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Allen Coulter is a pioneer director of premium television drama in the United States. His career changed after he worked on The Sopranos, perhaps the most ground-breaking show ever to hit TV screens. Since then he has won multiple Emmy and Directors Guild of America awards for long running shows like Sex and the City, Boardwalk Empire and House of Cards.

Gretchen Mol, who starred in five series of Boardwalk Empire, joins Allen on the streets of New York. They linger on the Lower East Side where he used iconic tenement buildings for his period dramas. Gretchen’s glad Allen often chose overhead shots rather than traditional close ups to tell her character’s story.

At a nearby editing suite, Allen looks at episodes he has just filmed in LA. It is a drama (still largely under wraps) about Nasa for Apple TV. He shows Gretchen his thick ‘book’ where he’s mapped out every camera angle and every movement for the actors. He watches each frame and gives notes to his post-production team. Allen Coulter is known for getting great performances and establishing atmospheric detail. He is like a film ‘auteur’ Gretchen tells him, but like most TV directors, he prefers to avoid the limelight.

Producer: Judith Kampfner