Shawn Christensen
Born
Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Alma materPratt Institute
Occupations
  • Screenwriter
  • film director
  • singer-songwriter
  • actor
  • podcaster
  • painter
Years active2000–present
Notable work
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Labels
  • RCA
  • Bloated Wife Records

Shawn Christensen is an American musician, filmmaker, podcaster and artist. He is a graduate of Pratt Institute, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration and graphic design.[1] Christensen was the frontman of the indie rock band Stellastarr.[2] In 2013, he won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for his short film Curfew.[3]

Early life

Shawn Christensen was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Christensen's father was an engineer and his mother was a librarian, with him being their only child.[4][5] He enrolled at Pratt Institute, where he pursued a degree in graphic design and illustration.[6] During weekend acting classes, he befriended sixteen-year-old Paul Wesley.[7] Christensen was the lead vocalist and lead guitar in a college band called Ghistor, composed of himself, bassist Amanda Tannen and drummer Arthur Kremer. After Christensen graduated from Pratt with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, they disbanded.[8][9] He produced and sold abstract-realistic paintings generally themed around prominent rock music figures.[10]

Career

Christensen performing in Mexico City, Mexico in April 2008

Stellastarr

Alongside Tannen, Kremer and the new addition of Michael Jurin - who took up the lead guitar position - Christensen formed the indie rock band Stellastarr, (stylized as "stellastarr*), in March 2000.[11] In July, the band had their debut performance with Christensen's original compositions at Luna Lounge on Manhattan's Lower East Side.[12] In May 2003, Stellastarr signed with RCA Records, allowing for them to focus on their musical careers.[13] Under the RCA label, Stellastarr released an eponymous album in September 2003, featuring the standout singles "Jenny" and "My Coco".[14]

Stellastarr released Harmonies for the Haunted, their second album under RCA, on September 13, 2005. Christensen's progression as a singer was praised, with his tone being noted for having matured and become more consistent beyond his shifting between falsetto and baritone vocal registers.[15][16][17] Stellastarr released their final album, Civilized, through their personal imprint label Bloated Wife Records, in July 2009. Christensen was complimnented for his range being able to deliver deep bellows and high falsettos.[16] Following the release of Civilized, Stellastarr unofficially went on hiatus.[11]

Filmmaking

While Stellastarr was on the Hot Fuss Tour alongside the Killers in 2004, Christensen collaborated with Jason Dolan on a feature-length spec script for a drama called Sidney Hall - he shared it with Paul Wesley, who presented it to William Morris Endeavor, resulting in the signing of both screenwriters.[18][19] Christensen and Dolan further collaborated on other spec scripts during the mid-2000s, including a psychological thriller called Enter Nowhere.[20] Christensen independently penned an Alfred Hitchcock-inspired thriller, Abduction, and a science-fiction drama, The Karma Coalition. The screenplays for Sidney Hall and The Karma Coalition were sold in 2008, to Scott Free Productions and Warner Bros., respectively.[21]

After a week-long bidding war in February 2010, Lionsgate Films acquired the screenplay for Abduction, with actor Taylor Lautner attached.[22] Jeffrey Nachmanoff rewrote the screenplay and the film began production the following July.[23] In 2011, Jack Heller directed Enter Nowhere, with Christensen & Dolan credited as executive producers.[20] It was acquired by Lionsgate for a direct-to-DVD release, prior to its October premiere at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival.[24]

Disillusioned from studios retrofitting his screenplays, Christensen rebooted his filmmaking career, to focus on directing. He wrote a screenplay in 2011 for a short film for him to direct and co-star in called Curfew.[8] Two days prior to shooting a dance scene, negotiations with the artists behind the accompanying song song failed, leading to the filming of cast members dancing to the original song, while Christensen composed a single, "Sophia So Far", to replace it.[25] For two weeks, editor Evan Henke edited Curfew, before Christensen took over and edited the film on his MacBook Pro in his living room for the rest of 2011.[26] Curfew premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in January 2012, to critical acclaim, numerous festival screenings and awards for Christensen's acting, directing and writing.[27] At the 85th Academy Awards, Curfew won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.[28]

Prior to Curfew's success, Paul Wesley took an interest in the short film and together with Christensen and his producing partner, Damon Russell, collaborated to develop a feature-length adaptation.[18] The film, titled Before I Disappear, premiered at South by Southwest on March 10, 2014, and won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature.[29] Before I Disappear went on to have a successful festival run, with distinctions including an official selection at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.[30] IFC Films was announced to have acquired the North American distribution rights for Before I Disappear in August 2014 and the film was released on video on demand, concurrent with a limited theatrical release the following November.[31]

