Recently, I made my NBC debut on a show called Grimm, which is filmed in Portland, Oregon.
You won’t know it from my two scenes in this episode but I am a beaver.
The episode leaves our antics pretty open-ended which could mean that us three beavers will be back again. So far, no contract on the table so no promises. Still, I’ve got my fingers crossed!
In the meantime, here’s a link to the full episode on Hulu.
Let me preempt two obvious questions about this video with two easy answers: yes, those are real pigeons and yes, the fat guy driving the Malibu (that looks to the untrained eye like an El Camino) is me, Shawn Telford.
At the end of 2010, I was cast in a Washington State Lottery commercial that was filmed on the Olympic peninsula in a small town called Sequim, pronounced ‘Squim.’ Here I would like to point out that ‘Squim’ is not the the best named city in Washington state, that award goes to Tillicum, pronounced ‘Till I cum.”
Seriously.
We began shooting this lottery commercial super early in the morning, which meant I had to take the first ferry out of downtown Seattle at something like 5 in the morning… yeah, I know, that’s like the butt-crack of dawn and I’m heading deep into teen-vampire territory… Needless to say, I had an advanced copy of the Cave Singers’ album “No Witch” to keep me company. As I drove off the ferry, I turned up my car stereo and let the album fill my ears as I drifted through the dark morning following a trail of commuter tail-lights deeper into rural Washington, which, as it turned out, happened to be the perfect introduction to the Cave Singers’ new album. In fact, my preview/ interview of the album/ band can be seen here.
During the day we filmed, I must have parked that car 20 or 30 times. At one point early on in the day, the 1st AD turned to me and said, wow, you’re a good parker. Not only did he look relieved but he also looked grateful. As if it hadn’t occurred to him or anyone else how important parking ability would be to not only this role but for this whole commercial. In fact, not once throughout the entire audition process did anyone ask me if I could parallel park let alone drive a car. Well, the truth is, I can do both. And I did. All day long. That and put a tarp over the car, which I must have done 50 times.
But, don’t believe me, see for yourself. And buy a lottery ticket.
“I don’t care what you do, I don’t care what song. Just make it weird.”
This was Brent Amaker’s one stipulation.
“And try not to spend too much money.”
That was his second.
He told me this over lunch one afternoon in Ballard. And that was, literally it. We were off at the races.
I’ve known Brent for years. There’s always been mutual affection and admiration for one another but never an opportunity to properly work together. Until now. Naturally, I said yes.
Following our business lunch that afternoon, I conceived and eventually directed the new music video for Brent Amaker & the Rodeo and I was sure to include some of the weirdest characters I know, namely the performance artist Ernie von Schmaltz and roller derby skate legend Re-Animate-Her.
But I seriously couldn’t have done this video without my friends and fellow collaborator/conspirators Ty Migota and Elayne Wylie.
Furthermore, we couldn’t be more thrilled that IFC asked to exclusively premier the video, so naturally we let them. And then, the cherry on top is their description, and I quote! “Seattle director Shawn Telford lets loose John Waters meets David Lynch style and everyone gets their freak on in this video for “Man In Charge.” Just when you think you have the song figured out, and possibly even the sexed-up Elvis under control, in comes Seattle rapper Tilson (The Saturday Knights). Crazy train honky-tonk, all aboard!”
John Waters, David Lynch and Shawn Telford… all in one sentence. Who would’ve thunk it?
But don’t take my humble word for it, read the whole article here on the IFC website.
Friends, I hate to say it but I’ve done it again. I’ve got involved with another social networking site. This time it’s Facebook.
I blame Fran. She’s been bugging me to get with it. So I did. Now, it seems, I’m hardly ever over here managing, updating, obsessing over the official Shawn Telford dot com site. Facebook does it all… or so it seems. And everyone appears to be doing it.
So, if you’re looking around for me, you can always find me dinking around on Facebook.
Look for the one with me on the cover!
