LYDIA DEAN PILCHER - Producer / Director
Team Deakins
James Ellis Deakins
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
SEASON 2 - EPISODE 193 Lydia Dean Pilcher - Producer / Director
In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with producer and director Lydia Dean Pilcher (A CALL TO SPY, QUEEN OF KATWE, THE DARJEELING LIMITED). From producing plays in her parents' garage to making feature films and documentaries seen around the world, Lydia has always been drawn to the power of stories. Throughout our conversation, we discuss the lifelong impact of growing up in the United States during the Vietnam War era, her varied work as a producer and director, and how she developed her skills working in the New York film scene. Lydia also reflects on her longtime collaboration with director Mira Nair, and we learn how Lydia helped produce many of Mira's films such as MISSISSIPPI MASALA and THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST. She later helps clear up the differences between the numerous producer credits, and she reflects on how the business of producing and financing films has changed how she does her job nowadays. Plus, Lydia reveals which mountain she slept on while attending the inaugural edition of the Sundance Film Festival and which previous guest of the podcast spent nine weeks of nights working in the prop department of Martin Scorsese's AFTER HOURS.
If you enjoyed listening to Lydia, then you'll love listening to her husband (and production designer) Mark Friedberg (Season 2, Episode 160).
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This episode is sponsored by Aputure
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to season two of the Team Deacons podcast, a collection of informal conversations |
| 0:10.1 | between Roger and James Deacons and a guest. We never know where the conversation will take |
| 0:16.0 | us, so listen in and see where it goes. |
| 0:29.4 | This episode is sponsored by Aperture and its new Storm XT-52, the industry's most powerful LED point source light. |
| 0:32.4 | Brighter than a 6K HMI empowered by Aperture's revolutionary Blair light engine, the Storm XT-52 is both a tunable |
| 0:41.8 | white light and also the brightest ever adjustable color LED. |
| 0:47.1 | Storm XT-52, unrivaled output, only from Aperture. |
| 0:55.4 | Today we're speaking with a producer and director. |
| 0:58.7 | Her credits include A Call to Spy, Radium Girls, and the Darjeeling Limited. |
| 1:05.1 | We're pleased to welcome Lydia Dean Pilcher. |
| 1:08.5 | Lydia, thank you for doing. |
| 1:10.0 | I welcome. |
| 1:10.6 | Thank you. This is great. We doing. I welcome. Thank you. |
| 1:11.6 | This is great. |
| 1:12.6 | We want to start with our regular question, |
| 1:15.6 | which is, how did you get to where you are today? |
| 1:18.6 | Was this something that you thought you wanted to do as a kid? |
| 1:21.6 | Did you always love movies, or was it something you found afterwards? |
| 1:25.6 | What's your story? |
| 1:31.3 | Yeah, I have always loved movies, |
| 1:39.3 | and I trace my fascination with storytelling back to when I learned how to read. |
| 1:41.4 | Last night I was thinking about it, |
... |
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