Per the Writers Guild of America, East Separated Rights, the rights to Sidney Hall reverted to Christensen in 2014, after five years of no development.[19] Christensen opted to independently produce it through Jonathan Schwartz's Super Crispy Entertainment banner, as well as his own Fuzzy Logic Pictures banner.[32] The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah.[33] Sidney Hall was acquired for distribution by A24 and DirecTV in April 2017, with DirecTV providing an exclusive pre-release prior to its theatrical release.[34] The film, re-titled "The Vanishing of Sidney Hall", was released in theaters on March 2, 2018.[35]

Podcasting

Christensen expanded his direction efforts to fiction podcasts with Blackout, the first series produced by QCode that was released in March 2019, starring Rami Malek.[36] The first season directed by Christensen was popular, having been downloaded over twelve million times by the time its second season was ordered.[37] Christensen directed the narrative thriller Hunted, the first podcast produced by Wolf Entertainment's Endeavor Audio division, starring Parker Posey, released in November 2019.[38] Alongside Gabriel Mason, Christensen founded an entertainment label called Criminal Content in 2020. Christensen directed, executive produced and acted in the company's debut podcast, American Hostage, an eight-part dramatization of the 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis perpetrated by Tony Kiritsis. Starring Jon Hamm, American Hostage was released in February 2022.[39] Criminal Content's sophomore historical-fiction series about the Fox sisters and starring Carey Mulligan, The Foxes of Hydesville, was announced in April 2023, with a spring release date.[40]

Works

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

  • Somewhere Across Forever (May 19, 2002 UK; December 2002 US) – Stellastarr

Singles

  • "Jenny" (September 15, 2003) – Stellastarr
  • "My Coco" (August 3, 2004) – Stellastarr
  • "Sweet Troubled Soul" (September 2005 US; February 27, 2006 UK) – Stellastarr
  • "Graffiti Eyes" (April 20, 2009 US) – Stellastarr
  • "Numbers" (December 1, 2009 US) – Stellastarr
  • "Sophia So Far" (April 23, 2013) – Goodnight Radio

Filmography

Year Title Director Producer Writer Editor Actor Role Notes
2006 Walter King Yes Yes Yes Yes Teddy Short film
2006 Overthrow the Totems Yes Aaron Short film
2006 Missing Girl Yes Chad Short film
2007 Black on Black Yes Short film
2011 Brink Yes Yes Yes Yes Short film, cinematographer
2011 Abduction Yes
2011 Enter Nowhere Yes Yes Performer ("My Coco")
2012 Curfew Yes Yes Yes Yes Richie Short film, performer ("Sophia So Far")
2013 The Bicycle Yes Owner Short film
2013 Grandma's Not a Toaster Yes Yes Arnie Short film
2014 Before I Disappear Yes Yes Yes Yes[lower-alpha 1] Yes Richie Performer ("Sophia So Far")
2014 Mad as Hell Yes
2016 Cul-de-Sac Yes Yes Yes Dad Short film
2017 The Vanishing of Sidney Hall Yes Yes Yes
2019 The Helping Hand Yes Short film
TBA Abel Yes Short film

Narrative podcasts

Year Title Director Producer Writer Editor Actor Role Notes
2019 Blackout Yes Yes Yes Pilot (2 episodes) 8 episodes
2019 Hunted Yes 8 episodes
2022 American Hostage Yes Yes Yes Yes Mark (2 episodes), News Anchor (1 episode) 8 episodes
2023 The Foxes of Hydesville Yes Yes Yes 9 episodes

Notes

  1. ↑ Uncredited.

