Director Roger Christiansen can't help telling people what to do - directing is in his blood - from the feel-good sitcom hits "Friends" and "Hannah Montana" to the set-up of his own interview about his work and efforts to collaborate on projects in China.

The Amercan decides on a straight-backed chair in the corner of a room, so he "sits straight and looks professional," a Chinese painting in the background. He positions the camera and tells the reporter where to sit.

"Camera person, how's the background? Why don't we come here so you have a very good background of the Chinese art.

"Sit right by the camera," Christiansen tells the reporter, "so I can look at you when I'm looking at the lens.

"Give the recorder to me. The closer the microphone is, the better the quality of sound."

After arranging all the things, he smiled and said, "Sorry, it's my nature to direct."

Hollywood comes to China

Hollywood is more than eyeing the vast Chinese market; it sees opportunities to produce TV series and films in the world's biggest market. Disney and DreamWorks are here and so are 59-year-old Roger Christiansen and many others.

Since 2004, Christiansen has been visiting China, making friends and getting to know the Chinese visual arts scene, talking with students and professionals about making better TV and films.

"Friends" has been hugely successful in China.

Around 2009 Christiansen and Chinese partners developed a Chinese "Friends" spinoff about a group of expat professionals and their Chinese friends, but there were differences and concerns between writers and the production team. It was shelved.

He also worked on a sitcom involving three Chinese women fashion designers in the cutthroat fashion industry. It too had problems and was shelved.

"They are all on the shelf, for a variety of reasons - too expensive, we couldn't find the right cast. Or the production company wasn't quite sure we could do it," Christiansen told Shanghai Daily in an interview before a discussion with Chinese and other directors on May 24 at the Shanghai Student Television Festival.

"So many changes have happened and things are still evolving. It's possible these shows ... could come back life. But right now everything is waiting."

Christiansen, who has taught film at University of South California and Columbia University, received a Fulbright scholarship to lecture at Taipei National University of the Arts. He also taught in Tokyo and helped Malaysia set up a film school.

He recently joined the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts of Fudan University as an instructor. He starts teaching in September on the campus in Songjiang District.

The celebrated comedy series "Friends" ran from 1994-2004, averaging more than 20 million viewers per show by the final season. It earned six Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, winning in 2002.

Christiansen was associate director and then director for seasons 7-10, injecting new life in the feel-good series, one that cheered Americans up after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It was considered the most popular sitcom in the world at one time.

His numerous TV credits include "Girlfriends," "iCarly," "Zoey 101," "True Jackson, VP," "Suddenly Susan," "Murphy Brown," "Mad About You," "The Drew Carey Show" and "For Your Love."

Christiansen was born in New London, Connecticut. His father was a college chemistry professor and the family had no connections with the entertainment industry.

"I grew up very far away from Hollywood and had no connections to it," he said. "I never thought I would be a TV director. Basically, I just did things that I really enjoyed and it led me to television in Hollywood."

Christiansen developed a strong interest in photography and video cameras and worked at a local cable TV company after high school, doing camera work and directing original programming.

He moved to New York City as a professional camera man, working with Hollywood professionals and teaching film at Columbia University. He moved to Los Angeles and taught cinematic arts at the University of Southern California.

He worked on the "Murphy Brown" sitcom, joined the Directors Guild of America and began work on many sitcoms.

"I just followed the things that I liked - photography, video camera, teaching and later directing," he said.

'Friends' movie unlikely

"I'm very honored and proud to be part of 'Friends'," he said. "It's very difficult for another show to be exactly like that." He directed the show at its peak.

The series finale on May 6, 2004, was watched by 52.46 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched television series finale in US history.

Cast and fans wept when the decade-long show ended.

There have been persistent rumors about a "Friends" reunion movie, like the "Sex and the City" reunion films. But Christiansen dismissed the possibility for the time being, saying the "Friends" cast decided to end the series because it was becoming too repetitive and they wanted to move on to other projects.

"So I know that the cast doesn't want to go right back," Christiansen said, adding that the cast has gotten older, making it difficult to reprise the old roles.

"That's a rumor spread by people who really would love the cast to get together again," he said. "But it's Hollywood," he added. "Anything is possible."

After "Friends," Christiansen moved on to other successful comedies.

Today American sitcoms have fallen a bit out of favor, though older viewers still like the comedies that depend on good writing and are inexpensive to make. Young people are turning to fantasy and the supernatural, like the "Harry Potter" films and various vampire films and TV series.

Christiansen has directed many successful teen sitcoms, though he himself is divorced and has no children.

"When I was asked to do 'Hannah Montana,' nobody knew it would be a success, but I started working on it and people liked it," he said.

Sitcoms will always be appealing because the audience relates to the cast, he observed.

"The supernatural is not real, we just look at it as entertainment that can frighten us and make us happy," he said. "But it cannot move us as much (as sitcoms). We don't relate to those (fantasy) people the way we relate to Ross, Rachel, Chandler and Monica (characters in 'Friends')."

"It (a different genre) is sort of like clothing," he said. "Sometimes certain clothes are in style, then they grow out of style and they come back in style."

After his four-year run on the directing team of 'Friends', Christiansen was invited to join the jury for the Shanghai Television Festival in 2004, making his first trip to China.

That opened his eyes to Asia and new career opportunities. He has frequently visited Shanghai and Beijing since then.

"It makes sense to me that China and United States, two big powers, would start to collaborate on so many levels including the entertainment industry," he said.

China's visual entertainment market is booming. In 2010 it produced more TV shows than any other country - 436 series containing 14,685 episodes.

"Many of my friends in Hollywood are little envious that I'm working over here," he reported.

The differences between Chinese and US audience tastes and TV production in the two countries are significant.

One obvious challenge is the language. US viewers don't like to watch subtitled foreign TV shows and it's difficult to distribute Chinese-language TV and films in the mainstream Western market.

Moreover, production and standards differ greatly.

"It takes a long time to do a TV show in China," Christiansen said. Production only begins after the script is written and accepted, investors are on board and all the staff are in place. Once on the air, a TV series often broadcast one to three episodes a day. There's little revision and writers don't play a role once a show is aired.

By contrast, US TV shows are flexible; shooting continues while episodes are aired. Writers can make changes in the script according to audience and actors' feedback. Large teams of writers are often employed to give a TV series depth and diversity in story lines and styles. It took as long as five days to film one "Friends" episode, the director said.

He once noted that Chinese audiences now like period dramas and series about their history, comparing that to the American love affair with cowboys and westerns in the mid-20th century.

But America moved on and Christiansen believes there's room in China for more sophisticated writing about contemporary topics. He emphasized the importance of better and more sophisticated writing in China.

He recently joined the DeTao Masters Academy, a Beijing-based institute that aims to attract global talent and introduce the latest technology to the Chinese industry.

"I start teaching in Shanghai in September and I'm hoping to develop more contacts and more opportunities to direct," Christiansen said. "I'm hoping to do something in China within the next year."