Warren Beatty – Reds

• Hugh Hudson – Chariots of Fire
• Louis Malle – Atlantic City
• Mark Rydell – On Golden Pond
• Steven Spielberg – Raiders of the Lost Ark

Robert Butler – Hill Street Blues for "Hill Street Station"

• David Anspaugh – Hill Street Blues for "The Last White Man on East Ferry"
• Georg Stanford Brown – Hill Street Blues for "Up in Arms"

Alan Alda – M*A*S*H for "The Life You Save"

• James Burrows – Taxi for "Jim the Psychic"
• Harry Morgan – M*A*S*H for "Blood Brothers"

Emile Ardolino – Great Performances: Dance in America for "The Spellbound Child"

• Bill Davis and Tony Charmoli – Lily: Sold Out
• Clark Jones – Sinatra: The Man and His Music

Robert Guenette – Great Movie Stunts: Raiders of the Lost Ark

• David Heeley – Starring Katharine Hepburn
• Harry Moses – Jean Seberg

Stan Harris – Command Performance at Ford's Theatre: The Stars Meet The President

• Clark Jones – 35th Tony Awards
• Doug Wilson – 1981 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Herbert Wise – Skokie

• Emile Ardolino – Great Performances for "Nureyev and the Joffrey Ballet/In Tribute to Nijinsky"
• Anthony Harvey and Anthony Page – The Patricia Neal Story

Richard Levine – Pepsi's "First Love" and "Papa", and Kodak's "Summer Colt"

• R. Hagmann – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' "Julie Through the Looking Glass", and Coca-Cola's "Railway Crossing"
• Tibor Hirsch – SOS's "Anniversary", Partager's "Camargue", United Airlines' "Clem's Story", and GTE's "Santa's Workshop"
• Joe Pytka – Henry Weinhard's' "Alaska", Bud Light's "Football", and Coca-Cola's "Thirsty Workers"
• Melvin Sokolsky – Fisher's "Beam" and Dr Pepper's "Roundy Room" and "Whistling"