Dare to build the conditions for others - Lidia Scarlat

0:09Yeah, I love building the conditions for other people, artists to dare, right? I think that's probably my daring aspect because people think that being a producer is being in the safe seat. No, it's actually jumping off the cliff first. I think it's usually as a producer you say yes before anything exists. You have no staffed team yet. There's no roadmap. Every project at the beginning is really a mutant. You don't really know what you're putting up with, but you have some acquired intuition of the fact that you're going to figure it out.

0:54Welcome to Daring Forever, a podcast about being human, wired for wonder, capable of courage, perpetually becoming. It's about the waves that knock us under and the strange stubborn grace with which we surface. My name is Radim Malinic, I'm an author, creative and an eternally curious human being on a mission to speak to incredible people whom I call Forever Daring Humans. those in pursuit of an extraordinary life. Every week I share an interview that is packed with amazing stories, value, and I can only ask you, how will you dare forever? This podcast is inspired by my upcoming book titled Daring Forever, which is now available for pre-order out in October.

1:42My guest today discovered she loved what happens behind the camera long before she wanted to be in front of it, and she's built an entire career chasing that curiosity. Lydia Scarlett is a producer who has spent years turning ideas into finished work across the creative industries, moving from project to project by simply showing up. In this conversation, we talk about growing up in a family of artists, why producing means jumping off the cliff before anyone else does, and why nobody gets discovered until you show up. We get into asking the questions about AI's role in the creative pipelines and why you should dare to say yes before anything exists.

2:18It's my pleasure to share with you my conversation with Lydia Scarlett.

2:28Lydia, it's so great to see you today. Welcome to Daring Forever. How are you doing? Likewise, I am doing great. I'm excited because after every podcast recording or going on stage or talking to people in general, I always feel very energized. So I'm excited for the way I will feel after this podcast. That's a very interesting way of seeing things. And I'm hoping that we do it justice so you don't come out disappointed. No, no, no. It's going to be, I think it's going to be amazing. Because when you start going introspective into conversations like these, you step out of your usual routine and your usual task list.

3:07And emails don't exist for like an hour or how long we're going to be here. that's a good stop and talk or stop and think or stop and share moment and i think we need that so i'm happy that you're giving the space to make this happen so thank you adam i love this because my format i go a couple of steps back before we go a few steps forward in understanding who you are what you do and how you do it and as i told you just before we started recording i've met you a couple of times in person i know a little bit about you and there's a lot i don't know about you. And this is kind of my almost naive ways of conversations going, let me discover who this person is and hopefully and find a ways of finding the stories and philosophies that haven't been spoken about for quite a long time.

3:52So Lydia, for those who have may have not heard of you, who are you? What do you do? How would you introduce yourself? All right. I usually say that at heart, I'm a producer. I think on paper, I'm pretty much a producer as well. So I'm a producer that loves to make things happen in all sorts of creative industries. It all started, I think, when I was four years old and I recorded a song at the national radio in Moldova, my home country. And I saw the huge studios, the radio. We had like Soviet legacy radio and TV studios. So I stepped into those and I was singing a little song about a snowman.

4:29And I saw that surreal space, like a different landscape, like a parallel world to the usual routine home kindergarten environment. And I was like, what is this planet? So it all started back then with the enthusiasm of stepping into a world that is behind closed doors where kids don't usually go, right? So I recorded that song. Somehow that got me into being a TV host for a kids show. And there I was like, oh my God, this is so amazing. Everything is so not lifelike. But at the same time, this is life for several hours during the recording. What I loved most was looking at what the people behind the scenes were doing.

5:13So there was this godlike voice that would call out all the cues. There were the people behind the cameras who knew exactly what they were doing, but they were not talking amongst themselves. They just knew what to do. And I'm like, how is this magic happening? So that I loved what was going on in the backstage world. And I was like, I want to do that. But putting on lovely little dresses and reading the script off of a prompter is cool. But I really want to see what that person, the director over there is doing overseeing this whole production. So I think that's where I got a little bit of a taste for what's going on behind the scenes.

