For The Wire McKay directed the fourth episode of the fourth season, "Refugees". Show runner David Simon had seen McKay's HBO films and describes them as "masterful, ordinary-life movies" and thought that McKay would be perfect for the series based on their shared characteristics of accumulating drama in small moments. Page 5 McKay has worked with several cast members of the show on other projects including Reg E. Cathey and Jamie Hector on Everyday People and Wendell Pierce on Life Support.
