Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaun Peter Cunningham.
Shaun Peter, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story dates back to being six years old, a native of the UK at the time. My dad was due to a new company car with his job and asked me if I wanted to look at car brochures with him. I owned a yellow Matchbox Mustang toy car and was disappointed that it was not featured in any of the brochures. “You can only get them in America, son,” my dad informed me. I didn’t know where America was, so he showed me on a globe. I remember thinking how big it was compared to the UK. I remember how my dad smiled back at me and said, “No doubt, you will, son,” when I told him I was going to move to America one day and buy a yellow Mustang.
Thirty years later, I did just that.
I grew up watching American sitcoms and TV dramas. As I watched the credits, I was always fascinated by the number of people involved in making the shows and the interesting sounding jobs they had. One of the first shows I remember watching obsessively was the sitcom, ‘ Valerie’ (‘The Hogan Family,’ in the US), starring Valerie Harper, a young Jason Bateman, and Jeremy Licht. I remember wanting to be like Jason and Jeremy and live in a big house as a regular American family. (I was sixteen and they were around my age). Little did I know at the time, before the internet and social media connected the world, that when I moved to America twenty years later, I would get to tell Jeremy Licht what an important role he played in my eventual move to the US.
“You’ve made my day,” he told me. We’re now Facebook friends.
At thirty-six years old, I decided carpe diem. Married with three children, we craved adventure. Putting all we had at risk, in February 2006, we got a US visa and started a retail business in Dallas. Two years later, in the downturn of 2008, the business was gone, we were broke, and in addition to that, we were having immigration challenges. Stuck in the process of waiting for a work permit, I went back to the UK to work until my US work permit was approved. When I got back to the US nine months later, I took a job with a tech company who sponsored me and my family to become permanent US residents. It was a turbulent time in our lives, but we eventually settled back into regular life and started to re-build from scratch.
In 2010, my then 6-year-old daughter was taking acting lessons with renowned child acting coach, Cathryn Sullivan. Seeing my daughter’s passion for performing ignited mine and I began taking acting lessons myself, picking up a lead and supporting roles in small projects and some independent films. I was subsequently signed by The Linda McAlister talent agency. As I performed in front of the camera, I soon realized that I was more interested in the work going on behind it. Two years later, I wrote my own short film and asked a student director who had cast me in one of his projects, if he’d help me make it. He did, and Picto Films was born. Ten months later, the film was selected by the American Independent Film Festival and screened at the Laemmle’s Theater, Beverly Hills, on November 1, 2012.
My fire was lit.
Over the next 5 years, I developed or became involved with, various projects from writing to producing, directing and editing. I did everything I could to learn the script-to-screen process, pulling all-nighters doing online research and then going out and shooting projects. In that five years, I made a lot of mistakes, but I also learned a lot, especially how not to make the same mistake twice. Over the same period, I earned over 70 IMDb credits for my work.
Today, Picto Films remains a small company with a big reach with clients that include Amazon Studios, for work I did on the Amazon Original series, Hand of God, with Ron Perlman. My most humbling and skin-pinching moment during that project is when my work was tweeted by series creator, Ben Watkins, and Ron Perlman re-tweeted it with the comment, “Shaun, you magnificent bastard.”
Since then, I have worked with a diverse range of clients and recognizable names in television, film, and music, which recently includes a documentary with Gene Simmons. I have another feature documentary, Dream Chasers, in post production. It follows the lives and ambitions of young TV and film actors from the Dallas area, many of whom are now appearing in a major TV series and/or blockbuster films, including 13 Reasons Why star, Bryce Cass, and Disney Channel’s, Bryce Gheisar, who also stars in the features, A Dog’s Purpose, Wonder (with Julia Roberts), and Clint Eastwood’s, 15:17 to Paris. Showcasing the colorful and vibrant Deep Ellum arts and entertainment district, I produced and directed two videos, Urban Vibes, focusing on the lives of two young Dallas actors and featuring the iconic Dallas skyline in the videos. One of the videos featured actor, Gavin Casalegno from The Vampire Diaries and played Russell Crowe’s son in the movie, Noah.
Picto is also active in the community. We work with students of film in providing opportunities to work on live sets as well as offering filmmaking boot camps. We also work with several non-profits which recently included the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to help find a 14-year-old foster child her forever home, as well as giving her an opportunity to start her dream journey of becoming a movie director. This story was covered by Cynthia Izaguirre on WFAA Channel 8 news.
I recently produced a video, THE NEXT GENERATION: UNSTOPPABLE. A group of 11-14-year-old Dallas kids (from my daughter’s acting school) had a message they wanted to share with the world about what they are capable of, as well as how to treat others. We had a very positive response to the video from across the country and as far as Mumbai, India, with touching feedback from school teachers and hundreds of young boys and girls about how it had inspired them to deal with issues such as lack of confidence, abuse, and bullying. It was very humbling to know that our video had made a positive impact in the middle of some very heart-breaking stories.
I like producing meaningful stories that have an impact on people and there is no shortage of stories to be told from within the fabric of the vibrant culture of Dallas and its incredible people.
My official bio is on my IMDb page: www.imdb.me/shaunpetercunningham
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think most of this is covered in the previous background questions, but in summary:
Moving to another country, finding my feet and learning how to integrate with a different culture.
Learning who to trust.
Navigating the murky waters of the entertainment business.
Picto Films – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I think this is also covered in the long background provided, but in summary:
I’m proud of the company has acquired numerous industry credits and awards but more importantly, I am proud of having been able to provide opportunities, both in front and behind the camera, for emerging actors and filmmakers, earning them hundreds of industry credits and providing them a springboard for other projects.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Ron Perlman’s recognition for my work on Amazon’s, Hand of God TV series, as well as the trust that Ben Watkins, its writer, and executive producer, put in me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pictofilms.com
- Email: info@shaunpetercunningham.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/pictocunningham
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/pictocunningham
- Other: www.shaunpetercunningham.com
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