Joel Gallen (‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage’ director) on the challenges of directing Netflix’s first global livestream [Exclusive Video Interview]
Even though he’s been directing and producing live television for decades, director Joel Gallen had to deal with a unique challenge in directing Chris Rock‘s latest stand-up special, “Selective Outrage,” live for Netflix. “This was much more challenging because Netflix broadcasts in 4K and when you try to go live in 4K, it’s a huge mountain to climb. Other than sports, not a lot of variety shows, as far as I know, have ever done it before,” he tells Gold Derby during our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video interview above).
In addition to navigating a 4K live broadcast, Gallen and his crew also ended up helping people from Netflix become more acquainted with what goes into putting on a live broadcast. “This was a whole new world for them and that was sort of exciting for us to be able to work with them on that and hopefully we’ll get another chance to do it again.”
“Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” marked the first globally livestreamed event in Netflix’s history and was Rock’s seventh stand-up special. In the special, Rock tackles people who choose what to get angry about, the Kardashians, how he spoils his kids and the infamous on-stage slap he received at last year’s Oscars at the hands of Will Smith. Gallen is nominated at this year’s Emmys for Best Direction of a Variety Special. It’s his 12th career nomination. He won the Emmy for Best Variety Special in 2002 for “America: A Tribute to Heroes.”
Gallen started out as a producer, mainly for music and comedy shows but he felt that he had good instincts as to what looked good on camera. He decided to finally take the leap into directing on what was to be a chaotic day of taping “MTV Unplugged.” “We had three episodes of ‘Unplugged’ in one day. We had Boyz II Men earlier in the day and then in the early evening we had Mariah Carey and then at midnight was gonna be Pearl Jam, a brand new band.” Gallen went to his boss at MTV, Doug Herzog, and asked if he could direct the Pearl Jam episode since he was such a big fan and got the okay from him. “After that I directed the MTV Movie Awards, a Bon Jovi special and when I left MTV it started becoming more of a part of my routine that I would produce and direct shows whether they were taped or live.”
Gallen’s Emmy win for “America: A Tribute to Heroes” is something he’s immensely proud of. Upon winning the award there was only one thing going through his mind. “I mean, honestly, I felt like I should retire. I was asked to do something so important, to use our knowledge of producing entertainment programs and to put something like that together in six days. It was such an honor to be asked to do it.” The Emmy win became even more special because of who presented him with the award. “I remember Ellen DeGeneres presented the Emmy which was great because at that point I had already done two of her HBO specials, so I knew Ellen really well and it just felt comfortable doing that.”
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