'They all to a number, looked me up and down and said, 'No, that's not going to work for you.' Taking this rejection personally, Blake thought, 'They must be seeing something in me that made them understand I wouldn't be good at this job.'Īfter this experience, Blake went on to build a career in TV as a writer with her husband, but the pull of directing was too strong to ignore, and eventually, it became a matter of figuring out how she could get paid for this particular job.

Blake explained that when she took rounds of meetings with agents after this big breakthrough moment, her desire to direct TV was not met with enthusiasm or even encouragement. However, this didn't automatically lead to a career directing. Five Wives, Three Secretaries, and Me premiered at SXSW in 1998, was honored by the Academy, and picked up theatrical distribution. It was actually a documentary feature that started the director down this particular creative path. Charmed, iZombie, Veronica Mars, Once Upon a Time, and NCIS: New Orleans are among some of the TV shows Blake has recently directed. 'You don't get better at directing unless you've directed a lot and the place you get to direct a lot is television,' reflected Tessa Blake when recently speaking to SYFY FANGRRLS over the phone about her career as a director.

Women comprised 30 percent of directors, an increase of 11 percent from the previous season. The percentage of women directing episodes of broadcast television in the US rose to a recent historic high during the 2018-2019 season.

His Brazen Angel by Tessa Blake