Films & Television

Using the artistic methodology she has created, The Technique, Joan has worked on 84 feature films and television shows from the inception of the idea through the final execution of the project. 74 came to her with unfinished drafts, no financing or cast, and with first time or early career writer/directors at the helm. 83 have been released, earning over 800 nominations and 400 wins including major category nods at the Oscars, Spirits. Sundance, Cannes and Emmys, Golden Globes etc. Joan’s contributions include workshopping, developing, co writing or doctoring the script, prepping the directors (tone, visual style, mapping the film, casting etc), rehearsing or designing rehearsals for the actors, etc). Here are a few favorites.

“Joan is the glue of the show.”— JAY DUPLASS - TRANSPARENT

Orlando Bloom

Actor

Joan is a portal.

Joan creates a combustive explosion of authenticity that Hollywood will never fucking be able to clean up. Joan is a portal.

Marti Noxon

Creator - Sharp Objects, Unreal

Joan changed my life.

Joan's approach to directing is whole body, whole brain, whole heart. She immediately bonds the entire class, creating community and trust where risk and creativity can flourish. If I can bring even part of the authority and inspiration she teaches to set -- the entire process will be better and more fulfilling for all. Joan changed my life.

Mark Ruffalo

Director/Actor

…a crash course in directing

I had the pleasure of working with Joan before directing my first feature. It was a crash course in directing done quietly and lovingly with humor and meaning. I had been working on the film for ten years and in that time become too close to it. Joan lead me to the structure of the story. She led me to understand the logic of the film emotionally. There are very few people out there that have such a clear handle on material and the trick of getting that material to a screen..

Dayton/Faris

Directors - Little Miss Sunshine, Ruby Sparks

…the single most valuable thing we did

Attending Joan Scheckel's lab was the single most valuable thing we did to prepare for making Little Miss Sunshine. She gave us a set of tools that made the daunting task of directing a feature very accessible (even enjoyable!)She has a unique ability to inspire each of the directors she works with to build on their Her candid approach whether in private sessions or workshops, wastes no time and gets right to the heart of the matter and produces real results.

Bryce Dallas Howard

Actor

…shockingly transformative

Joan Scheckel is one of those rare individuals who truly devotes her life's work to investigating the essence of Storytelling. Her technique is brilliant, powerful, organized, rigorous, and shockingly transformative. She addresses the individual wholly… making the essential connection between our very humanity and the stories we tell. Simply put, her level of dedication paired with the true genius she possesses, creates unprecedented results in the creative lives of her students and the work they are generating.

Miranda July

Writer/Director - The Future

Joan is a warrior…

It can be so scary to really look at what you are making - the desire is to shut your eyes and hope for the best. Joan is a warrior against this impulse, and powerful enough that you definitely want to be on her side. With this incredibly thoughtful, playful, generous ally, the process -- the clear-eyed looking -- is so engaging that the old fear quickly away.

Joey Soloway

Creator - Afternoon Delight, Transparent, I Love Dick

Joan handed me a map…

How can I become a director? A few weeks of working with Joan, something kicked in and I actually began to transform into a director. It's odd to me that even after ten years experience on the set of TV shows, I was completely lacking in a foundational language. I learned that language at Joan's lab. I employed things I learned from Joan about the intangibles of energy and relationships, producers and alliances and how the shape of the emotional nugget of the movie can inform the larger shape of the process. She handed me a map with clear markings that made sense…at Sundance 2013, I won the Directing Award.

Mark Romanek

Director - One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go

Exhilarating…

Joan's class was …exhausting, exhilarating, and effective. Her love of the craft is genuine, her methods are sensible, and her enthusiasm inspiring.

Judith Light & Jeffrey Tambor

Actors - Transparent

…emotion rides on the water and the blood in the body

Judith: If you only think your way through a part, you’ll fall down many more times than you need to. It has to be in your gut, in your being, in your soul. Joan talks about how emotion rides on the water and the blood in the body and that creates intimacy with another human being.

PORTRAITS

Joan’s photographs can be seen through out the site, and right here. To create the images, she directs the artists, using physical investigation to mine the story’s emotional core, a process she calls “sketching with the inner life”. Raw, intimate, present - these photos reveal the deeply human, unmediated performance style for which her work is known.