Chris Shepherd (born 11 December 1967) is a double BAFTA nominated British television/film writer, graphic novelist and director. Born in Anfield, Liverpool in 1967, he is known for combining live action with animation. His work fuses comedy with commentary on the darker side of human nature.
Chris Shepherd | |
|---|---|
 Shepherd in December 2014 | |
| Born | 11 December 1967 Anfield, Liverpool, England |
| Occupation(s) | Director, writer, producer |
| Awards | Winner of a British Independent Film Award and five British Animation Awards |
| Website | chrisshepherdfilms |
Early years
editShepherd's first animation was made in 1989 and it was called Safari. He wanted to make a drama but didn't know any actors, so he made his cast out of plasticine. Using this film he won a place at University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. His first job in the industry was as production manager at Speedy Films which was the creative vehicle for director Paul Vester. His writing and commissioned directorial debut came in 1997 with a Channel 4 film called The Broken Jaw. This animated comedy illustrated the plight of a public house after it has been transformed into a fun pub. During the same year he animated the world stare-out championship for BBC comedy sketch show Big Train.
As well as being the producer on the Channel 4/MOMI scheme, he also worked as producer with Cramp Twins creator, Brian Wood, on his Channel 4 film School Disco and "Bunny Schendler" on her BAFTA nominated "World of Interiors".
Slinky
editIn 2000, Shepherd set up Slinky Pictures and until its closure in 2010, the company produced many award-winning films and adverts. His 2003 Dad's Dead, commissioned by animate!, featured Ian Hart as its narrator. This was the first of many collaborations with producer and Slinky Pictures co-founder Maria Manton. The film won 25 international awards including Best Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards and BAFTA nomination. He directed and co-wrote a spoof general election series with Peter Holmes called People's Britain for Channel 4 in 2001.
Other credits include animation on Channel 4 sitcom Nathan Barley and Channel 4 documentary Bollocks to Cancer. 2005 saw him co-write and co-direct with artist David Shrigley on a second animate! commission called Who I Am And What I Want. The year after Silence Is Golden won the TCM Classic Shorts Award at the 2006 London Film Festival.
It was during this period that Shepherd wrote several feature films including: Up in Heaven, Directed by Shepherd, produced by Nira Park and Maria Manton for Film4, Big Talk Productions; and 50% Off, directed by Shepherd from an idea by him and David Shrigley for Warp Films. His last Slinky film, Bad Night for the Blues, won the International Canal+ Award at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and was transmitted on BBC HD on 27 February 2011.
Post Slinky and Random Acts 2011 to 2016
editShepherd's first work after Slinky was a pop promo, Falling into Pieces, for Black Casino and the Ghost. From 2011 saw Shepherd being a guest curator on Channel 4's late night arts strand Random Acts. Commissioned by Lupus films he's worked with the likes of David Shrigley, Phil Mulloy and Fred Deakin. As well as curating and producing sixty films for the strand he's also directed two. A recreation of a childhood visits to the dentist called "Drillerfiller" and a pop promo for protest singer Grace Petrie called "Grace Petrie: Rise". Both look at Shepherd's childhood landscape, the first as a memory and the second as a documentary. "Rise" was shot in Anfield, Liverpool just as Shepherd's childhood neighbourhood was being demolished. The film was later included in 2012's Anfield Home Tours as part of the 2up2down project. He also produced a documentary project with Tim Brunsden called Home Sweet Home which documented events after a major fire at Shepherd's family home.
In 2013, he wrote and directed a new film called The Ringer, which saw Shepherd develop his autobiographical approach to filmmaking. Shepherd revealed in 2018 that the film was inspired by his estranged father, Andy Fletcher. He created the film as both an examination of the events and a tribute to his father. The film is dedicated to his father as on the end credits it says "for my Dad". Fletcher died on 19 September 2018.[1]
2013 saw Shepherd collaborate with Robert Popper on Anatole's Island, which was voiced by Peter Serafinowicz. Shepherd directed a series of Comedy Blaps! for Channel 4 with the comedy collective the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society. Pop promo collaborations followed with the likes of Holly Johnson, Kurt Wagner, Reverend and The Makers, Lambchop members new electronic band HeCTA and The Wave Pictures.[citation needed]
2016 saw Shepherd return with another director/writer project for Arte called Johnno's Dead, a loose sequel to his 2003 classic. This sequel is set thirteen years after the original was set and starts the same cast. The film has played many international festivals such as Annecy, Clermont Ferrand, Tampere and the film picked up Best British Short Film at the London International Animation Festival held in the Barbican in London.[2]
Joe Orton
editIn 2017, Shepherd embarked upon a Joe Orton tribute project to mark the 50th anniversary of the passing of the playwright. The project was masterminded by Shepherd with Emma Parker from the University of Leicester. It centres around Orton's Edna Welthorpe letters. Orton wrote prank letters of complaint to poke fun at establishment figures such as vicars, companies and sometimes even his own plays. The project funded by the Arts Council England and the University of Leicester has seen many comedy writers such as Alec Baldwin, David Quantick, Caroline Moran, Phil Bowker, Arthur Mathews, Jesse Armstrong write new Edna Welthorpe letters. These letters are to be read in two events. The first in Latitude with readings by Robin Ince, John-Luke Roberts and Joe Orton's sister, Leonine Orton-Barnet. The second is at the Little Theatre in Orton's hometown on the anniversary of Orton's death on 9 August 2017. With readings by Leonie Orton-Barnet, Frances Barber, David Quantick and John Shuttleworth. In addition, Shepherd directed a short animated film called Yours Faithfully Edna Welthorpe (Mrs), which featured the voices of Alison Steadman and Robin Sebastian.[3][4]
2010s Filmwork
editShepherd directed a short film for Arte France with regular collaborators Autour De Minuit called Brexicuted which premiered in Edinburgh Film Festival on 27 June 2018.[5] In 2020, he created animations for Sara Pascoe's sitcom with illustrator Stephen Collins for BBC 2 called Out Of Her Mind.
