Shane Atkinson is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, best known for his first feature film ''

LaRoy, Texas ''LaRoy, Texas'' is a 2023 American crime comedy film written and directed by Shane Atkinson, and starring John Magaro, Steve Zahn, Megan Stevenson, Matthew Del Negro and Dylan Baker. It was released on April 12, 2024. Plot Ray operates his ...

'', which was awarded three prizes at the 49th

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival () is a yearly film festival devoted to Cinema of the United States, American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Chouchan, André Halimi, and then ...

Biography

Early life and education

Shane Atkinson was born and raised in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

, where he is the eldest of six children. At a very young age, his father showed him the

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

Bambi Meets Godzilla ''Bambi Meets Godzilla'' is a 1969 black-and-white animated short student film produced entirely by Marv Newland. Less than two minutes long, the film is seen as a classic of animation; it was listed #38 in the book ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons'' ...

'' by

Marv Newland Marv Newland (March 9, 1947) is an American-Canadian filmmaker, specialized in animation. Career Newland began a career making animated motion pictures in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles with the creation of the short ''Bambi Meets Godzilla ...

. According to Atkinson, this was his first lesson in writing, because despite the apparent simplicity of the film, it turned out to be funny and effective for him. "Probably the most perfect film I have ever seen," he said during the promotion of ''

''. At

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, he wrote his first

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

s, which earned him a scholarship, and he obtained a Master's degree in Directing and Screenwriting. In 2010, he was selected for the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

Writing Fellowship. Two years later, he won the ''Columbia University Screenwriting Competition''. Shane Atkinson appeared in 2012 on ''The Tracking Board's list of the top 100 emerging screenwriters of the year''. The same year his thesis screenplay ''Penny Dreadful'' appeared on The Black List, a list that highlights the best unproduced screenplays.

Career beginnings and initial successes

Upon graduating from university, Shane Atkinson decided to make a short film based on his screenplay ''Penny Dreadful''. The shooting lasted six days in November 2012, and the film premiered at the

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (French: ''Festival international du court métrage de Clermont-Ferrand'') is an international film festival dedicated to short films held annually in Clermont-Ferrand, France. It is the ...

in February 2013. There, the film won the Audience Award, and Atkinson met Sebastien Aubert from the French production company Adastra Films, with whom he would go on to make his next films. In May 2014, ''Penny Dreadful'' won the ''Best Crime Fiction by

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

'' and was later broadcast on

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

. In 2018, Shane Atkinson wrote and directed ''The ambassador'', produced by Adastra Films and shot on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

, partly at the ''Royal Westminster Hotel'' in

Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...

. The film was broadcast on

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

in 2019 during the ''Histoires Courtes'' evenings. In 2019, he began his career as a feature film

with '' Poms'', directed by Zara Hayes, starring

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (née Hall; born January 5, 1946) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Diane Keaton, various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, a Bri ...

Jacki Weaver Jacqueline Ruth Weaver (born 25 May 1947) is an Australian theatre, film, and television actress. Her accolades include five AACTA Awards (including the Longford Lyell Award) and a National Board of Review Award, in addition to nominations ...

, and

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitati ...

. The film was released in

theaters Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

in the United States on May 10, 2019, and in France on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on September 25, 2021.

Recognition at Deauville

After ''The ambassador'', Shane Atkinson embarked on his first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

project. A fan of

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

novels and films, he decided to adapt this genre for his movie. He wrote the script in three months, and the film began development in 2018. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, pre-production was paused, delaying filming to 2022. Initially cast in the film,

Jared Harris Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2009–2012), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Seri ...

was eventually replaced by

Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-Man ...

, who joined

John Magaro John Robert Magaro (born February 16, 1983) is an American actor. He has acted in the films '' Not Fade Away'' (2012), '' The Big Short'' (2015), '' Carol'' (2015), ''Overlord'' (2018), '' First Cow'' (2019), '' Showing Up'' (2022), ''The Mistre ...

and

Steve Zahn Steven James Zahn ( ; born November 13, 1967) is an American actor. In film, Zahn is best known for his lead roles in '' That Thing You Do!'' (1996), '' Happy, Texas'' (1999), '' Joy Ride'' (2001), ''National Security'' (2003), '' A Perfect Geta ...

in the lead roles. Filming took place in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

over 22 days, with post-production occurring in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

'' premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

in June 2023, then triumphed at the

in September of the same year, winning the Grand Prize, the Audience Award, and the Critics Award In an interview given in April 2024, during the Reims Polar Festival, Shane Atkinson announced that he is working on his next film, a

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

that will be shot in France.

Filmography

As director

* 2009 : ''La Grande Maladie'' (short film) * 2013 : ''Penny Dreadful'' (short film) * 2018 : ''The ambassador'' (short film) * 2023 : ''

As screenwriter

* 2009 : ''La Grande Maladie'' (short film) * 2013 : ''Penny Dreadful'' (short film) * 2014 : ''After We Rest'' (short film) * 2015 : ''

All Hail King Julien ''All Hail King Julien'' is an American animated television series that stars King Julien, Maurice, and Mort from DreamWorks Animation's ''Madagascar'' franchise and canonically takes place in Madagascar before the events of the first film, mak ...

'' (S2.E7) * 2018 : ''The ambassador'' (short film) * 2019 : '' Poms'' * 2023 : ''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Shane Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century people from California Screenwriters from California 21st-century American screenwriters Film directors from California Deauville American Film Festival Columbia University alumni