Show dictionary · Production Management
Technical Director (TD)
Also: TD
A technical director (TD) leads the technical side of a production, but the job depends on the industry: in corporate events and theatre, the TD plans and commands technical execution across departments; in US broadcast, the TD is the person physically switching the show at the video console.
In practice
The corporate TD translates a creative deck into systems: signal flow, rig design, crew plan, schedule, and the show-floor authority to make departments converge. On show day the TD sits beside the show caller solving problems while the caller runs the sequence.
Theatre TDs own builds and stage operations for a producing house; broadcast TDs cut cameras on the director’s calls. The Rosetta Stone chart exists for words like this one: when a broadcast TD and a corporate TD meet on a hybrid show, both think the title is theirs, and both are right.
How you’ll hear it
"Route it past the TD before you re-patch anything on the main screen path."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.