Rough Cuts

Rough Cuts

It's Time to Change How We Talk About Directors

On good friction and bad friction

Ed William
Jun 09, 2026
∙ Paid

There are two kinds of friction in filmmaking: (1) the good kind; and (2) the bad kind.

Like steel on flint, good friction is creatively generative. It can come from a clash of collaborators: Scorsese and De Niro debating a character choice, or Jack Fisk and Emmanuel Lubezki lighting a set. It can come from process: Paul Thomas Anderson and his team wait…

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