Anfield Road
editIt was announced that Shepherd's debut graphic novel, fictional with 272 pages, would be released through Titan Comics on 29 October 2024. It was described as “full of heart, soul and wit” by screenwriter and producer Jesse Armstrong. Anfield Road depicts a beautiful coming of age story centered around growing up in the working-class dynamics of Merseyside in the late 1980s.[6]
Filmography
edit| 2023 | BC Camplight-The Last Rotation Of Earth | director lyric video | |
| 2020 | Out Of Her Mind | Animator | |
| 2019 | Reverend and the Makers-Elastic Fantastic | director and writer | |
| 2018 | Brexicuted | directed and writer | Winner Best Animated Film UK Film Review Awards 2018, Winner Mock Award Rising Of Lusitania AnimaDoc Festival 2020. |
| 2017 | Yours Faithfully Edna Welthorpe (Mrs) | directed and adapted from Joe Orton | Winner Wildcard Award Saboteur Awards 2017 |
| 2016 | Johnno's Dead | director and writer | Winner Best British Short London Int Animation Festival 2017 |
| 2016 | The Wave Pictures-Pool Hall | director and writer | |
| 2016 | The Wave Pictures-The Running Man | director and writer | |
| 2015 | Reverend and the Makers – Making Babies from Mirrors | co-animation director with Joice Jurtiz and writer | |
| 2015 | HeCTA featuring Kurt Wagner – Sympathy for the Auto Industry | co-director with Jez Pennington and writer | |
| 2015 | HeCTA featuring Kurt Wagner and Buddy Hackett – The Concept | director and writer | |
| 2014 | Holly Johnson – In And Out of Love | director and writer | |
| 2013 | Comedy Blaps: The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society Presents a Board Meeting | director | |
| 2013 | The Ringer | director and writer | WinnerPublic Choice Award Nice Int Film Festival 2014, Winner Filmmaker Grand Prix Sapporo Short Film Festival 2014 |
| 2013 | Life Class | director and writer | |
| 2013 | Shameless – episode 10.2 | animator | |
| 2013 | Anatole's Island | co-director with Amer Nazri | |
| 2012 | Home Sweet Home (documentary) | producer (directed by Tim Brunsden) | |
| 2012 | Grace Petrie – Rise | co director and writer with Rod Main | |
| 2012 | Drillerfiller | director and writer | |
| 2011 | Black Casino and the Ghost – Falling into Pieces | director and writer | |
| 2010 | Bad Night for the Blues | director and writer | Winner Canal+ Award Clermont Ferrand Int Film Fest 2011 |
| 2010 | Count Arthur Strong's Entertainment Game (TV pilot) | animation | |
| 2010 | The Klang Show | animation | |
| 2007 | Granny | director and writer | |
| 2006 | Silence is Golden | director and writer | Winner TCM Film Award, BFI London Film Festival 2007 |
| 2005 | Who I Am And What I Want | co-director and co-writer with David Shrigley | Nominated Best British Short at British Independent Film Awards 2006. Winner Public Choice Award British Animation Award 2006, Tiger Award Rotterdam In Film Festival 2006 |
| 2005 | Nathan Barley | animation and graphics | |
| 2005 | Only Human: Bollocks to Cancer | animation | |
| 2003 | Dad's Dead | director and writer | Nominated Best Animated Film BAFTA Film Awards 2003, Winner Best Short Film at British Independent Film Awards 2004, Winner 2 British Animation Awards 2004 |
| 2001 | People's Britain | director and co-writer with Peter Holmes | Winner Best Comedy Series British Animation Awards 2002 |
| 2001 | The World of Interiors | producer | Nominated Best Animated Films BAFTA Film Awards 2002 |
| 2000 | Pop Skool | director | |
| 2000 | Angry Kid Episode: "Backward Writing" | co-writer with Darren Walsh | |
| 1999 | School Disco | producer | |
| 1998 | Big Train (Series 1) | animation | Winner Best Broken Comedy British Comedy Awards 1999 |
| 1997 | The Broken Jaw | director and writer | |
| 1995 | Abductees | production manager | |
| 1992 | A Load of Balls | director and writer | |
| 1989 | Safari | director and writer |
References
edit- ^ "Im sad to say my father has died". Chris Shepherd Films. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ^ "LIAF 2016: And the winner is..." LIAF. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
- ^ "Chris Shepherd directs film inspired by playwright Joe Orton". Middlesex University. 14 June 2017.
- ^ "Middlesex University (Via Public) / Chris Shepherd directs animated film inspired by playwright Joe Orton". Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ "What's next for Lady Macbeth and God's Own Country agency Creative England?". Screen Daily. 20 September 2017.
- ^ "Exclusive: Writer, artist, and filmmaker Chris Shepherd's debut graphic novel, "Anfield Road" launches from Titan in September". 5 April 2024.