CHRIS CARROLL - Assistant Director
Team Deakins
James Ellis Deakins
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
SEASON 2 - EPISODE 192 Chris Carroll - Assistant Director
In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with assistant director Chris Carroll (THE MASTERMIND, YELLOWSTONE, NIGHT MOVES). Throughout the episode, Chris shares how he juggles the many duties of the role, and we learn how an early-career run-in with assistant director Michael Lerman (Season 1, Episode 85) set him on the path to becoming one himself. Chris also frequently collaborates with director Kelly Reichardt and cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (Season 2, Episode 179), and he reflects on making films such as MEEK'S CUTOFF and NIGHT MOVES on limited budgets in remote locations. We later discuss the challenges of building out the schedule for production, and Chris shares how he tries to balance the needs of every department with the realities of the shoot. We also learn how Chris monitors and manages the crew's mood, and we discuss where he physically is on the day. We also learn how Chris works with extras, and he reveals how different his job can be on a television series like YELLOWSTONE.
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This episode is sponsored by Aputure
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to Season 2 of the Team Deacons podcast, |
| 0:07.0 | a collection of informal conversations between Roger and James Deacons and a guest. |
| 0:13.0 | We never know where the conversation will take us, so listen in and see where it goes. |
| 0:21.9 | This episode is sponsored by Aperture and its new Storm XT-52, the industry's most |
| 0:29.5 | powerful LED point source light. Brighter than a 6K HMI and powered by Aperture's revolutionary |
| 0:36.8 | Blair light engine, the Storm XT-52 is both a tunable |
| 0:41.9 | white light and also the brightest ever adjustable color LED. Storm XT-52, unrivaled output, |
| 0:51.5 | only from Aperture. |
| 0:58.4 | Today we're speaking with an assistant director. |
| 1:03.5 | His credits include The Mastermind, Bo is Afraid, and Night Moves. |
| 1:06.1 | We're pleased to welcome Chris Carroll. |
| 1:08.4 | Chris, thank you for doing this. |
| 1:09.2 | Yeah, welcome. |
| 1:11.0 | James and Roger, thank you. |
| 1:16.1 | I'm such a fan of this show, and it's just a real honor and pleasure to have this conversation with you. |
| 1:22.1 | Well, we'd like to start with our normal question, which is, how did you get to where you are today? |
| 1:28.8 | Were you bossing around kids when you were a kid and saying, no, you got to stand here and you stand over there? |
| 1:35.9 | Or did you want to be a bookseller and then find out that you'd end up doing this? |
| 1:41.1 | Maybe because I'm the oldest of three, the older brother in me, Dolly's just kind of push my little sisters around, you know? |
| 1:43.1 | Oh, yeah. |
| 1:46.9 | No. But so I, yeah, I grew up in New Jersey, southern New Jersey, and, you know, when I was a kid, my parents loved movies, |
| 1:52.5 | and for a little while, they had a convenience store in New Jersey, and in the convenience store, |
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