5:54So that's where I started. it what you describe i've been on a few live bbc recordings and channel four in the uk and you see the live talk shows and stuff that happens and at that moment in real time and you see the runners the camera operators and what you describe gives you almost these goosebumps because it's like an orchestra of its own because you see everything being so tight and so rehearsed and people being such professionals that you admire it that you're just like oh how does it go so i can totally understand even from a different page perspective that seeing that stuff is really interesting but what you just described quite beautifully you said look i sang a song when i was four years old and i'm like wait a minute no four-year-old just happens to be on a stage singing a song about a snowman that's being recorded for the tv and then become a little bit of a tv presenter right so let's go into this because you have clearly taken to it quite easily like a duck to water What sort of family are you from that this didn't seem anything unusual to you?

6:53It did seem unusual to my parents because I was basically, I will say kidnapped, but I'm not. I'm not litigating against anyone. I was basically taken from kindergarten because I could sing. Like kindergarten educators can tell what you're talented at. So I could sing and they were like, OK, we got this recording to do at the national radio station. So they just took me out. They grabbed me out from kindergarten and put me into that studio without telling my parents. That's back in the days when there was no WhatsApp chats with parents. So they came to pick me up and I was not there. So they waited for me.

7:26And I remember not caring at all. I thought things are just happening to me and they were so amazing. Anyway, but I came back and they were like, oh, there you are. They were so stressed. But they did not think that was exotic because I do come from a family of artists, several generations, I think, of artists. My great-grandfather was what we call like a Renaissance man. He tapped into all of the possible arts, except the digital ones, because that was back in time. Colin Art, he was part of it. From photography to theater, opera singing, jewelry making, painting. Amazing, amazing man. I want to write a book about him, and I hope I get to do it at some point.

8:13So that was like one of the generations then. My grandparents are actors. My parents were ballet dancers. So I grew up with the idea, do not become an artist. Because being an artist in Moldova, in post-Soviet Moldova, is not a thing to do. That's not a job. That doesn't pay. You can sing songs with your friends, but do not become an artist. So I became a producer instead. I cannot go too far from the artist. I don't think you've gone too far from the artist, but you mentioned post-Russian Moldova a few times. What was it like to grow up? And actually, for some, it might be a helpful geography lesson or geography pointer.

8:55Where do we find Moldova? And what's the history there? What you describe when you live in a post-Russian Moldova, so there's an independence. What was the feeling in the air like at that time? Yeah, I was born right when independence was happening. So Moldova is sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine in Eastern Europe. And I can only describe from my lived experience. So I remember it being quite a crazy time. Crime was pretty high up. Burglars were going into apartments. Food that hasn't happened to us, but we've had people trying to open the doors while you were sleeping. The social situation was tense.

9:35People were coming out into a country that didn't know how to step by itself independently. It was crazy. And my parents and all of my family and my friends' families, they somehow made it. They somehow got to be the heroes of our childhoods because I think I had a happy childhood despite the environment that was happening around me. It was pretty stressful. I think the biggest stress was the fact that you couldn't really trust the people on the streets or you don't walk alone at night. The scarcity was pushing people to some crazy extremes. And that memory of being afraid that someone may break into your house was kind of rough.

10:17That's why in Moldova, maybe in some other Eastern European countries as well, but I know for sure in Moldova, we all have double doors at our apartments. just so we trick the burglars into, oh, one more door. Moreover, if you lived on the last floor, the top floor of your apartment building, that was the most vulnerable spot because burglars would prefer that because there's nobody coming in from upstairs. So there's more chances they would have more time to break into flats. So we were staying at the top, top level of our apartment building and we had to build, what do you call those? Like grid?

10:53bars yeah like prison bars yeah so we had to build prison bars basically on the floor where our apartment was and a couple of our apartments were just so we can demotivate people to try and break in i look back at it and i'm like what a surreal time yeah this has taken us in a totally different dimension because it's given me an idea of a question because how did you and your family offset that heaviness. There's a lot of creativity and expression in your family. Was that part of escapism or was that necessity? It seems like your people found a way to get through it, not only physically for building mesh doors and barriers, but it sounds like there was something that people looked to the other side and found a way to see through this and live through it.

