Shamus Kelley is a pansexual TV writer in Los Angeles.
Shamus Kelley is a TV writer and former leader of the queer underground at a Christian kids camp. Unsurprisingly, he emerged from that situation with a focus on representing queerness in kids' comedy/genre animation, a knack for finding hope in dark places, and a fondness for barely controlled chaos.
According to Bill Wolkoff, (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) “Shamus would be an asset to any writers' room. I would describe him as having a great energy.”
He’s been a semi-finalist in the Emerging Screenwriters Animation Screenplay Competition, a 2nd round placement in the Sundance Institute Episodic Script Lab and a Webby award honoree for his work in social media. He also blogs about a radio media franchise that’s nearly impossible to describe.
He’s currently pursuing staffing positions in the entertainment industry. You can find examples of his work including television scripts below.
Scripts
Off the Rails
Teenage ex-best friends uncover their childhood make-believe world of talking trains is in trouble and must put aside their animosity to save it from ruin. (Half-hour action-adventure animated pilot)
Our Flag Means Death - “Dickbiters and Ghostwriters”
After a newspaper article portrays Stede as pathetic, he enlists Blackbeard to make his life “marketable.” The crew takes Lucius being Stede’s ‘ghostwriter’ too literally. (Half-hour comedy spec script)
Playing God
In 2008 a passionate yet naive Christian camp counselor discovers he’s gay and sets out to secretly stop the camp’s homophobia from within. (Half-hour comedy pilot)
VeggieTales - “Larry Loses His Religion”
When Larry uncovers vegetables can’t go to heaven, Bob desperately tries to keep the crisis of faith from spreading to the other Veggies. (Half-hour comedy spec script)
Articles
How Cardcaptor Sakura’s Queerness Broke Through Censorship
Despite heavy alterations for American viewing, Cardcaptor Sakura was still a gateway into queer relationships for young fans.
10 Reasons Digimon: The Movie is Flawless
Digimon: The Movie should have run off with all Oscars upon its release in 2000. No, seriously.
Power Rangers: The Road to Queer Representation
The people behind the scenes who fought for queer representation in Power Rangers from the ‘90s all the way to today speak out.
15 Strongest Pokémon… Emotionally
What if the strongest Pokémon are the ones who have survived this franchise's surprisingly dark corners?
At My Whit’s End:
A Deconstruction of
Adventures in Odyssey
For 30 years Shamus has struggled to describe the biggest radio media franchise of all time that almost no one has heard of.
So he started a blog about it.
Podcasts
RoboSkull Cast
Dedicated to discussing every episode and film of the 80’s sci-fi epic Robotech along with praising all the fabulous hair. Co-hosted with Nicholas Cochran.
The podcast was directly referenced in the final issue of Titan Comics’ Robotech: Event Horizon series.
WWCWD: What Would CW Do?
A 13 episode mini-series full of zany, real, totally-not-real, fabulously insane TV show pitch ideas that would only work on everyone’s favorite network, the CW. Co-hosted with Ashley Beall and Devorah Roberts.
Videos
Want to see more?
You can find over 150 examples of Shamus’ writing and video work here.
He also has extensive experience as a social media manager. For examples of his work in that field head over here.