Season gives directors point of departure (11)
I believe the answer is:
springboard
'point of departure' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'season gives directors' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'season' could be 'spring' (spring is a season) and 'spring' is present in the answer.
'directors' could be 'board' (board of directors) and 'board' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for springboard that I've seen before include "Help with launch" , "Bouncy launchpad for diving" , "Gymnasts use it" , "Flexible point of departure?" , "diving platform" .)