director's chair

American  

noun

1. a lightweight folding armchair with transversely crossed legs and having a canvas seat and back panel, as traditionally used by motion-picture directors.

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director's chair British  

noun

1. a light wooden folding chair with arm rests and a canvas seat and back

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Etymology

Origin of director's chair

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the previous film, is in the director's chair for The Social Reckoning, with an impressive cast including Mikey Madison, Wunmi Mosaku and Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026

But you don’t have to play every role yourself—take the director’s chair, define the scenes, and choose your cast from the parts of yourself that serve the story you truly want to tell.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

You've also talked about the difference that it makes having women in the writers' room, having women in the director's chair.

From Salon • Jul. 20, 2023

Here, despite the phony-looking digital scenery, the busy, tension-free action and Spielberg’s absence from the director’s chair, the movie aims to serve up a smorgasbord of familiar Indy blockbuster pleasures.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2023

Sometimes he’d get up from his director’s chair and we’d make small talk about my writ­ing, the war, the day’s bargains.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini