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 041: Alexa Raisbeck, Technician/Projectionist
Episode 040: Jess Jones, Script Editor & Development Consultant
Episode 039: Natalie Samson, Head of Production at Into Film
Episode 038: Rebecca Day, Documentary Producer & Psychotherapist
Episode 037: Cate Kane, Head of Acquisitions, Curzon Artificial Eye
Episode 036: Nicole Dorsey, Filmmaker
Episode 035: Robyn Citizen, Programmer & Academic
Episode 034: Pamela B. Green, Director, Producer & Main Titles Designer
Episode 033: Elise McCave, Director of Narrative Film at Kickstarter
Episode 032: Margaret Boykin, Director of Film Development at Ubisoft
Episode 031: Dorota Lech, Lead Programmer at TIFF
SEASON TWO BONUS EPISODE (030): Live at Underwire Film Festival with Roxy Rezvany
Episode 029: Sarah Brocklehurst
Episode 028: Jasmin Morrison
Episode 027: Rowan Woods
Episode 026: Flore Cosquer
Episode 025: Sophie Powell
Episode 024: Ellen Evans
Episode 023: Rachel Pronger
Episode 022: Sima Gonsai
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