SCOTT FRANK - Writer / Director
Team Deakins
James Ellis Deakins
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
SEASON 2 - EPISODE 199 Scott Frank - Writer / Director
In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with writer and director Scott Frank (DEPT. Q, THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, LOGAN). Scott has worked across film and television over the course of his career, and as fans of his latest show, DEPT. Q, we were thrilled to have him on to talk about his work. Scott reveals how a college professor's life advice and interest in his budding screenwriting abilities eventually led to an office on the Paramount lot at age 24, and throughout the episode we discuss Scott's views on writing, directing, and the importance of character in a story. Scott also shares what he learned from watching his feature screenplays get made by other directors, and we learn why he decided to direct his own work himself. We later discuss his approach to casting and coverage, and Scott shares numerous pieces of advice from filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh (Season 2, Episode 153), Sydney Pollack, and his own very wise wife.
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Recommended Viewing: DEPT. Q
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to Season 2 of the Team Deacons podcast, a collection of informal conversations |
| 0:10.1 | between Roger and James Deacons and a guest. |
| 0:13.7 | We never know where the conversation will take us, so listen in and see where it goes. |
| 0:21.5 | Today we're speaking with a showrunner, producer, and writer. |
| 0:26.0 | His credits include Department Q, Monsieur Spade, and the Queen's Gambit. |
| 0:32.3 | We're pleased to welcome Scott Frank. |
| 0:35.0 | Scott, thank you for doing this. |
| 0:36.1 | I welcome. |
| 0:37.2 | Thank you for having me. What a treat. Thank you. I've got to say that intro was like you've done so many, you've written so many scripts and being involved with so many projects. It seemed very spared. Well, I thought maybe we'd just jump into it. Yeah, let's jump into it. I didn't want to do it all in the intro. |
| 0:56.6 | Now you know who writes the intros. |
| 1:00.6 | Anyway, let's get to our first question, which is, how did you get to where you are today? |
| 1:06.4 | Is this something that you always thought you wanted to do as a kid, or did you take another path? |
| 1:11.1 | Or, well, what's your story? |
| 1:13.1 | Luck is contextualized over all of this. But I did always want to do this, even when I was very |
| 1:19.7 | young. I was always a storyteller and getting myself into all kinds of trouble. And when I was |
| 1:26.6 | super young, I would say seven or eight. I remember |
| 1:31.0 | in school, you used to have to write, what did you do over your vacation and would, you know, |
| 1:36.2 | do you draw pictures or do whatever? And I found that so boring. And so I would have pictures of my |
| 1:42.7 | dad shooting someone or hitting my mother or us. |
| 1:47.3 | And it was really crazy. |
| 1:50.3 | And so they would call home and say, you know, to my mom and dad, is everything okay? |
| 1:55.9 | And so my parents, at one point, my dad was a pilot for Pan Am. |
... |
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