Michael Lerman - Assistant Director

Team Deakins

James Ellis Deakins

Tv & Film, Filmlighting, Deakins, Movies, Filmmaking, Production, Film, Cinematography, Film Interviews

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2021

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

EPISODE 85 - MICHAEL LERMAN - Assistant Director

Team Deakins has a great conversation with assistant director, Michael Lerman (1917, DOCTOR STRANGE, SKYFALL). Michael breaks down the job in detail starting from the beginning in prep through the shoot. He tells us it starts with the schedule which is a challenge that never ends during the production. He shares the importance of location scouting for the director, cinematographer and production designer, as well as his role of protecting the director’s time so they can spend the time they need with the many departments. He talks about the need of being both a “director’s AD” as well as a “producer’s AD”. We also discuss the importance of marrying 2nd unit and main unit and how this applied to the opening sequence of Skyfall. We cover a lot of ground in the episode so don’t miss it!!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Team Deacons podcast. This podcast is a dialogue between
0:10.2	Roger and James Deacons often joined in the conversation by a guest.
0:15.4	It's very informal, and we never know where it will go.
0:19.4	We're connecting through Zoom,
0:20.8	so bear that in mind when you hear the audio. If you'd like to submit a
0:25.4	question or topic please do so by emailing pod, p-o-d at Roger Deacons.com.
0:33.0	This episode is sponsored by Ari.
0:36.0	More than just the manufacturer of the film industry's top camera and lighting equipment,
0:41.0	they are also the innovator behind cinematic lenses such as the
0:45.8	Master Prime and Signature Prime lenses. Ari, truly cinematic. Today we're joined by an assistant director. His credits include
0:56.3	Three Bond Movies, Monsters Ball, The Kite Runner, and 1917. We're pleased to have
1:02.4	Michael Lerman with us today. Michael, thank you for doing
1:06.2	this. Thank you so much for having me. It's good to see you. We want to start with our
1:11.9	question of how did you get to where you are now is this something you always wanted to do did you take another path or have you been straight on this the whole time have you ever met anyone who wanted to be an AD?
1:23.0	From when...
1:24.0	Actually...
1:25.0	Come on now.
1:26.0	I wouldn't mind, but...
1:28.0	Certainly not growing up.
1:30.0	I knew a lot of people wanted to go fishing all their lives but that was about it. No, I never figured out
1:37.5	when I was growing up that you could actually go and work in the film industry. I know it sounds
1:41.8	crazy and I was a huge... Not at all. and work in the film industry. I know it sounds crazy.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from James Ellis Deakins, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of James Ellis Deakins and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.