Emmy Award-winning director Damian Marcano has always approached filmmaking with a clear focus on what feels real. His perspective on creating was shaped by his path from Trinidad to some of television’s most acclaimed work, including his recent contributions to HBO’s The Pitt. His episodes pull viewers into the room, holding on performances and small details that make each moment land.
Marcano’s instinct can be traced back to where he started. Long before sets and studios, he would tell stories with friends under a mango tree in Port of Spain. Those early moments were informal, but they carried a sense of imagination that still defines his work. “Sometimes, the stories that I would tell would get so vivid,” he said. “It got to a point where we would try to figure out different ways to tell a story.” His curiosity eventually led him to a camera, then to a craft he continues to refine.
Whether he’s directing for a major network or collaborating with established producers, Marcano approaches each project with a focus on honesty and access in storytelling. Initially, he wasn’t drawn to the genre that The Pitt sits in, but in true Trinidadian fashion, he was always looking for ways to challenge himself. “I think the reason why I’ve become a fan of medical drama now is because of this show—it follows a lot of principles in the way I look at the world,” he said. “With Rasta, it’s an open door policy; so we try to welcome all, and not to make people feel alienated. And every time I see that door open up in that emergency room, it’s kind of what it feels like.”
There is no separation between where he started and where he is now. The same viewpoint that shaped those early stories continues to guide his decisions behind the camera. In the conversation that follows, Marcano breaks down his journey, his creative process, and what drives him as a director working in television today.
ESSENCE: The Pitt is definitely my favorite show on television right now. How did you get involved with the series initially?
Damian Marcano: Well, I’ve known John Wells and his team for some years now, and I think we were always trying to figure out the thing that we would work on together. The Emperor of Ocean Park was the first one that we did, which was with Forrest Whitaker. It was a limited series that we shot in Chicago—it was a year before we did The Pitt. And the greatest thing I think about that experience to me was the people. I was like, “man, I really like how these people do production and they seem to have a very good energy about them.”
But before we finished shooting that one, Erin Jontow, who was an executive producer over there, gave me a call and said, “Hey, I wanted to send you a couple of scripts because John would like to talk to you about this idea that he has.” Ultimately, that script ended up being The Pitt. I got on this call and they told me what they were doing, which was a medical drama, and I can’t tell you that medical drama was the thing I was dying to go do. I’ve always been chasing some kind of exciting story because the stories from where I come from are very exciting, and I’ve been trying to find that tone again. Honestly, it seemed like the best happened after it all. And that’s the way life is. You try to tell life that you’re going to do this or you don’t want to do this in life, I think sometimes just smiles and says, all right, well, let me show you. So I went from being a non-medical drama person to essentially becoming one because of this show.
That’s a really amazing perspective.
It’s one of the simplest things that happens with The Pitt, but every time it happens, I get reminded about the people that actually have to do this work, and the fact that they don’t get to take a break during the day. I get multiple takes just to get something right and they only get one chance, man. So to see what the medical system is and the fact that everybody needs a little help out there at times; these people see us when they’re at their worst. It just ended up being a nice tone of the show that we kept exploring.
What’s the collaborative process like with working on these episodic shows? How do you keep things cohesive?
You have to do the work that you are here to do for sure. But I think the process is a little bit more audience driven while we have multiple directors. It also would be crazy if one director did an entire season. I think that just wouldn’t be mentally too much for a human being. But having more than one director is so the audience has a mixed palette of things to take in. That’s just how unique directing is. And I don’t try to apply much more to it when I’m doing my thing other than it’s got to feel right to me.
With respect to having a season where you’re handing off the baton and taking the baton from the director before you and the director that’s after you, the fine tuning of that is usually just a direct handoff where one episode ends, the other one begins. So there’s a little bit of your prep where you may go check in with the previous director and for the director that’s after you.
