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Jared SHELTON
Creative Director | INTERSCOPE
Jared has worked as a freelancer producer, executive producer, and most recently creative director and video commissioner for Interscope Records and has produced and worked on hundreds of productions ranging in commercial, documentary, VR, short form and music content. He’s collaborated with music artists such as Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic, Band Of Horses, X Ambassadors, Walk The Moon, 5 Seconds Of Summer, K.Flay, Sting, Lana Del Rey, and Billie Eilish.
Having worked with every major record label and great indie labels as a producer – he still enjoys the thrill of making artists visions and dreams come to life. Music has always been a lifeblood of his and being able to be surrounded by amazing musicians, singers, artists, and bands has been a joy and privilege.
influences
questionnaire
1.) What was your very first job?
My very first job ever was at an Ice Cream shop in Arizona with a friend of mine. My very first job in "entertainment" was operating a camera board for city council meetings in Phoenix Arizona. Both pretty odd jobs.
2.) Please describe, in your own words, what your job is and what work it entails.
I'm a Creative Director at Interscope Records or as some people call it a 'Video Commissioner'. I commission and produce creative content for Interscope artists and oversee a roster of artists and create visuals for their music and help realize their creative visions. I handle Music Videos, Live Concerts, Photoshoots, Album & Single Artwork, Billboards, Trailers, Vertical Videos, Animated Videos, and I help oversee our Immersive Content like AR/VR.
3.) How did you discover that the creative world was right for you? Was there a time in your life that you credit to this discovery? What was there train of events that brought you to where you are today?
My high school was lucky enough to have a 4 year class called 'TV PRODUCTION' that basically taught students how to write, edit, direct, shoot their own films & videos - we had cameras, green screen, a small movie theater and editing bays and a classroom of about 30 modern iMacs for editing at the time. I was a part of the AV CLUB and basically spent every waking free hour shooting and creating videos with my friends. I had a great teacher Mr. Engelmann who basically told us to focus on what we love and cultivated that creativity and allowed us to play around with the equipment whenever we wanted. He also showed me that I really could do this as a profession and from there I never looked back.
4.) In your constantly growing and expanding industry, how do you find inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and relevant?
I'm someone who enjoys watching things as much as I do creating and consuming new shows / movies / videos. I think the goal for me is to create things I would like and want to watch/re-watch. Something that's exciting and engaging - something you want to share. It's not easy to as there's many factors working against you when you are in production - besides the obstacles in place like timeline and often cases the budget - creating something compelling is the hardest part of it all.
5.) If you had to pick one piece of work or project that you are most proud of, more for the creative work and innovation it required, rather than its recognition or industry “success,” what would it be?
There are many projects I'm really proud of but currently I'm still in love with the video/film we created for Imagine Dragons 'Next To Me' -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txlk7PiHaGk Dir. Mark Pellington. It was a great experience to work with Mark and I love the emotions and visuals so much in the film - it definitely is a bit left of center for the band and pushed them into trying new things.
