Against the stunning Houston Skyline, PCD is interviewed by host Debra Duncan on KHOU-TV's "Great Day Houston." Photo by Great Day Houston staff.

WRITER * PRODUCER * DIRECTOR * CAMERA

Paul Cater Deaton is a respected Writer, Producer, Director, and Cinematographer. His work can be anything from edgy to elegant, aerial to undersea. He is also a popular public speaker and master of ceremonies who has presided over major events in the US and other countries.

The scope of production of his Global Discovery Group includes TV programming, documentaries, music videos, commercials, and more His Showdown at Tiger Beach has screened at many of the world's most prestigious film festivals and earned Best Documentary Short at several of them. Finding Nemo's Garden and Egypt - Karnak to Coral Reef are Telly award winners. Career highlights include shooting for The Discovery Channel (Field Producer, Director and DP), The Travel Channel (Underwater Cinematographer), HBO Documentaries (DP, Fixer) and Principal Underwater Cinematographer on the Emmy Award nominated cinematography team for the Season 25 premiere of The Amazing Race.

In addition, PCD is a photojournalist and writer, whose work has been published internationally. Paul's article on Nemo's Garden was featured in Ocean Geographic. and a chronicle of a Vietnam era gunship restoration was recently published in CAF DISPATCH. His story about NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at Johnson Space Center will appear in an upcoming edition of The Journal of Diving History.

Paul is a National Fellow with The Explorers Club and a member of the Television Academy, Boston Sea Rovers and American Advertising Federation. 

CURRENT PROJECTS: PCD has produced a chronicle of his travels to Japan for Star Wars Celebration Tokyo and muck diving in Osezaki. He and his beloved Monica also traveled to the Yucatan for Star Wars Training Day and SCUBA diving in ancient cenotes. The two expeditions were combined into a documentary called The Occidental Tourist - Galaxies Collide in Japan and Mexico, which premiered at Boston Sea Rovers in the Spring of 2026. It has become a staple at many of his speaking engagements.

"It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt – 1910

About the Cover Photos

"Baggage Claim"
Waiting at Nairobi Airport after one of 14 flights taken during the production of Tomorrow, the Mara, PCD sports the T-shirt of his “latest alma mater” in Galveston. Photo: Susan Copelas

"Showdown One-Sheet"
His "Showdown at Tiger Beach" has been a favourite at dive shows and underwater film festivals around the world\. Having produced the film in black & white as an homage to "Sea Hunt" with Lloyd Bridges, styling the one-sheet in this fashion was the logical move. Photo and Design by PCD

"Gleaming the Dome"
Marine Biologist Emilio Mancuso cleans algae from one of the biodomes at Nemo's Garden, a revolutionary underwater farming experiment in the Ligurian Sea, on the Italian Riviera. Among other considerations, the project seeks to develop opportunities for growing crops in island nations or other locations hostile to terrestrial agriculture. Photo by PCD

"Clown Condo"
The Philippines hold a special place in Paul's heart. This shot of an anemone and its resident clownfish and shrimp was captured off Apo Island, in the Bohol Sea, across from Dauin, Negros. This is near the epicenter of the Coral Triangle, and is a target-rich environment for underwater photographs and cinematography. Photo by PCD

"Floating Market"
In the same types of dugout canoes that they have used for generations, these Solomon Islands locals brought a flotilla of flowers and produce to the stern of the magnificent liveaboard dive boat, BILIKIKI. The chef turned this bounty into what the great Stan Waterman called, "fat city afloat." National Geographic used this photograph on their website. Photo by PCD