An Artist in the Producer's Chair ....Wha?

Shannon Shea has made his career of the past thirty years doing make-up effects on films such as Predator, Terminator 2 , Jurassic Park,  Drag Me to Hell, and Men in Black 3.  He has had plenty of experience in dealing with producers, and now he steps into their shoes with the film Scream at the Devil.  He talked to FLIP about his experience in the producer's chair. 

FLIP: What made you want to take the leap into producing?

Shannon: Actually, it was kind of a mistake.  In an effort to save my dwindling health care through Screen Actor's Guild,  I decided I would start auditioning for acting roles (my primary performance through SAG was puppeteering).  So, I received a notice for a film that was shooting in Los Angeles, I met with the director and, as most people do in tinsel town these days, he "IMDB'ed" me.  When he saw my credits he asked if I would come on board as a VFX supervisor rather than an actor (promising me more money than if I acted for a day or two).  I liked him and agreed under one condition: I would be a VFX PRODUCER, not supervisor.

Creating Castings for Fun and Brain Damage

I told you about my tiki room in an earlier post, and one of the last big touches was the creation of two tiki totems made of Minions from Despicable Me.  I worked on the original and the sequel.  Those little yellow freaks essentially paid for the tiki room, so I thought it would be fun to have them represented there.

Ray Harryhausen Lives!

Mention the film Jason and the Argonauts, and people think of  Ray Harryhausen.  He didn't write it, he didn't direct it, he didn't star in it.  But it's his film.  He produced it, and other fantasy adventures like it around his ideas involving stop-motion animation - an enviable position.

I had seen Harryhausen's work long before I knew his name, which I first heard as a student at CalArts.   Two friends from film graphics, Steve Burg and Shannon Shea, were always talking about this brilliant guy Harryhausen.  For the longest time, I thought his name was Harry Hausen - they never referred to him using his first name.  They had super 8 films of their primitive attempts to ape Harryhausen - pardon the pun.  Shannon was animating dinosaurs, Steve was more about space ships.

Phantom Harbor's "Hurry Home for Christmas"

I have to share my favorite Christmas video, created by friend of FLIP Shannon Shea.  I have known Shannon since our days at CalArts thirty years ago, when he was a frustrated student in the Film Graphics Department. He has had a long career as a frustrated make-up effects artist, with a resume as long as Santa's gift list.  He's worked on films such as Predator, Terminator 2, Dances with Wolves, and my favorite Drag Me to Hell, just to name a few.

PHANTOM HARBOR: Merry Christmas 2011 from Shannon Shea on Vimeo.