Ron Howard – Apollo 13

• Mike Figgis – Leaving Las Vegas
• Mel Gibson – Braveheart
• Ang Lee – Sense and Sensibility
• Michael Radford – Il Postino: The Postman

Terry Zwigoff – Crumb

• Deborah Hoffmann – Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter
• Freida Lee Mock – Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
• Bill Van Daalen – Indianapolis: Ship of Doom
• Helen Whitney – American Masters for "Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light"

Christopher Chulack – ER for "Hell and High Water"

• Félix Enríquez Alcalá – ER for "Do One, Teach One, Kill One"
• Chris Carter – The X-Files for " The List"
• Charles Haid – Murder One for "Pilot"
• Mimi Leder – ER for " Love's Labor Lost"

Gordon Hunt – Mad About You for "The Alan Brady Show"

• Andy Ackerman – Seinfeld for " The Gum"
• James Burrows – Friends for "The One with the Birth"
• Todd Holland – The Larry Sanders Show for "Arthur After Hours"
• David Lee – Frasier for "Daphne's Room"

Mick Jackson – Indictment: The McMartin Trial

• Robert Markowitz – The Tuskegee Airmen
• Daniel Petrie – Kissinger and Nixon
• Frank Pierson – Truman
• Peter Werner – Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story

Matthew Diamond – Great Performances for "Some Enchanted Evening: Celebrating Oscar Hammerstein"

• Ellen Brown – The Tonight Show With Jay Leno from Las Vegas
• Hal Gurnee – Late Show with David Letterman from London
• Louis J. Horvitz – Sinatra: 80 Years My Way
• Jeff Margolis – The 67th Annual Academy Awards

William Ludel and Alan Pultz – General Hospital for "Episode #8248"

• Joseph Behar – General Hospital for "Episode #8183"
• Bruce S. Barry – Guiding Light for "Episode #12063"
• Susan Flannery – The Bold and the Beautiful for "Episode #2167"
• Scott McKinsey and Shelley Curtis – General Hospital for "Episode #8233"

Robert Lieberman – Hallmark Cards' "Jeffrey's Secret" and Merrill Lynch's "Sisters Already Retired"

• Steven Chase – Pepsi's "All Sports Basketball", Mountain Dew's "Crooner", Anheuser-Busch's "Fishing" and "Primate", and AT&T's "Paddleball"
• Tony Kaye – Guinness' "Men & Women", TAG Heuer's "Mind Games", and Volvo's "Twister"
• Joe Pytka – Pepsi's "Diner", "Set Piece" and "Stranded"
• Kinka Usher – Timex Corporation's "Angel" and "Dog To Vet", and California Milk's "Full Body Cast", "Interrogation" and "Trix"