That is the brilliance of how both of these sides work in episodic. Film is more just one mind and you follow the general. I think episodic directors have another hat to follow, which is that we want to get the intention of it right, because if you just go out there and direct one episode based on what you think it means as a director, it probably won’t tonally fit in the grand scheme of things. In a show like The Pitt, where we are just picking up hour after hour, obviously we need to ensure, for example, that Dr. Robby’s tone is correct from episode to episode. So it doesn’t seem like he’s just a madman of some sorts because the director interpreted this way. So I think they preserve it from the writer’s room. And then I think we obviously take that tone from the writer’s room and we interpret it, but we interpret it in a way that we’re still telling the story as intended.
Congratulations on your recent Primetime Emmy win. What did that moment feel like for you?
I can’t tell you that me being from Port of Spain or me being an immigrant in this country ever made me think like an Emmy or something was for me or was in my future view of the world. I mean, yes, knew what an Oscar was, but the Emmy? I never kind of understood it if I’m being completely honest about this. When it came, I think it was a blessing in disguise because we were still in the middle of making season two and I never let any of it get to me because it couldn’t get to me. I was actually more annoyed about having to go find a penguin suit to go out to these events. (Laughs.)
Yeah, man. That trophy is a really special thing—espeically when it’s something you’re not focused on.
I didn’t realize the moment untilI got there and I was sitting in that audience. Also, a lot of people forwarded me a clip of the moment that we won the Emmy and you see the camera on John Wells’ face, and then you see my tam pop up. So that all happened for me right there in that audience, in that microwave minute. And then what it’s become now is I have sons.
With that, I was on the road earlier this year shooting Netflix’s All the Sinners Bleed for the Obamas and Spielberg. My wife called me and she said, “Even though this wasn’t a goal of yours growing up, here’s a picture of your sons.” And what I realized was that my sons now began to stop past the library in the morning to look at where these trophies, where the Emmy is, where the Golden Globe is, where the Critics Choice Award is, where the PGA Award is. So, it’s become a really nice experience because it has paid off for me in a personal way. I might just not be a fan of competition in the arts, but I’m definitely a fan of inspiration. And when the next generation tells me they got inspired by something, then that’s all right for me.
You’ll be directing Episode 13 of The Pitt, which airs April 2nd.
Absolutely.
More broadly, what exactly is your goal when you’re directing?
To make it feel as real as possible. And honestly, that goes with anything I would direct, but in The Pitt, where we do tend to lean into realism just even more, it’s to me the show that I can’t hide the flaws. It needs to feel real to our audience. Within episode 13, Dr. Joe Sachs, who was an actual medical doctor, actual ER physician, is my writer. So I get to find out from him because we’re covering the stories of our medical personnel and less so about the patients at times in this show. But I’m able to really find out how people are feeling at this moment, even in the lateness of the day with two hours left in the shift—how are they keeping this up? What makes them want to come back? These are a lot of the questions I ask, but I have to feel it. But when we look at something like The Pitt, it is really important that as storytellers, we are submerged in it.
Whether you’re in room nine, whether you’re at the central desk, whatever we’re doing, we want to make ourselves feel submerged in it because this is what we’re giving back to the audience. We’re not giving a show that you can kind of watch from this outside lens looking in. This show is supposed to feel like you are there. If Robby is going to have a breakdown, let’s make sure this is honest. If he and Dana are going to have these microaggressions, let’s make sure it’s honest so that we don’t shoot too many takes on the day. We usually sit down before we shoot and we discuss it, myself, the actors that are in the scene. I like to hear the scene, so I just have them read it because we’re going to try to find a way to turn this into some sweet reggae music. And what I mean by that is I’m trying to make forever music. Every time I direct an episode of The Pitt, I’m trying to have it be so real that even if you have to watch it 10 years from now, you could honestly say, “That’s what a day of the ER was like 10 years ago.” That is just the constant thing we keep searching for. In storytelling, I think as directors and as actors, we try to find the truth in these moments, and the better we do that, the better it’s received by the audience.