Northwestern alumnus Jason Winer attributes much of his current success to his work with Mee-Ow, the university’s comedy improvisation group, while he was a student here. And with a recent Directors Guild of America nomination for outstanding achievement in a comedy series under his belt and the title of producing director for ABC’s critically acclaimed Modern Family, few would be able to argue that Winer is anything but a success.
“At Northwestern, I got all of the tools I needed to do what I do now but I didn’t realize it,” said Winer, a performance studies major who graduated in ’94.
While at Northwestern, Winer participated in main stage plays ranging from Brighton Beach Memoirs to Hamlet, in which he was not just acting but also helping to build sets, take pictures and create posters, an “all-consuming creative experience” for him. All of this, combined with his acting training, work with Mee-Ow and a declared double major in photography, have led him to where he is today, he said.
“I write and that’s what’s gotten me into positions being able to direct stuff that I direct, and every episode is about analyzing the story and the script and understanding character and motivation,” Winer said. “On top of that, directing the episode themselves and the technicalities of that, I was prepared for by my study of photography.” He added that his acting training, a “whole other odyssey in terms of understanding character and storytelling,” affects how he talks to actors and approaches a scene.
Despite his successes as a director, Winer did not plan on becoming one while he was a student at Northwestern.
“At Northwestern, I sort of intended to be an actor,” the Baltimore native said. “And then when I got to L.A. and I was pursuing acting, I found that far less fulfilling because I felt like I was a cog in a machine, you know? And I wasn’t really affecting the larger creative picture – I got frustrated with that.”
He had the chance to pursue his interest in directing when he decided to make a 15-minute short film entitled The Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend, a $20,000 project which got him signed as a writer and director by an agency as well as getting his film sold as a television pilot to FX Network.
However, the 22-minute pilot that cost $3 million did not receive the positive reaction that Winer’s short film did. Those who worked on the pilot decided the missing ingredient from the pilot was Winer, who received money from them to create a new show that he would direct.
Winer then took the money meant for a 10-minute presentation and made a 22-minute network-ready pilot called Giants of Radio.
“The little inexpensive presentation that was just supposed to be for sales purposes ended up being considered good enough to be a finished pilot and that’s what really got my directing career going,” Winer said.
Eventually Winer, along with his writing partner and Northwestern alumnus Ryan Raddatz (who was also part of Mee-Ow at Northwestern), wrote the pilot “This Might Hurt” for ABC. Thirteen episodes of the show were picked up and remained so for 24 hours before being “un-picked up” because of the economic situation, Winer said. Despite not airing, it was the show’s pilot that Modern Family’s producers saw and why they decided to hire Winer, he said.
Winer’s main duties include directing just about every other episode of Modern Family, hiring guest directors and overseeing physical production. He also blocks the scenes with the actors, meaning he decides where the actors move and how the cameras’ movements relate to theirs.
One of Winer’s favorite things about working on the set is interacting with the “incredible” cast, which includes veteran actors like Ed O’Neill (All My Children), Julie Bowen (Ed and Lost) as well as newcomers like 10-year-old Rico Rodriguez.
“They’re so funny and wonderfully subtle and everybody has a great sense of gratitude that they’re on a show that’s not just a critical hit but it is being embraced by the public and that sense of gratitude makes it really fun to be at work,” Winer said. “And that goes for the producers too. Working with such smart writers makes the job of directing a scene incredibly fun and liberating and easy. You’re not trying to reinvent something or make something work that’s broken.”
Although the show keeps Winer plenty busy, he hopes to direct a movie “sooner than later” and has a “few things in the works.”
The one thing he is certainly interested in is a return to his alma mater.
“If I was invited to come speak for any reason I would jump at the opportunity,” Winer said.