Dropped in on independent film director (7)
I believe the answer is:
fellini
'film director' is the definition.
(director Federico Fellini)
'dropped in on independent' is the wordplay.
'dropped' becomes 'fell' (I've seen this before).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'fell'+'in'+'i'='FELLINI'
(Other definitions for fellini that I've seen before include "Federico ------- (1920-1993), Italian film director" , "Shooting Italian" , "Italian film-maker, d. 1993" , "Federico --, Italian film producer" , "It. film director (La Dolce Vita)" .)