Eric Brevig's 20-plus years in vfx prepared him to tackle all the technical and production demands for his directorial debut in Journey to the Center of the Earth. © MMVII New Line Productions Inc. and Walden Media, LLC.

As visual effects become more sophisticated and an integral element of the moviemaking craft, more and more visual effects supervisors are getting their shot at directing.

However, while making the transition from one job to another is not always easy, there is great satisfaction in fulfilling the dream of directing a film, despite the pitfalls.

"I think visual effects prepared me for all the technical and production related issues of the movie," says Eric Brevig, who directed the recently released Journey to the Center of the Earth after more than 20 years of working in visual effects. "The area that was very new to me was dealing with the studio, navigating all the sort of creative helpers that I have. That's a completely different skill set."

That's a common statement among vfx and previs supervisors turned directors, with their comments revealing the essential truth that no matter how great a supervisor you are, studios are always going to hire directors for their own reasons.

But it's not one that's impossible to learn or overcome. One of the advantages vfx supervisors have in the studio system is contact with high-level execs that few other potential directors have.

"When you step into the visual effects world, you get invited into the creative world very, very closely," offers Dean Wright, who is in pre-production on his first directing gig: Kingdom Come, for Grape Colors. "You do make suggestions, and you throw out ideas about story beats and you're part of that process from early on."

Dean Wright supervised the vfx on the first two Narnia pictures. He segued from the vfx consultant on the upcoming Kingdom Come to its director. Prince Caspian © Disney Enterprises Inc. and Walden Media LLC. 

Wright suggests that such connections landed him the job after having supervised the visual effects supervisor on the first two Narnia films and as visual effects producer on the last two The Lord of the Rings pictures. Wright says he was hired as a visual effects consultant Kingdom Come, which he found difficult because the film had no director providing a vision for him to follow. So he created his own and impressed the studio enough that they asked him to create a short presentation reel in previs. When that again clicked with the company's vision of how they saw the project, Wright was offered the job.

It also worked out that way for Stefen Fangmeier, who expressed his desire to direct to Fox execs while finishing the vfx for Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World for ILM. "When they had their monthly meeting where they sit around and talk about the new scripts that they have, someone just spoke up in the meeting and said: 'Stefen is interested in directing. Why don't you give this to him to have a look at it?'" says Fangmeier, who went on to direct the 2006 release Eragon for the studio. "I was very fortunate to have some people to speak for me and put my name up for it."