11:43Yeah. All credits go to the family and the community and the neighbors. Everybody was very supportive. I don't know my neighbors these days the way I knew them back in the day. The community was everything. And I think maybe that's why we love celebrations that much. Whenever we could party and have a good time and forget about the bad things, we would all jump into it. And so I think for the family, it became a way of coping with it, putting up with it, knowing that it was temporary and that things would change. And this is a moment of transition that we got to protect her, our close friends and family, and things will get better.

12:26I always grew up with the idea that no matter what happens, everything is going to be fine. And I think that reassurance and to grow up with that reassurance is so powerful. It gives you so much, such a shield that stays for the long run. So I have no idea how they did it. But friends and family, kudos to you. you did amazing. And of course, things have changed these days. Moldova is a safe place. It's a beautifully thriving place. Everything is happening fast. We're very nimble. I love the place now. The harsh times that we went through did not demotivate pushing through and vouching for it. We're listening to you.

13:07You're describing the perfect making of a producer because you mentioned about temporary and everything will be fine. This is just temporary and everything will be fine and i guess in a way what you're describing to some listeners it might be quite chaotic upbringing we are not always lucky to grow up in a place that's safe there's some element of unsafety in everywhere you look sometimes you just don't know it in your case it was quite prevalent and very very clear and it was quite easy to feel it if that makes sense right because surrounded by it it was there daily but it went away and the chaos that came with it subsided a little bit now as you say moldova is a totally different place now which is great to hear and i can see that you guys produce and what I can see coming out of Moldova is exceptional.

13:47And I think it's that element of being open to elements, right? Because sometimes you have some of those countries that are way too proud and they're like, okay, we don't collaborate so much, whatever. But the element of your journey for that time, did you have any way of your own escapism? Did you gravitate with any element of creativity or any way of output that would give you a light in all of that? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Again, I think my family did a very good job at protecting me from the outside dark forces. So the childhood was happy. And I think also in kindergarten and in school, there was always an artistic element to our daily lives.

14:29We would do a lot of music and theater in school beside the maths and the literature and whatnot. So I think that was a good community builder. We would do set up plays, which were pretty complex with proper costumes rented out from the National Opera House. Things are happening in Moldova in slightly different ways. And it's easier to knock on the door of the opera house and be like, we need someone dressed as a fox. Do you happen to have a fox costume for a child, please? So I think that artistic element, you could say that it was an escapism in a way, but it was not a conscious one. We were not searching for things to distract ourselves with.

15:10It was more like, this is the reality. We do what we got to do. Look at us. Things are getting better. And things were changing towards the better pretty fast. So we could feel that transition into moving on with our lives and learning and doing the best that we can and just putting up at that age with school. We'll be back after a quick break. This episode is brought to you by Lux Coffee Co. The first creative speciality coffee company, building a platform to shine the light on emerging global talent with a mission to make a positive impact on a creative industry and beyond. Lux Coffee Co. offers exceptional coffee sourced from around the world through ethical and sustainable practices.

15:56And you can discover the current range of signature blends and single origins, coffee hardware and accessories along with exceptional apparel at laxcoffee.co.uk you can use the code podcast to get 15 % off your first order

16:20which makes me think about all of this because yeah having grown up in a similar country and obviously not as plagued with crime or problems but i'm sure it was there too it's only on reflection when you start to think about what we did and how we did it of course no one really knows the escapism is there it's only on reflection when you realize oh that's how we're trying to find our times or our feet or our places in the world by being free to explore as in your case look on the opera house and go like hey we need a fox costume why not because i think we are more resilient than we think in those early years because we don't know anything different we don't have the comparison to, you know, or we should have this or we should have had that because you live within a society that pretty much is all cut out the same.

