Hey Claire,
Welcome to the forums…
Different types of director's face different types of challenges.
But, in spite of their different methods and/or practices, they do eventually deal with the same devils.
Directors who remain dedicated to their craft are always at the center of the filmmaking infrastructure, essentially, to serve as the conductor. As a result, the director must be highly interactive with everyone involved in the production, and I’m not referring to the “let’s talk over a glass of Don in my trailer after we wrap” interaction. It’s imperative that the director consistently receive, process, and transmit all of the ideas that are coming to him from every direction in a respectable manner. Directors must know how to orchestrate the wants, the needs, and the excesses of those around them with precision and professionalism in order to achieve the best possible result.
With regard to the filmmaking hierarchy and the relationship of command...
Above the director is the producer, who stresses his or her concerns about the production based on financial interests, whereas the writer who can be either above or alongside the director stresses his or her concerns based on imaginative interests. And of course, the actors, who can be equal to, but are often beneath the director, dramatically stress their concerns with imaginative zest, but are more often prone to exaggerating demands to the extent of emotional burdening.
The director must take all of this into breath, and remain poised to deliver a product for everyone to enjoy, not to mention having some sense of personal gratification at the end of it all.
It is by all accounts, one of the toughest jobs to have in the business, but if done right, or hell, if done your way... :wink:...it can be one hell of a ride.