James A. Contner

In the 1980's, the Michael Mann TV series "Miami Vice" was a bonafide, zeitgeist phenomenon, inspiring a nationwide fashion trend with its pastel colors, cool shades and Don Johnson five o'clock shadow. Veteran cinematographer, producer and TV director James A. Contner made a key contribution to that movement, shooting 11 episodes early on and getting to direct one towards the very end of the show's five-year, 1984-1989 run. Contner went on to collaborate with Mann again on the series "Crime Story," working as a cinematographer and directing a single episode. But it was the "Miami Vice" directing assignment in 1989 that catapulted Vincent to the other side of the camera lens, and from that point forward he has been a TV director, tackling 14 episodes of "Sisters," serving as producer-director on"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and doing many other things in-between. Vincent paid his dues in the 1970's as a camera assistant on a string of high-profile features including "Jaws," "The Wiz" and the original, timeless Christopher Reeve edition of "Superman."