During his stint playing Commander William Riker on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Jonathan Frakes (seen above left) underwent a rudimentary director's boot camp. Frakes was interested in directing episodes of the show, and the producers said he would only be allowed to do so after shadowing other directors for 300 hours. Frakes put in his due diligence, and he ended up directing eight episodes of the series. The producers were so impressed that they also hired Frakes to direct two of the "Star Trek" feature films. 

His directorial experience on "Next Generation," he found, could be parlayed into other directing gigs. For one, he remained with the "Star Trek" franchise for decades, coming back to helm episodes of "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," "Discovery," "Strange New Worlds," and "Picard." He directed the family friend sci-fi adventure film "Clockstoppers" in 2002 and "Thunderbirds" in 2004, eventually moving exclusively into television, overseeing episodes of "Leverage,...