Interview: "Young Sheldon" TV Director Jaffar Mahmood on Maintaining "The Big Bang Theory" Legacy
Director Jaffar Mahmood introduced himself to the world with his first film, Eastern Son. Back then, he already had an impressive attitude of bravely speaking out against injustice in Hollywood when interviewed about his directorial debut long before celebrities could safely demand diversity in entertainment from the comforts of Twitter without suffering from any career consequences.
“There were two different production companies who said they loved the script but would only be interested in financing if I would change Ray’s ethnicity to either half-African American or half-Latino. South Asians aren’t a proven movie-going demographic is what I was told, so the companies didn’t want to finance a movie for such a niche market. I thought about the financing they could bring to the table but knew that it would no longer be my story if I changed the ethnicity. So, I walked away and I put my MFA in producing to work. I created a business plan and along with copies of my short film “Eastern Son,” approached private equity investors. Eventually I raised about half of my original goal from 38 individual investors and got to make the movie I wanted to on my own terms with no concessions.”
In the years following that article, Mr. Mahmood directed episodes for every hit show you love: The Middle, Modern Family, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Santa Clarita Diet are a few on his IMDb directing credits. Today, he has established himself as a talented television director to call on when you want your show to connect with audiences. At this time of writing, he has already directed 17 episodes of The Big Bang Theory spinoff, Young Sheldon, taking the lovable character of Sheldon Cooper old school into his youth.
A successful spin-off eats in developing a character so he/she remains the same. You don’t want to alienate the fans, or disappoint them either with a new direction. How do you as a director make Young Sheldon an authentic experience for fans following the character over from The Big Bang Theory?
It's a tricky balance since adult Sheldon is so beloved by fans. Iain Armitage who plays young Sheldon has incredible instincts and he's got his own ideas at times as to how he thinks Sheldon would behave in certain situations. As a director I have to find the balance between mining some of the actor's instincts and my own along with taking the trusted advice from my head writer/showrunner who wrote on Big Bang for its entire run.
Have you ever made the creative choice not to do something in an episode because it didn’t fit something Sheldon would have done? Do cast members join in with ideas about maintaining the character’s realism?
Since our showrunner came from The Big Bang Theory he never writes Sheldon into a situation where he wouldn't act authentically. Again, adult Sheldon is so specific and formed that one of the fun aspects of our show is to see how the younger version of that character deals with adolescent things like being forced to swim in a public pool in gym class.
IndieWire’s review of the show said, “Young Sheldon is funnier than Big Bang Theory, partially because of the differences you can have telling a young adult’s story.” How much of the plot lines are real life goofy events from your own and other people’s youths?
A recent storyline of Missy, Sheldon's twin sister, wanting to join a boys baseball team was mined from a female staff writer on our show who did just that when she was ten years old. Personally I'm not in the writer's room, but I imagine stories from the writer's childhood are encouraged.
The show takes place long before people were obsessing over smartphones, and yet, Young Sheldon has had a massive popularity many wish for. Why do you think a show set decades ago appeals so much to people who never lived without some kind of technology and this era’s pop culture?
I think one of the main reasons for the show's success is that it invokes a feeling of nostalgia for a time when the world had a lot less hate in it. Audiences are clearly hungry for that era and it certainly doesn't hurt that the show is damn funny to boot.
Hard work goes into directing a television show and probably a thousand times whatever that is working with the pressure of a show this followed by fans. What are some parts of your job you would like readers to know about that we wouldn’t have room to talk about in a quick news piece for a Variety type of magazine? Things that would also impress fans with your dedication?
That's a great question. One thing I always tell my friends who half watch TV shows as they multi task on their phones is that one episode of Young Sheldon takes about twelve days of my life to make-- so maybe pay a little more attention! It takes four days of prep (finding locations, casting guest actors, figuring out all of my shots and how the actors are going to move in a scene), six days to shoot it, and two days to edit it. And that's just twelve days for me as the director-- it takes even longer if you factor in the writing time and the further editing time to finalize color, sound, music, visual effects, etc.
And as fun as it is to shoot the show with the actors and crew, my favorite part of the process is being alone on the sets and visualizing my angles to compliment the emotions of the scene. I create a detailed shot list and floor plan during my prep process so that the entire episode is essentially shot and edited in my head before we even roll. I'm blessed to work on a show with incredible scripts that make you laugh when you read them but it's my job as the director to try and elevate that comedy or heart even more with my camera work-- and I take that responsibility seriously.
Some people show up randomly with sheer luck or nepotism and get directing jobs. You didn’t. You deserve everything from your effort and years invested. You have so much film education on your resume, training with workshops, and work experience directing episodes for other hit shows. If someone reading this wants to become a television director, and I emphasize here television because it really is an art separate from film, what should someone expect? Is it harder to break into than directing your first big studio film? Harder to do a good job with the expectations?
Everyone's path to getting where they are is unique and I'm grateful for the road I had. Anyone looking to have a career as a TV director should know that it's not an easy gig. If you get lucky enough to direct an episode of an established show, everyone making it is expecting the episode to be good. So you're not often thanked for a job well done. But if the episode isn't up to par, you'll be the first to be blamed since the director is the only main variable. The cast and the rest of the crew are all the same week to week while new directors rotate in. That being said I personally love the challenge of trying to find a moment of visual flare or a heartfelt performance to make an episode shine brighter than the rest and it's something I'd urge new directors to do as well.
Breaking into film is maybe a tiny bit easier only in that there's no barrier to entry in independent filmmaking. If you have a script and can find the money anyone can make an indie film. And if it's great it could launch you to get a studio directing gig down the road. But that is by no means a guarantee or an easy nut to crack.
“While the number one goal I had was to simply try and make an entertaining and enjoyable film, there was definitely an underlying interest to shatter the stereotype that a Pakistani or Muslim character in a western film has to be the bad guy or pigeon-holed as the cab driver or 7-11 owner. Why can’t a half-Pakistani character have the same issues Ben Stiller has in one of his comedies? I’m really hoping the success of “Slumdog Millionaire” will finally make Hollywood start moving more in that direction.”
To quote another Indiewire article, way back in 2007, you complained about Muslim and South Asian characters all being villains or useless characters. This was when few people were speaking about the perceptions of characters who didn’t look like the people on “Friends.” People in 2007 Hollywood probably feared losing job opportunities if they said anything. Surely things have changed but what do you see in our current time period that remains negative? The stereotypes, plots, lack of character development? What needs to change?
Times have certainly changed since 2007 for the better when it comes to diversity and inclusion of diverse storylines/characters. When I see shows like The Night Of on HBO and Ramy on Hulu and films like The Big Sick doing so well it's inspiring. I look forward to studios/networks giving more of a platform to stories with South Asian characters as everyday people, but we are certainly headed in the right direction.
In the distant future after Young Sheldon, are you ever developing your own sitcoms? What about? What serious issues would you like to deconstruct on the shows that would help people? Any other dream goals?
I'm hoping my experience as the producing director on Young Sheldon will lead to me directing pilots in the future. I'd love to create the look and world of a show from the ground up with a writer. And I very much want to get back into the feature film space at some point when I've got down time in my TV schedule.