17:05So I was thinking, yeah, is it a question to ask? Because on reflection, you've got no idea if you're looking for escapism because it's only when time goes past and you realize, oh, that's what it was, of course. Exactly. Plus, I believe maybe for Czechia as well, but exactly at that time, we started being flooded by international media quite a lot. So we were listening to artists that were not Moldovan and Cartoon Network came along. What a beautiful pastime to watch colorful cartoons on TV in English. Nothing was dubbed. So it was like, this is a different world happening on our TVs right in front of our eyes.

17:46There was nobody outside when some cool cartoons were on TV. And also, again, this was before the whole Internet era. This was when kids were playing outside and inventing their own little games. Everything was a gamified experience that came naturally. I actually found out about internet from my grandmother. We were at a stadium and she heard some teenagers say that they go to this internet cafe thing. She was like, Lydia, you should check out what the internet cafe is. Sounds like an interesting new place. I'm like, thanks, grandma. She was my innovative thinker propeller. And here we are today.

18:23well we got a lot of grandma for the interest i remember seeing a computer which was plugged into the internet at a radio station back in my home time which was like 1995 and like the middle term used to be let's surf the internet and i'm like how do i surf the internet because it's been like having a car with no roads to go like where do i go what am i looking for you just haven't got a clue what you're looking for but i want to tap into what you said about the influence of other cultures and different languages. What did that feel like to have all of a sudden Cartoon Network on a TV and going, oh, this is different?

18:58Oh, it was curious. It was not a conscious understanding that this belongs to a different world. It was part of our world. It was something that was accessible for a remote control. Now, again, looking back at it, I'm like, well, that's cool. Probably my cartoony way of talking is because of Carton Network. Or there were telenovelas on TV later on, a little bit later on. And my mom was like, oh, stop watching this soap operas. They're a waste of time. And then I learned Spanish and Portuguese from those soap operas. So it was cool. Absorbing that in a moment when that kind of content was not competing with TikToks and Instagram.

19:35It also created a shared cultural moment. Everybody was watching the same things on TV. We would go back to school and talk about all the momentums or like the end of a series and everybody was chatting about it. I still feel like we do have those momentums nowadays in TV series or in films. But back then, those were big events. We were talking about the content that we would be consuming all the time. That was part of everybody's life in sync. That was a good part of life because everyone, as you said, was watching the same thing. So it wasn't when you ask friends now, like, have you seen that thing on Netflix or on Hulu or whatever, you're like, which, the 175 square at the bottom, the urgency is no longer there because at that time, the TV was only happening at that moment and you had to watch it.

20:22When you mentioned opera, did ever the Argentinians thought, we're going to make this stuff for us? There'll be kids in Czech Republic and Romania, Moldova and everywhere like in Europe watching it going, Milagros, what is this? Yes, exactly. But those conversations, that part of my life, like, sweeps itself into today so often. Because at conferences, I get to meet Spanish speakers or Portuguese speakers. I worked with Marcel at State, and a big part of his team speaks Portuguese, like the Brazilian Portuguese. And I then come along and I say that I watched that and that soap opera. And they're like, oh, my God, wow, why?

21:04So we're all connected. The whole being exposed to the wider bubble than the tiny little country of Moldova at that age, in time, proved how small the world eventually is. It's big and small at the same time. But I think that in our industry, it's so small. We bump into each other all the time. and it feels far. We feel geographically far from the other. But when we start moving around, it's actually, hey, I know you and you and you. And that gives such a comforting feeling for someone coming from a small country. It's so comforting to see that the bigger world, the big, big world is also quite small.

21:48You're so right, because you can be part of the global conversation so easily now, because all you have to do is to have the willingness to show up. because to have the cross-pollination of ideas the cross-pollination of creativity it's only made better by people who show up and take part and i think that's the most comforting part because it doesn't really matter where you're from anymore it didn't matter before because if you applied yourself and if you wanted to do something if you wanted it really bad you will go and get it so there's lots of stories of people that can do it really well but what i really want to get into is how do we go from you being taken out of a kindergarten despite your parents not knowing Being fascinated with producers, the TV sets and everything, discovering Cartoon Network, teaching yourself speaking Spanish and Portuguese from novellas.

