Shannon Vossler
Senior Creative Producer, Writer & Director,
Specializing in TV & Video Nonfiction Development + Storytelling
About Me
Shannon Vossler is an Emmy-winning, flannel-wearing, chocolate-eating kind of gal who can produce the heck outta some television, film and video.
From ridiculous Animal Planet series about cats to educational web videos for cancer patients, Shannon's career has spanned production companies, agencies and in-house teams and won her Emmys, Tellys, MarComs and Webby noms.
The first decade of her career was spent dreaming up new series concepts for major cable networks, bopping back and forth between Boston, New York, and DC to develop millions of dollars worth of content. Her stint with This Old House Productions/Time Inc and the non-profit Homes For Our Troops earned her a National Daytime Emmy Award in 2015 for Outstanding Lifestyle Program.
In July of 2015, she shut the doors on her own production company to join the in-house team at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where she spent almost four years using her storytelling chops to shine a light on the incredible patients, families, and scientists in Memphis. Her most recent adventure brought her into the East Coast Agency world, where she worked with Fortune 100 companies to help their craft their video messaging and put a face and a story behind major brands.
Her expertise in creative development allows her to craft meaningful and unexpected personal stories, transforming corporate values and messaging into evocative narratives that cut through social noise to influence and inspire audiences.
WHAT I'm Best At:
Throughout the industry, there are thousands of flavors of "producers."
We can do a lot of things, but there are certain things we excel at. These are mine:
Story ProducING
Whether in a conventional, linear, beginning-middle-end story, or a more emotional, convoluted sort of narrative, I can turn any person or any object into a hero, making the audience care about what happens to them.
Development ProducING
If you’re a client or company that has a message that has to be communicated, but you don’t know where to start, I can take that seed and grow it into a full-blown creative concept, with a detailed plan to execute.
Field ProducING
You know what you need to get, you just don’t know how (or can’t physically be there) to get it—give me your beat sheet and I’ll dive in, making the most of any opportunity that arises, and thinking on my feet to get the job done well.
PAST CLIENTS & PARTNERS
SOME OF MY FAVORITE PROJECTS
2018 Webby Award Nominee,
2018 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Winner
Hope and Healing:
RETINOBLASTOMA TREATMENT
St. Jude Patient Recruitment
The challenge here was to provide an ample amount of information for new families, while being personable and reassuring AND reinforcing St. Jude’s expertise and success. After talking to many families facing this disease, my solution was to focus on a Success Story and a Success In Progress, interweaving the procedural details with the "spoon full of sugar" storytelling.
The Soup's "Song of the Year" 2011
Welcome Home
This Old House Web Series
While filming episodes for the Emmy-Award-winning 35th Season This Old House, we met many incredible, inspiring American veterans through a partnership with Homes For Our Troops. Since it would have been thematically inappropriate to deviate from the time-honored format of This Old House, we decided to create individual, four-episode web series to tell the more detailed stories of each of our amazing featured veterans.
Chicago Cubs Scout Story
Short Form Sports Documentary
When the Front Office of the Chicago Cubs wanted to shine a light on the unsung heroes that build a World Championship team from the ground up, I immediately was excited to make the “real-life Moneyball.” Never before had a professional ball team been so willing to pull the curtain back on their scouting process—and the entire organization was at our disposal and willing to accommodate. Many, many travel miles (and many, many high school/college games later) we finally learned the Scouts' lingo.
2018 Bronze Telly Award Winner
Must Love Cats
Animal Planet Series
This off-kilter, fun-loving, favorite-of-The-Soup series started with a network request for the “Anthony Bourdain of Cats.” After an exhaustive casting search—with many “unique” cat lovers in the mix—we found an LA comedian with a guitar that set the tone for the entire show. It was quite a learning experience translating ideas from development into full-fledged production; and as a result, helped inform the rest of my pitching sensibilities.
When a Calling Becomes a Career
Employee Appreciation
Every year, at the "State of St. Jude" assembly, the CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital likes to start with an inspirational video. The theme for 2016 was “employee stories”--we faced the challenge of telling stories from the past in a visual and engaging way. Inspired by Story Corps, my Videographer spearheaded the design while I hunted down and captured the narratives. Although I still firmly believe that everyone has a story, this project tested our abilities to tell staff stories in a short, visual manner.
