SEASON 2 - EPISODE 146 - Matthew Specktor - Author

Author Matthew Specktor joins us in this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast. In his recently released memoir, THE GOLDEN HOUR, Matthew, the son of legendary talent agent Fred Specktor, uses his parents' divergent professional and personal lives to reflect on the film industry as it was, and he writes about his own life and career in and around the movies to reflect on what it has become. After reading it (and Matthew's other novels), we felt we had to speak with him. What follows in this episode is a wide-ranging and lively conversation about Matthew's life, his and our views on the changes in the film business and in the films themselves, cinema's place in society, and the genuine love for Hollywood that comes out in his writing. We also discuss the changing economics of funding films, the shifts in who wields power in Hollywood, and Matthew details the brief window in the 1960s and 1970s in which filmmakers were afforded a relative freedom not seen since. In THE GOLDEN HOUR, Matthew at times places us inside the minds of industry figureheads such as Lew Wasserman and Michael Ovitz, and Matthew shares how understanding the men who changed the film industry can help us better understand where we are today. We also reflect on the all-consuming lifestyle of working in Hollywood, and Matthew likens it to being trapped in a casino at two in the morning—forever. Plus, Matthew shares what it was like learning how to write from a uniquely qualified professor: James Baldwin.

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Recommended Reading: THE GOLDEN HOUR

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This episode is sponsored by Profoto & Aputure