PRESS
Reviews for Paris Barclay’s Direction of his feature doc Billy Preston:
That’s the Way God Planned It
"Amazing…Eye-opening…I came out feeling like I finally knew him. Billy Preston forged a heady chunk of the funk DNA." – Variety
“[Billy was] in pursuit of happiness through music... Unabashed, unapologetic joy...
The movie is a portrait of a gifted musician who deserves to be remembered." – Rolling Stone
"Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It, a production of remarkable grace and power that deserves to be considered as the best film of the year.” – Cinema Crazed
"Its rendering of the toll extracted by intense human artistry is prescient. I cannot recommend it enough…" – Arts Meme
“He sat in and made everyone around him better.” – People.com
“Powerful... Deeply personal." – Hits Daily Double
“A glorious celebration of the man and his music... It’s a film that is open and honest about the man at its center... This is just a great film. Highly recommended." – Unseen Films
“A glorious new documentary about the Gospel, soul, pop and funk singer.” – Movie Nation
“A definitive portrait, but also a powerful reminder for generations to come.” – POV Magazine
“A story about addiction, and the love and patience people like Preston need.” – The Guardian
“This documentary reveals Billy Preston as an absurdly talented musician." – Letterboxd
Reviews for Paris Barclay’s “Silenced” Episode of Dahmer
"It’s not just the strongest episode of this entire series; it’s one of the most heart-wrenching TV episodes of the year." – The Decider
"Smarter observations start coming up in the second half of the season, starting with the episode “Silenced.” Written by David McMillan and Janet Mock and directed with more empathy than voyeurism by Paris Barclay... It's easily the best episode of the series, an uncomfortably sweet and sad hour of TV that probably should have been the template for the entire show." – The Hollywood Reporter
"Dahmer may be the most grueling drama I’ve ever covered, and its sixth episode, “Silenced,” is one of the saddest hours of television I’ve ever seen... Empathetically but unsparingly written by David McMillan and Janet Mock, directed with painstaking restraint by Paris Barclay, this is a bravura episode of television." – Decider
"The sixth installment of the series, “Silenced,” directed by Paris Barclay, takes a formally inventive turn in centering the life and family of one of Dahmer’s victims..." - The New Yorker
"But the series is never better than in its sixth episode, "Silenced," directed by Paris Barclay..." – Consequence TV
"In that episode, “Silenced,” directed by Paris Barclay and written by Janet Mock and David McMillan, the story of Dahmer victim Tony Anthony Hughes comes to the forefront... With every moment Burford gets to give Tony new life, the inevitable end of “Silenced” becomes all the more harrowing, and the cops’ inaction to find the truth all the more infuriating.” – Variety
"Rather than defining Tony by his death at Dahmer’s hands, the episode’s writers, David McMillan and Janet Mock, and its director, Paris Barclay, deliberately structure this chapter of Dahmer to center Tony’s life first and foremost.
"This is exactly the sort of thing that Dahmer, co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, should have done more frequently and more effectively: focus primarily on the people affected by Dahmer rather than the cannibalistic monster and his atrocities.” – Vulture
"For the show’s standout episode, Tony feels like the protagonist. It gives the series something resembling narrative stakes. Tony has a beautiful, loving family that searches for him when the police don’t. With even a slice of his life depicted, the show stopped drifting in the direction of Dahmer’s arrest and became something genuinely arresting: a story of a family’s loss and not just their pain, too real to look away from." – Independent TV
Reviews for Paris Barclay’s Direction of the Pilot of Pitch
"It's one of the best pilots in quite some time... This just adds to the realism that director Paris Barclay and creators Dan Fogelman and Rick Singer have infused into the story... it's almost like watching this thing play out in real life." – The Guardian
"...the writers and director Paris Barclay are on a mission to make viewers feel things..." – The Hollywood Reporter
"A winning script and compelling cast make this the fall’s best new broadcast network drama… And series director Paris Barclay, who’s probably best known for his work on Glee and Sons of Anarchy, makes the most of the giant stadium, the screaming fans, the bright, bright lights.” – Vox
"The pilot, directed by Paris Barclay, is glossy and brisk and does about as good a job as you could hope for" – The New York Times
"Pitch has swagger, for good reason. It gets the big things right... But part of what impresses about the pilot is also the way it confidently strings together so many small but telling details…
"Two sequences depicting Ginny on the mound provide master classes in editing, perfectly weaving together commentary from sports announcers, crowd reaction shots and the rhythms of play that can, by some magic, put tens of thousands of people into the same shared mental space
“How ironic and yet satisfying that all these unstable situations and wavering relationships are sketched out within a story that boasts such a solid core of dependable craftsmanship.” – Variety
"This two-prong approach to filming — first from the hidden cameras, and later, with regular film cameras for close-up shots — was Barclay’s idea when he set up the pilot.” – Vulture.com
"The director of the episode, accomplished Paris Barclay (NYPD Blue, The West Wing, In Treatment and numerous other high quality series), terms it ‘a true story that happens tomorrow.’ Pitch also does a terrific job of building the drama and bringing them home.” – National TV Reviews and News