22:32And that's all making of a producer now. So how do we trace you to the industry from that time? What was your entry? Yeah, I think I stayed connected to the television and radio world in Moldova. After hosting the TV show, you end up being there, more or less present in one way or the other. At some point, I started recording songs as a teenager. So I went off to interviews at different TV stations. And again, I was always fascinated, more fascinated by what was happening behind the cameras and how does live broadcast work and how do they put out some edits so fast. I was here a minute ago and now everything was edited and put nicely together and packaged with a graphics package.

23:14so I think that how I got into thinking oh maybe I can produce commercials and I think I was in the final years at school when I started producing some commercials and I went into being a radio host and I went to study media and it works itself out from there from student projects to internships and work experiences and always looking out for the next cool big project to be part of. I was never really seduced by the idea of just going into a company and attaching myself to a company, to a role in a company. I was always curious to tap into different roles and try different, various different projects.

23:53And no matter where they happen, I would be willing to go there and be part of them. And I think that kind of trait is lingering around still today. The projects that I work with are so different. In the same one week, I was doing the stage visuals for the Swan Lake Ballet and the screen visuals for Jurassic World theme park. So ballet and dinosaurs on one single email page. That sums up the variety and the contrast of the work that keeps on happening. That's incredible. So what's interesting that you said you didn't fancy having a role in a company, but you fancied being free to pick and choose what you want to do, what tickles your fancy.

24:33How did you get to those projects? How did they find you? How did you find them? I think the biggest sort of catalyst for getting to work on cool projects is showing up, as you were saying, showing up to conferences, meeting people, telling them, hey, I'm here. I'm a producer. If you have a cool project, let's chat. Everybody needs producers, I think. Or at least at some point, everybody needed producers. So I got to know several amazing studios, got to work with them. everybody needs more than producers usually studios also roll from project to project and sometimes their internal capacities are not enough so my sort of niche became producing plus so I would always also source for talent curate talent bring in talent that I worked with back in the days when I was working at a Moldovan animation studio I would try to bring people who I knew into all the new projects.

25:35So I became like a temporary ad hoc animation or design department for studios that needed to increase their capacities for a particular project. And that shaped into a business model that I don't think existed necessarily. I'm not entirely sure I know how to formulate it these days, but it's a producer plus network that moved me from project to project. I love you saying that all it takes is showing up. What I want to know, how did you know where to go to be seen? Because you talked about going to conferences because you clearly navigate your future and you invented your future. But whilst you knew quite clearly what you wanted to do and how you wanted to do it, it's that moment of I'm going to go there and hope for some contacts.

26:20I'm going to go there and hope to do that. So how did you know where to go? Or what was the feel that pointed you towards the future? I actually, I think I know exactly the answer. Several years ago, I discovered Motionographer. I looked at the amazing motion work that was being done around the world. So I started looking to who is doing those works, who are those studios, who are those artists. I was like, maybe one day I can work with them. I can help make those projects happen. So I started looking into their stories and I saw that they're speaking here and there and a lot of paths led to off.

26:54So I was like, let's go to off. And eight years ago, I went to off for the very first time. And when I went there, I was like, oh, I want to be on that stage one day. I feel so connected and disconnected from this world at the same time. Connected because I want to be part of it. Disconnected because I'm not yet part of it. That was me eight years ago. and then right in this year i was on stage moderating a panel at off and i was like oh my god this is a dream come true it was a great pleasure to hand the stage over to you because we did the interview with pj richardson just before you and i think what's amazing that you're projecting is that trajectory taking you forward and even done you don't have a defined beginning middle bit and the end you know the energy that wants you to take you there so i think even when you mentioned with motionographer it's like having the idea where you're going to sow your seeds and actually show up in the places where the connection can be done i purposely asked that question because there's still in 2026 we still have lots of people who maybe unknowingly just be sitting behind their portfolios hoping that someone will come and find them and in 2026 if ever it's really hard to see people waiting to be found unless you're sitting on a pot of gold and incredible talent, yes, you will be found.