Uta Briesewitz, director for episodes 1 and 2 of The Wheel of Time, was interviewed in early December 2020 by Short Take: The German Films Podcast. Her interview was just released today, and while we highly recommend a listen to hear more from the talented cinematographer and director, Lane and I have transcribed answers related to The Wheel of Time here for fans:
Q: What is the favorite job you’ve done? (And it doesn’t have to to be a directing job, but it obviously, it can be.)
Wow! There are many because I deeply enjoy what I do, be it as a cinematographer or as a director. So, there are many, many, many. But as a director, and thinking more recently…for me it would be The Wheel of Time…the fantasy series. I shot the pilot for [season] one and [the] second episode…for Rafe Judkins…the show creator for Amazon in Prague last year now…and I shot a little bit this year.
Because it was just — as an episodic director, you always come on to shows that are already established. So, you are a guest: you come and go. You get a certain amount of time to connect with the crew and the actors, and then when you really kind of find your groove, you already have to leave again, and doing The Wheel of Time was a really long commitment. I think I was in Prague for roughly eight months. So, building something from the ground up, every detail, and creating this world with so many amazing, talented artists together, and see it kind of rise up in front of us from nothing, you know, whatever we did, it was just incredibly exciting and fun and fulfilling. So, I think that would be…my favorite job so far.
Q: What is the last book you read?
That would be, embarrassingly enough, would be The Eye of the World, the first book of The Wheel of Time series in preparation for my job. I have two other books that I’m halfway through right now: The Female Persuasion and Machines Like Us, but I- that has come to a screeching halt because, since the pandemic, I mean — I always read a lot of scripts, but since the pandemic it’s just a flood of scripts daily. Sometimes I read two, sometimes even four scripts a day, because everything that’s left here right now is for studios, execs, and networks to line up their next production and develop things so there’s just a lot of scripts being sent out continuously, daily…like people trying to team up and package things and get productions ready to go.
Listen to the full podcast episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or you can search for Short Take wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!
(Updated on April 16, 2021 at 14:01 CDT: Confirmation received by Jessica Trute, head of public relations at German Films, that the interview was conducted at the beginning of December 2020.)
Lover of fantasy and other geeky goodness.
Hallo Uta, we have lost contact because of mail server problems. I like to come with my kids to L.A. next year and it would be great to be able to meet you there. Went to your Boston Adress last year, but you were not living the anymore. I am very happy that your dreams fulfilled with your fantastic career. All the best for you your friend and colleague Juergen Podzkiewitz