References

  1. ↑ Pearlsnapdiscount.com Archived February 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ The Hollywood Reporter
  3. ↑ "Nominees for the 85th Academy Awards". Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  4. ↑ Brown, Emma (March 12, 2014). "Discovery: Shawn Christensen". Interview. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  5. ↑ O'Malley, Sheila (November 26, 2014). "To Be Okay: An Interview with Shawn Christensen". Movie Mezzanine. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  6. ↑ Barry, John W. (February 21, 2013). "Awards nod feels 'surreal'". Poughkeepsie Journal. Poughkeepsie, New York. p. 1A.
  7. ↑ Benardello, Karen (January 1, 2015). "Interview: Paul Wesley Talks Before I Disappear (Exclusive)". Shockya. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  8. 1 2 O'Malley, Sheila (April 25, 2012). "Shawn Christensen on the inspiration and luck that led him to Fatima Ptacek, and 'Curfew'". Politico. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  9. ↑ Wilson, MacKenzie. "stellastarr*". AllMusic. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ Simmons, Julie (December 3, 2004). "stellastarr*'s Shawn Christensen Gets Deep On Art and Music". Paste. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  11. 1 2 Leas, Ryan (November 19, 2014). "26 Essential Songs From The NYC Rock Resurgence". Stereogum. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  12. ↑ Fletcher, Tony (May 21, 2005). "Saturday, May 21". Tony Fletcher's iJamming!. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  13. ↑ Huhn, Mary (March 30, 2004). "RISING STELLASTARR*; DUES-PAYING PUNKS READY FOR CLOSE-UP". New York Post. Manhattan, New York. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  14. ↑ Lopez, Michael (June 16, 2011). "The Best Bands with Punctuation/Typographical Marks in Their Names". Phoenix New Times. Phoenix, Arizona. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  15. ↑ Young, Alex (October 31, 2005). "stellastarr*: Harmonies for the Haunted". Pitchfork. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  16. 1 2 Young, Alex (July 9, 2009). "stellastarr* – Civilized". Consequence of Sound. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  17. ↑ Thomas, Christen (June 28, 2005). "Harmonies For The Haunted". The Fader. New York City, New York. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  18. 1 2 Radish, Christina (March 12, 2014). "Paul Wesley Talks BEFORE I DISAPPEAR, His First Experience as a Producer, Directing an Episode of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, and More SXSW". Collider. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  19. 1 2 Reynolds, Matthew Wade (December 24, 2014). "How do you convert an Oscar-winning short into a feature?". Creative Screenwriting Magazine. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  20. 1 2 Eggersten, Chris (June 22, 2011). "Interview with 'Enter Nowhere' Director Jack Heller!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  21. ↑ Kit, Borys (September 10, 2008). "Shawn Christensen sells his "Karma"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  22. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 21, 2010). "Lionsgate Buys Taylor-Attached 'Abduction'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  23. ↑ Fernandez, Jay A. (April 26, 2010). "Writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff re-planning 'Abduction'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 30, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  24. ↑ HitFix (September 9, 2011). "Lionsgate acquires supernatural thriller 'Enter Nowhere'". Uproxx. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  25. ↑ Zemler, Emily (April 4, 2013). "Shawn Christensen to Release Song From Oscar-Winning Short Film 'Curfew'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  26. ↑ Bergen, Jennifer (February 21, 2013). "How Oscar-nominated Shawn Christensen edited his film on a MacBook Pro". Digital Trends. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  27. ↑ McCormack, Colin (November 19, 2014). "Filmmaker Interview: SHAWN CHRISTENSEN, writer/director/star of BEFORE I DISAPPEAR". Screen Actors Guild. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  28. ↑ Olsen, Mark (February 24, 2013). "Oscars 2013: 'Curfew' wins best live-action short film". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California.
  29. ↑ Khatchatourian, Maane (March 15, 2014). "SXSW Film Awards: 'Cesar Chavez,' 'Before I Disappear' Win Audience Prizes". Variety. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  30. ↑ Rooney, David (August 27, 2014). "'Before I Disappear': Venice Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  31. ↑ Kilday, Gregg (August 5, 2014). "IFC Picks Up Shawn Christensen's SXSW-Winning 'Before I Disappear'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  32. ↑ Kroll, Justin (April 21, 2016). "Logan Lerman and Elle Fanning to Star in Shawn Christensen's 'Sidney Hall' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  33. ↑ Iwasaki, Scott (January 24, 2017). "Filmmaker started writing 'Sidney Hall' script with his best friend 10 years ago". Park Record. Park City, Utah. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  34. ↑ Donnelly, Matt (April 4, 2017). "A24, DirecTV Acquire Logan Lerman Sundance Mystery 'Sidney Hall' (Exclusive)". TheWrap. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  35. ↑ Romano, Nick (January 10, 2018). "Kyle Chandler uncovers The Vanishing of Sidney Hall in new trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  36. ↑ Aurthur, Kate (October 22, 2021). "How Podcast Leader QCode Uses Star Power — Like an Upcoming Gina Rodriguez Thriller — to Disrupt the Industry". Variety. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  37. ↑ "Egyptian-American Oscar winner Rami Malek preps for Season 2 of Blackout". Al-Ahram. April 22, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  38. ↑ Holt, Kris (October 23, 2019). "'Law & Order' creator Dick Wolf is getting into scripted podcasts". Engadget. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  39. ↑ Spangler, Todd (February 22, 2022). "Jon Hamm Stars in True-Crime Thriller 'American Hostage' Podcast Series for Amazon (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  40. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (February 24, 2023). "Carey Mulligan To Lead Podcast 'The Foxes Of Hydesville' About Sisters Who Claimed They Could Speak To The Dead". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
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