each fortifies the other,” D’Elia says, “and is the
result of hard work.” His advice to others? “Find something
that is a part of you. Find a job that you’re good at and that keeps
you happy, and if you’re really lucky they will pay you a lot of
money.
“But most of all,” he continues, “don’t give up, because
nobody cares if you want to be a writer or a director or a producer. There
are lots of good writers, directors, and producers out there. I always
tell young people that you need three things to succeed. First, perseverance,
perseverance, and perseverance. If you stick to that and get into the
business, then what you need will change. The three things then become
perseverance, perseverance, and talent. You need talent to get to the
next level. Finally, those three things become perseverance, talent, and
talent. Somewhere along the line talent becomes the major component, but
you will always need perseverance.
“We’re all created differently, and there’s no singular
route to success, but there’s one constant — those who succeed
didn’t give up. The clapsticks only go down once, you don’t
get a second chance.”
A measure of D’Elia’s success as an executive producer is that
he has final cut on the shows he directs, a privilege only a few can claim.
“Every Ally McBeal show that I direct goes out in its purest form.
I have the joy of seeing what I intended on the screen.”
Although directing is his first love, working as an executive producer
has a singular advantage. “A director who produces has a distinct
power leverage in episodic TV,” he adds. “You creatively oversee
the entire production and get to direct the entire company much as a repertory
company in theater. We have a show to put up every week.”
Future plans may include an independent feature and a cable movie. He’s
reading a lot of studio features as well as other network fare. “To
me it’s all about the work,” he states. “I want to go wherever
the good work is. The best work I can do on a regular basis right now
is right here on television, but I try to find things to do to keep myself
interested in all arenas.”
“I consider myself a storyteller,” he adds. “A good film
sets up a promise and then delivers. What I do is tell stories —
with a lot of equipment.”WP
