{"id":1804,"date":"2025-09-09T19:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:56:14","slug":"mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Emmy Nominee Mimi Leder on Making News With \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Keeping up with the never-ending news cycle as depicted on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d is something that both scares and energizes Mimi Leder. The two-time Emmy winner has served as an executive producer and a director on the Apple TV+ drama ever since it premiered.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are living in such an interesting time where we can\u2019t even keep up with how fast the news cycle is going,\u201d explains Leder, who received two Emmy noms last year for her work on the series\u2019 critically acclaimed third season. \u201cAnd that is our burden\u2014like, is it going to be stale? But we keep doing things that are fictional and then they become truths. I have a feeling the news cycle is going to just keep feeding us very challenging material.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Created by Jay Carson, developed by Kerry Ehrin, and fronted by Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d returns Sept. 17 for its fourth installment, or what Leder calls its \u201cpower\u201d season. Here, she shares what keeps her coming back to the series and why you shouldn\u2019t let anyone else tell the story you want to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"LOS
Mimi Leder Credit: Kathy Hutchins\/Shutterstock<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

How are you keeping things interesting for yourself four seasons in?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We look at each season as a 10-hour movie, and so we\u2019ve now completed four 10-hour movies. That\u2019s a huge accomplishment. It\u2019s exhausting and exhilarating. It\u2019s like having a baby, and you\u2019re going, \u201cI\u2019m never doing that again\u201d; but, of course, you forget about it and then you do it again.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom of the press has always been a cornerstone of the series. I know we do a lot of silly things, but freedom of the press and the truth are really what I\u2019m interested in exploring and why I\u2019ve stayed with it for so long. The show is my baby. I gave birth to it with a great group of artists, and I\u2019m still challenged and excited by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have you and the team worked to evolve the show over the years?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The show keeps evolving as the landscape of the country keeps evolving. We started with #MeToo, and then all of a sudden we were in a global pandemic. So then we threw away all these scripts and dealt with the pandemic. The third season was about billionaires and mergers, and I like to call this season the power season. We have all these women who are trying to get a seat at the table, and what will they give up to have this power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your standard preparation process when directing?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I read the script again and again. I think about every [character\u2019s] journey, and I sometimes even write out a whole arc. I like to explore what the characters all want and what the action is that\u2019s going to take them there, and then I discuss it with the actors. But I don\u2019t like to rehearse. My process includes talking about the script, [including] how we can make it better, what the intentions of the characters are\u2014but I don\u2019t like to over-discuss. I really love to get it on the floor when we\u2019re rolling; I want the experience to be completely organic. The actors are stepping into these shoes, and I like them to find the scene, not give them the result of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also go to the set or go find the location, and I like to muse over how I\u2019ll shoot it. Sometimes I read the script and I know exactly what I\u2019m going to do even before I have the location.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was doing \u201cThe Leftovers,\u201d we went to Australia to do the third season, and I scouted all these states and decided where we were going to be shooting in Melbourne and the Outback. I found all these locations, but I didn\u2019t know what we were shooting because the season had not been written. I kept sending back pictures to the writers [saying], \u201cWe\u2019re shooting here. I don\u2019t know what it is we\u2019re shooting, but we\u2019re doing it here.\u201d And it inspired them in writing that third season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a very visual storyteller, but I\u2019m also very actor-oriented. And so the whole thing\u2019s a dance. You want to dance slow, you want to dance fast, and hopefully it\u2019s a nice slow dance that gets ramped up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jennifer Aniston on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d Courtesy Apple TV+<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In your 40 years of directing television, how much has the medium and process changed?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There are shows you do for less money, and there are shows you do with huge budgets, like \u201cThe Morning Show.\u201d And so you examine: Does the budget really change the way you design a show? It depends on what kind of show that is.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started on a show called \u201cChina Beach\u201d on ABC, about nurses in Vietnam and the price of war and the cost of human life. That show would never ever see the light of day on a network [today] like it did in 1988\u2026. Television has evolved. It used to be [that] filmmakers didn\u2019t come to television, and it was hard for me to get hired to do a feature because I was a \u201cTV director.\u201d And now everybody wants to be in television, because it\u2019s an incredible format where you can do a 10-hour show and tell the story you need to tell in the time you need to tell it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your advice for early career filmmakers?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Find your story that you must tell and never let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t tell it. \u201cWe want so-and-so to tell it\u201d\u2014no, you tell your story. Some people are going to love it, and some people aren\u2019t. Who cares? What matters is that you\u2019ve told it the way you want to tell it. Trust your soul and trust yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director-producer Mimi Leder talks \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and shares her insights on navigating the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":1808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMimi Leder on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d + The Importance of Self-Trust<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Emmy-nominated director discusses working on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and what to expect with the upcoming season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mimi Leder on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d + The Importance of Self-Trust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Emmy-nominated director discusses working on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and what to expect with the upcoming season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmFreeway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-09T19:56:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-09T19:56:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1267\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jalen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Lawrence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jalen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1\"},\"headline\":\"Emmy Nominee Mimi Leder on Making News With \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-09T19:56:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-09T19:56:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1029,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mimi Leder on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d + The Importance of Self-Trust\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-09T19:56:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-09T19:56:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1\"},\"description\":\"The Emmy-nominated director discusses working on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and what to expect with the upcoming season.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg\",\"width\":1900,\"height\":1267,\"caption\":\"Courtesy Apple TV+\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Emmy Nominee Mimi Leder on Making News With \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/\",\"name\":\"FilmFreeway\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1\",\"name\":\"jalen\",\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mimi Leder on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d + The Importance of Self-Trust","description":"The Emmy-nominated director discusses working on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and what to expect with the upcoming season.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mimi Leder on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d + The Importance of Self-Trust","og_description":"The Emmy-nominated director discusses working on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and what to expect with the upcoming season.","og_url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/","og_site_name":"FilmFreeway","article_published_time":"2025-09-09T19:56:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-09T19:56:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1900,"height":1267,"url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jalen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Derek Lawrence","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/"},"author":{"name":"jalen","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1"},"headline":"Emmy Nominee Mimi Leder on Making News With \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d","datePublished":"2025-09-09T19:56:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-09T19:56:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/"},"wordCount":1029,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/","url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/","name":"Mimi Leder on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d + The Importance of Self-Trust","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-09T19:56:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-09T19:56:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1"},"description":"The Emmy-nominated director discusses working on \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and what to expect with the upcoming season.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/The_Morning_Show_Photo_040205.jpg","width":1900,"height":1267,"caption":"Courtesy Apple TV+"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/mimi-leder-the-morning-show-director-interview\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Emmy Nominee Mimi Leder on Making News With \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/","name":"FilmFreeway","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1","name":"jalen","url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1816,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions\/1816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}