countless hours on the air.

"I wish someone had told me 20 years ago to keep track of all the shows I've been a part of since that first day I walked into a studio. The fact is I have no idea how many hours of my life I've put into this art form we call television.

"What I do know is that I've spent a lot of time learning from some of the very best talent, crew, and producers in the business. I've kept coming back to it over the years because I love directing television programs. And I really hope it shows.

"Pacing. Attention to detail. Precision cuts. Great camera moves and well-timed reaction shots. It's how we draw the viewer in and keep them entertained. It's how we include them in the conversation. It's how we tell our story.

"This is the part where I share a little bit of my own story, in my own words. Thanks for your interest. I hope we can make great TV together someday."

-Robin Beal
August 2019

an inauspicious start.

"I was born and raised in rural Northeast Texas, far away from the hot lights and dark control rooms of big city television. There was a lot of good cattle and really nice people, but not much opportunity for a quiet, artsy kid.

"At 14 years old, I persuaded my mom to drive me clear across the county line - 35 minutes each way - to my first job working as an AM radio disc jockey, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. I'd turn off the transmitter at 6pm and wait for my ride home.

"And so, I learned to cue vinyl records and write radio commercials before I learned to drive. Later I got to move over to the FM dial. 'The All-Request Saturday Night with Robin Beal' was born.

a major-market education.

"My first television job came in college - stocking the green room fridge, picking up deli trays from the supermarket, cleaning up the kitchen set. TV was completely new to me (I had no clue what the Director meant by '2-shot'!). It was an afternoon variety show at the CBS station in Dallas, and it was so much damn fun. 


"As the years went by, the jobs got more sophisticated and thankfully so did I. By age 23, I was directing TV in Houston. Local news. Sports talk shows for the new NFL team in town. A field shoot with an ex-President. I even got to work with Peter Jennings (my idol) more than once. I never finished college. These experiences were better than any education I could afford to buy.

adventures in television.

"When I was 28 I decided it was time for a sabbatical. I sold everything I had and bought a plane ticket. After backpacking around the world for 18 months, I wasn't ready for the adventure to end. So, I came home and somehow ended up in front of the camera in market #161 (Sherman/Denison, Texas).


"It was probably the hardest job I'll ever have. Digging up stories, running all over the place trying to get interviews, writing scripts, usually shooting and editing my own stuff - even serving as my own live truck engineer.

( CLICK HERE to see the clips)

a Director who knows talent.

"As a former TV news reporter, I know what it's like to put yourself out there. Sometimes you're just at the mercy of whoever's in the booth calling the shots.


"That's why it's so important to have a connection with the talent. It's my job to make them look great, sure. But it's more than that - you lead them when they need it, but giving your star the reins is what it's all about. Earn their trust. When they're confident in the Director, they can focus completely on their performance. That's what pros do.

no retakes. no do-overs.

"Live, long-form televised conversations are a special thing. My goal every Sunday morning is to cut the newsmaker interview like nobody else, to make it look like it was edited in a booth. They can go from conversational to adversarial in an instant. Precision scripting with lots of elements - until it's off the rails. Then you roll with it. That's when you earn your money.


"It's live TV. And I absolutely love doing it."

respect is earned. take their words for it.

“Robin is EXACTLY who I want to have at my side when things start to get a little unpredictable. I know he'll calmly and confidently lead his team in the direction I set... and the on-air product will end up looking as if we'd perfectly planned a show or a segment that was anything BUT planned.”
Scott McCrary,
award-winning
Executive Producer
"Always exacting and focused, Robin is constantly striving to put on the best program he can. Some of the work I'm most proud of in my career was when Robin was at the helm.”
Tom Gandy,
Co-Founder,
The Storyhive
“Robin is one of those directors who can anticipate what you're going to want to do next. It's fantastic to have him in the chair next to you during a breaking news or complex live event; it's almost like having a co-producer at times. His attention to detail is also to second to none. Robin's professionalism is also extraordinary -- he is there to do his job and raise up everyone around him in doing theirs, but always with a smile.” 
Jessica Glasser,
Washington, DC-based Television Producer
"What I really like about Robin is that he is passionate and demanding about his profession... He innately understands pacing, rhythm, flow, the 'feel' of a television production, and he makes it go. He gets it."
Victor Murphy,
Head of Technology and Operations,
WXIA-TV Atlanta