Thank You Jimmy Burrows!

My then boyfriend now husband, Robert, and I came to Los Angeles for a holiday in 2002. I was fascinated by the iconography of the city—the palm trees, the Hollywood sign, the endless beaches—I felt an inexplicable gravitational pull to the place.

At that point in my career I’d been directing theatre in London and had just wrapped up my first on-screen directing adventure for the BBC. I had no right to think that I would ever call LA home. But I loved it.

Entertainment oozed out of every nook and cranny; there were even people giving away free tickets to TV shows. I’d never thought about the ‘live studio audience’ part of my favorite shows like Friends and Cheers but Robert and I had the chance to be in one for a filming of Will and Grace.

As an avid viewer of Will and Grace it had never occurred to me that there were four cameras filming at all times. I was amazed by the delicate choreography of camera and actor. I didn’t know there was a stand-up comic who warmed up the audience and that the actors all came on separately and were introduced to the audience. Amidst all the laughs, I saw one figure moving around the stage utterly in command of the process. Everyone treated him with great reverence and respect. I heard the stand-up comedian point to him and say: “That’s Jimmy Burrows directing.”

I made a note of the name ‘Jimmy Burrows’ and thought: “I’m a director as well, I’ll phone him up.” So I called the Will and Grace office and asked to be put through to ‘Jimmy’. A gruff voice answered the phone, “Hello?” I was nervous but I managed to explain that we were both directors and I was interested in what he was doing.

The utterly ridiculous bravado of such a novice director daring to call him must have seemed ludicrous, but he obviously decided to be in on the joke. And he was incredibly kind and supportive of female directors.

By the end of the call he had said I could come and shadow him during the filming of Will and Grace. Not only that, he also arranged for me to shadow Pam Fryman, who was directing Just Shoot Me! and Kelsey Grammar who was directing Frasier.

Six months later, I was on the Paramount Lot (Stage 17) watching Jimmy work with Deborah Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullaly and Will Hayes. And, I think Cher was one of the guest stars. I have a strong memory of seeing Kevin Bacon too.

Mr. Burrows was so kind and welcoming and I was terrified. I couldn’t believe the scale of the lot—those sound stages and the food!—but what I learned from Jimmy was that the trappings didn’t matter. No matter how famous the people are or how many personal assistants were trying to get their attention or that you were working on one of the most storied lots in the world, what matters is the work and what you capture on camera. The intimate nature of human and personal communication is at the heart of the creative process on set.

Everything else is noise.

So thank you, Jimmy. You gave a novice the opportunity of a lifetime and taught me a lesson that I carry in my heart to today. You were a titan. I was honored you answered my call.

We will never see your like again.