Primetime player

Lawrence filmmaker takes shot at CBS drama 'The Unit'

Seth Wiley displays the slate from his first day of shooting on the set of The

‘The Unit’

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Sunflower Broadband Channels 4, 12 and 201 (HD)

Film is a director’s medium, so the saying goes.

But what about television?

Filmmaker Seth Wiley, a Lawrence native and 1994 Kansas University grad, earned his first opportunity last month to delve into the world of primetime TV directing. His episode of “The Unit” airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on CBS.

“It’s a different world from what I’m used to, which is taking an idea and trying to get someone to believe in it and find a little money in it,” Wiley says. “This is a totally different approach to shooting.”

Wiley explains that a typical TV series will shoot 22 shows a year. And it’s not unusual to have guest directors for single episodes.

“I’ve been likening the show to a train that is going across country, and you’re just getting on at the one stop (as the conductor),” he says. “But that train has been going for months by the time I got on. The crew and the cast work every day for most of the year. I just came in for a couple weeks into a full immersion of the process that’s already happening. So you get on the train, do the work, get off the train, ‘thanks for coming.'”

The tagline for the David Mamet-created “The Unit” boasts “Covert warriors. Unsung heroes.” The action-drama debuted in 2006 and stars veteran Dennis Haysbert (best known for his presidential role on “24.”)

“It’s a show about Army Delta Force operators out in the world blowing stuff up. Then the other half involves their wives at home dealing with their own lives. I thought that could be pretty interesting,” Wiley says.

In Wiley’s episode, titled “Side Angle Slide,” Jonas Blane (Haysbert) travels to London to team up with an old war buddy, a British MI5 agent who is tracking a Russian scientist in possession of illegal radioactive materials. Jonas catches wind that his partner is colluding with the enemy.

Wiley says, “Jonas is stuck in a situation where he has to decide between what he wants to do and what he has to do.”

Strike one

With this being Wiley’s first brush with a network series, he hoped to find a way to make the project his own.

“In little ways it’s possible to do that without hurting the show. The director of photography is there every week to make sure you don’t choose angles that are wrong for the show,” the 35-year-old Wiley says.

“The process for me was to come in and know the script as best I could – to try and find the truth in the script and what’s resonant to me. There were a few little points that I thought, ‘These are important to make sing.'”

Despite feeling quite welcome on the unfamiliar set (especially by star Haysbert, who Wiley says, “may be the greatest guy on the planet”), the director found himself quickly thrust into a thorny situation.

On the third day of the eight-day shoot, the Writers Guild of America went on strike.

“My episode was episode 11, and there was no episode 12 ready,” recalls Wiley, a member of the DGA, but not the WGA. “So everyone on the crew knew that with the writers not writing, there was not going to be a next show to shoot. … The morale plummeted. It was hard for anyone to focus. I felt terrible. I’m used to being unemployed, but for these guys it’s a terrible situation to be put in. My last day was their last day. The train came to a stop.”

‘Good Things’

It’s been 12 years since Wiley left his hometown of Lawrence for Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking.

In 2001 he returned to Kansas to shoot his second short film, “The Good Things.” The 25-minute project starred Wil Wheaton (“Stand by Me”) as a soul-searching tollbooth operator.

“The whole visual idea is that this guy is stuck in the middle of nowhere. He’s going nowhere in his life, but everyone else is going somewhere,” says Wiley, who shot the piece in Cassoday (southwest of Emporia).

“I would have loved to shoot it in Lawrence. We looked at the Lawrence interchanges, but they just weren’t desolate enough. … I wish we could do it again because I think I’m a better director now. I’m always looking to come back to Kansas to shoot something.”

“The Good Things” earned the director a “first look” screenplay deal with Fox.

These days Wiley makes his living in L.A. by taking on brand films – longform commercials that are made for the Internet. Past clients have included corporations such as Samsung.

“That’s the way for me to pay the rent that’s completely in my control. I shoot it; I edit it,” he says.

In preparation for “The Unit” gig, Wiley hooked up with another Kansas native and KU grad, Alex Graves. Wiley spent time shadowing while Graves was directing episodes of the final season of “The West Wing.”

“Alex Graves said the one thing that’s harder to get than your first job directing TV is getting your second job. His point is that just because you’re in the door doesn’t mean you’re set,” Wiley says.

KU bonds

Networking in the industry with former Jayhawks has become increasingly easier for Wiley in the decade since he moved to the West Coast.

“It used to be there were two or three guys who were the alums who were successful – guys like Mike Robe and Doug Curtis. What happens now is I run into Mike at the (KU) basketball games. I just ran into him at the USC game. That’s the world where the alums travel in. And this fall it’s been getting together for football games. I’ve recently met a bunch of younger guys who are coming out here to work on TV shows. That’s a nice little network,” he says.

“I’m hoping I can get to the position where I have a little bit of pull. But I’m not there yet. No one cares what the guest director wants to do.”