'Switched at Birth' Star D.W. Moffett on Directing This Week's 'Intense' Episode

Switch at Birth's Lea Thompson and D.W. Moffett.

Monday's episode of ABC Family serial Switched at Birth was full of emotional moments, from Daphne (Katie Leclerc) hitting rock bottom after stealing oxycodone then getting fired from her job to Bay (Vanessa Marano) taking a stand against the prom dress code. The mood was a bit lighter as the bromance between Toby (Lucas Grabeel) and Tank (Max Adler) continued. D.W. Moffett, who plays patriarch John Kennish, directed the episode.

Serial Scoop spoke with Moffett about being a first-time director on the show and asked him what it was like to direct himself.

"If you watch last week’s episode, you’ll see I’m not really in that episode very much," Moffett explained. "That was originally going to be the episode that I was going to direct because I wasn’t in it very much! But for scheduling reasons and budgetary reasons and location reasons, it didn’t work out that I could direct that episode. So I wound up directing an episode in which I appeared more than I would have liked to have appeared."

The experience of a long and successful acting career helped make things easier.

"The good news for me is that I’ve been doing this for 35 years, so I kind of know when I’m on and when I’m not. I don’t need someone to tell me I flubbed a line or that wasn’t quite as believable as we’d like it to be, so that’s good!"

Moffett was happy with how the episode came together.

"The other thing is I’m usually a one-take actor, in general, so I’m usually pretty happy after the first take with what I’ve done, assuming I’m not completely distracted, or something. But I have to say, I was able to sort of split my brain in two and do my acting work and do my directing work. I know that our show runner, Lizzy Weiss, was quite pleased with my performance. I don’t have a big load to carry in this episode, but it is an intense episode, I had to do a little bit of that, and I thought it came off quite well."

He also praised his co-stars for their work.

"I have to say, though, I am not the shining star of this episode at all. Many, many other cast members have a much bigger load to carry and shine much brighter than I do!"

You can watch "The Girl on the Cliff" episode of Switched at Birth at abcfamily.com.