Alternative Directors Program

Overview

The Alternative Directors Program is an NBCUniversal initiative that places directors from underrepresented backgrounds into shadowing placements on NBC unscripted and alternative television series. Launched in 2018 as the industry's first directing initiative for unscripted programming, the program operates under the NBCU LAUNCH umbrella brand, which houses all of NBCUniversal's entertainment television diversity and inclusion efforts. The program targets a specific structural gap in television: directors with strong visual and logistical skills from documentary, reality, commercial, or digital production who cannot break into episodic television without credited experience.

Participants shadow a seasoned director across prep, production, and post-production on an NBC or Universal Television Alternative Studio series. The inaugural 2018-19 class placed 5 directors on shows including America's Got Talent, The Voice, The Wall, Hollywood Game Night, and World of Dance. Mentors included directors Alan Carter, Ivan Dudynsky, Russell Norman, and Alex Rudzinski.

What It Offers

Selected participants receive:

• A paid fellowship stipend for the duration of the program cycle
• Shadow directing placements on NBCUniversal unscripted television productions, observing the credited director across prep, production, and post
• Mentorship from working episodic directors, showrunners, and NBCUniversal creative executives
• Feedback on directing approach, set communication, and the specific craft demands of unscripted multi-camera production
• Industry introductions to agents, managers, and showrunners who hire episodic directors
• A professional credential that signals readiness for unscripted directing work

Eligibility

The program is designed for directors who identify as women or as ethnically diverse talent. Eligibility requirements have evolved across cycles:

• Inaugural 2018-19 cycle: Applicants needed at least one unscripted or scripted television directing credit. Unscripted programming credits could include live sports, award shows, game shows, and variety shows.
• 2019-20 cycle: The program opened to candidates without prior directing credits, broadening access for emerging talent.
• Applicants must be authorized to work legally in the United States. The program is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
• Applicants must be at least 21 years of age.

Submission Requirements

Application materials include:

1. Completed application form
2. Resume detailing directing experience
3. Bio
4. Reel summarizing the director's work
5. Up to 3 completed work samples
6. Responses to 2 essay questions
7. One letter of recommendation from an advocate of the director (not a talent representative - letters from managers, agents, publicists, and lawyers are not accepted)
8. One additional letter of recommendation (optional)

NBCU LAUNCH announces application windows through its website and diversity channels. The program has historically opened submissions in late spring with deadlines in early June. Check the NBCU LAUNCH website for current cycle dates.

Program Evolution Under NBCU LAUNCH

NBCU LAUNCH is the umbrella brand that houses NBCUniversal's comprehensive inclusion efforts across its entertainment television portfolio. The Alternative Directors Program sits alongside several related pipeline programs:

• TV Directors Program: NBCU's scripted directing program, founded in 2009. It is the first scripted directing initiative in the television industry to guarantee that participants will helm at least one episode by the culmination of the program. Directors shadow on 2 episodes of an NBCU scripted series before directing their own. The 2024-26 class includes Parisa Barani (Law & Order), Winter Dunn (The Irrational), Nina Kramer (St. Denis Medical), and Liz Sargent (Chicago Med). Applications for the next class are expected to open in the second half of 2025.
• Female Forward: A directing initiative specifically for women directors, also guaranteeing an episodic directing credit.
• Unscripted Producers Initiative: Places experienced unscripted producers in roles ranging from Segment Producer to Co-EP on NBCU unscripted series.
• Unscripted Pitch Accelerator: Gives independent producers and content creators access to NBCU unscripted development teams.

The TV Directors Program eligibility requires directing experience in fields including feature films, short films, music videos, commercials, digital content, and unscripted programming. Candidates can have no more than 1 scripted television directing credit. Submission requires 2 directing samples of scripted, live-action narrative content only - animation, documentary, unscripted content, and sizzle reels are not accepted as directing samples.

The Unscripted Television Directing Landscape

Unscripted television directing differs from scripted directing in several structural ways. An unscripted director often manages 10 or more cameras simultaneously, coordinates with a live control room, makes real-time editorial decisions during multi-camera shoots, and works without a traditional script. The skill set overlaps with live sports directing, concert film directing, and large-scale event production.

The barrier to entry is the same as scripted television: production companies hire directors with episodic credits, and you cannot get episodic credits without being hired. The Alternative Directors Program addresses this catch-22 by providing supervised placement before a director is expected to perform independently. The program is one of very few pipeline initiatives in the unscripted space - most directing diversity programs in television focus on scripted series.

Historical Context

NBC launched the Alternative Directors Program in May 2018 under the leadership of Meredith Ahr, then President of NBC's Alternative and Reality Group, and Karen Horne, then NBC's Senior Vice President of Programming Talent Development and Inclusion. The program was the first directing initiative in the entertainment industry created specifically for unscripted television. At launch, NBC stated the program would "help feed the pipeline for new talent behind the camera on alternative series."

In 2019, NBC expanded the program's accessibility by removing the prior directing credit requirement for the 2019-2020 cycle, allowing candidates with no previous directing credits to apply. This made the program one of the few directing pipelines in television open to true emerging talent.

The program was subsequently folded into the NBCU LAUNCH brand, which consolidated NBCUniversal's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across its entertainment television portfolio. Under NBCU LAUNCH, the scripted and unscripted directing pipelines operate in parallel, with the TV Directors Program handling scripted placements and the Alternative Directors Program handling unscripted placements.

Who Should Apply

Directors who identify as women or as ethnically diverse talent with professional experience in non-scripted formats - documentary, reality, commercial, branded content, short-form digital, or live event production - who want to transition into unscripted episodic television directing. The program is particularly suited to directors who have the technical foundation for multi-camera and live production but lack the episodic credits that gate access to unscripted series directing work.

Directors interested in scripted television should instead apply to the NBCU LAUNCH TV Directors Program, which requires scripted live-action directing samples and places participants on scripted NBCU series.

See Also

For understanding how television directing fits into a broader career strategy, see Film Festival Strategy: Getting Your Film Seen. For planning a production schedule for episodic work, use the Production Schedule Calculator. For modeling revenue across festival and distribution windows as you build your directing career, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator.