10 Promising & Big-Name Directors Who Turned To The Small Screen

Unquestionably the ultimate example, Scorsese first found television as a useful outlet for stories when he produced the prohibition era crime story Boardwalk Empire. It may seem counterintuitive for a filmmaker who successfully employed 3D in Hugo and recently lamented Marvel films as amusement park rides to take up residence in the small screen, but it wasn't his first venture. Scorsese made a brief foray into TV in the late 80s for his friend Steven Spielberg to helm an episode of Amazing Stories.

After stumbling a bit with Vinyl, which wasn't picked up for another season, Scorsese returned to the big screen. But his ambition soon outmatched what the studios were willing to invest in, so he was forced to find a new venue for his 3 1/2 hour epic The Irishman.

That venue turned out to be Netflix, and as such the ever-shifting landscape of television, streaming platforms and the very nature of the industry altered once again. Scorsese's gamble paid off and it has attracted more big names. Netflix is no longer seen as a place for Adam Sandler to dump a slew of movies he shot while on vacation or the latest Redbox releases, it had achieved legitimacy beyond expectations.