2023 Emmys Best Limited Series Directing: ‘Beef,’ ‘Dahmer,’ ‘Fleishman’ all submit 2 episodes

The Best Limited Series/TV Movie Directing category has 121 submissions on display for the 2023 Emmys ballot, resulting in six nominees this year. As a reminder, last year’s nominees were “Dopesick” (“The People vs. Purdue Pharma” by Danny Strong), “The Dropout” (“Green Juice” by Michael Showalter and “Iron Sisters” by Francesca Gregorini), “Maid” (“Sky Blue” by John Wells), “Station Eleven” (“Wheel of Fire” by Hiro Murai), and the winner “The White Lotus” (Mike White).

As usual with the case for directing, there are a multitude of episode choices made by each of the limited series. “Beef” selected its final two episodes, which contain big twists and tonal shifts with an astonishing finish for each. The episode by Jake Schreier (“The Great Fabricator”) features an intense tragic robbery and the finale by Lee Sung-Jin (“Figures of Light”) all takes place in a secluded canyon between the two lead characters.

“Fleishman Is in Trouble” used the same strategy, submitting its two closing hours: “Me-Time” by Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton and “The Liver” by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini. These episodes wrapped up the storylines of the main characters and were each directed by filmmaking duos.

Other shows that have entered two episodes for consideration are “Dead Ringers” for Sean Durkin (“One”) and Karyn Kusama (“Five”), the latter also contending for “Yellowjackets,” as well as “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which went for the same episodes it did for writing by Emmy nominee Carl Franklin (“Bad Meat”) and winner Paris Barclay (“Silenced”).

“Black Bird” and “Daisy Jones & The Six” both put up a trio of episodes, with the former being half of the series (“Pilot,” “WhatsHerName” and “The Place I Lie” in chronological order), and the latter including the pilot and finale (“Track 1: Come and Get It,” “Track 7: She’s Gone” and “Track 10: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”).

But on the opposite side, there are series that chose just a single submission such as Susanna Fogel for the premiere of “A Small Light” and Lesli Linka Glatter for the finale of “Love & Death,” so it will surely be determined if the directing branch supports those shows with that one option. Note that the National Geographic miniseries has been increasingly gaining ground, and Glatter is a multiple Emmy nominee and President of the Directors Guild of America.

And then there are the limited series that had only one director for all episodes, and thus per Emmy rules, the entire series was entered as one overall submission. Those include “White House Plumbers” by David Mandel and “George & Tammy” by John Hillcoat.

While television movies have not been recognized in this category since 2018, this has been a stronger year for them and there could be some directors that squeeze in from contenders like “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” (nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award), “Fire Island” and “Reality.” Nominations will be announced on July 12.

Here are some of the Best Limited Series/TV Movie Directing submissions from top Emmy contenders:

“Beef”
“Figures of Light” (Lee Sung Jin)
“The Great Fabricator” (Jake Schreier)

“Black Bird”
“The Place I Lie” (Joe Chappelle)
“Pilot” (Michaël R. Roskam)
“WhatsHerName” (Jim McKay)

“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”
“Bad Meat” (Carl Franklin)
“Silenced” (Paris Barclay)

“Daisy Jones and the Six”
“Track 1: Come and Get It” (James Ponsoldt)
“Track 10: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” (Nzingha Stewart)
“Track 7: She’s Gone” (Will Graham)

“Love & Death”
“Ssssshh” (Lesli Linka Glatter)

“Fleishman Is In Trouble”
“Me-Time” (Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton)
“The Liver” (Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini)

“A Small Light”
“Pilot” (Susanna Fogel)

“Dead Ringers”
“One” (Sean Durkin)
“Five” (Karyn Kusama)

“White House Plumbers”
David Mandel

“George & Tammy”
John Hillcoat

“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”
Eric Appel

“Fire Island”
Andrew Ahn

“Reality”
Tina Satter

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

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