This is week my guest is Desiree Akhavan!
Desiree’s first feature film was 2014’s APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR, in which she also starred. It came off the back of a web series she made in 2010 called The Slope, with fellow NYU postgrad film student Ingrid Jungermann.
After Appropriate Behaviour, Desiree had a guest spot on the TV show Girls, and also began adapting the book THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, alongside her co-writer and producer Cecilia Frugiuele. The film, which Desiree also directed, would star Chloe Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane and went on to win the Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize in 2018.
Around the same time, Desiree also created, wrote and directed a brilliant 6-part TV show for Channel 4 called THE BISEXUAL, starring Maxine Peake, Brian Gleeson, Naomi Ackie and Desiree herself and all set in London.
Since 2018 Desiree has been working on a very personal project which we talk about, as well directing episodes of many brilliant TV shows, including RAMY, HACKS and TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS.
We talk about a lot, and if you’ve ever read an interview with Desiree you know she’s very good at cutting through the bullshit and this is no exception. We dig into how the past five years have seen her working at a different pace and why that is, we talk about the moments after success and the expectations that were placed on her career, we talk about what it actually means or requires to direct an episode of TV, finding a soulmate in her creative partner Cecilia and why learning and having fun is at the centre of everything she does…
Episode 060: Grace Snell, Costume Designer
Episode 059: Mahalia John, Central / Clapper Loader
Episode 058: Rebecca Horsburgh, Grip (Key Grip & Best Boy Grip)
Episode 057: Lara Manwaring, Casting Director
Episode 056: Rina Yang, Cinematographer
REISSUE: Episode 045: Corrina Antrobus, Founder of Bechdel Test Fest
Episode 055: Anna Bertmark, Sound Designer & Supervisor
Episode 054: Cat Marshall, Production Supervisor at Warp Films & Producer
Episode 53: Emma Norton, Producer at Element Pictures
Episode 52: Meroë Candy, Story Research & Production Consultant
Episode 51: Rosie Crerar & Ciara Barry, Producers
Episode 050: Lizzie Francke, Senior Production and Development Executive at the BFI's Film Fund (Live at the Glasgow Film Festival)
Episode 049: Roxana Adle, Talent Agent at Independent Talent
Episode 048: Sanne Jehoul, Co-Director of Glasgow Short Film Festival
Episode 047: Clarisse Loughrey, Chief Film Critic at The Independent
Episode 046: Nia Hughes, Organising Official at BECTU
Episode 045: Corrina Antrobus, Founder of Bechdel Test Fest
Episode 044: Gini Godwin, Production Designer
Episode 043: Kharmel Cochrane, Casting Director
Episode 042: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Composer
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