Jon Stojan
Shalyn Delhaes has dreamed of producing important and meaningful films, and she has a new career milestone to check off as a production assistant for Avatar: The Last Airbender. The animation franchise has a dedicated fanbase that brings much energy and anticipation to the production. Working on the film is a big deal, and for Delhaes, the job is a culmination of years of perseverance and dedication to craft, plus a passion for representation. It didn’t come overnight.
Delhaes started with a passion for writing and photography. She began telling stories early in life, back in her original home of Mettmann, Germany, and by the time she reached high school, she’d refined this creative energy into an interest in filmmaking. Delhaes got her first taste of real filmmaking through her high school graduation film, a project that helped her decide she wanted more. She wanted this to become something bigger. She wanted a career.
Creating Narrative and Prioritizing Representation With Boysenberry Night
One of the more important projects in Delhaes’ past is Boysenberry Night, a short film she co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced. The film explores gender dysphoria through the story of high schoolers performing Romeo and Juliet, where both characters secretly want to play each other’s roles. It was a deeply personal project for Delhaes and her crew, reflecting their experiences as members of the queer community.
Production challenges threatened to derail the project. Even nature intervened when a tornado warning forced a costly shutdown on the third production day. They rearranged the shoot to get back on schedule. It wasn’t easy, but Delhaes wanted to keep her crew safe while finishing the film they felt so strongly about.
The film’s casting process had also been a powerful reminder of the importance of representation. Many of the actors shared raw, personal expressions of how the script resonated with their own experience with dysphoria.
This connection between the cast and crew gave the film a special creative energy while also raising its importance as a way to give voice to underrepresented experiences in a medium starved for these kinds of stories. It was a powerful formative experience for Delhaes, who still carries those lessons and emotions.
From Indie Films to Big Studio productions
Delhaes made good on early opportunities to show off her skills, with small, independent productions that gained attention at various film festivals. Producing films like Sunflower, Favorite Things, NUCLEAR, Dissonance, and RATZ allowed Delhaes to demonstrate how she can manage budgets in an environment that often gives indies little to work with, solve problems on set, and collaborate with fellow creatives to produce great projects. These films garnered accolades at prestigious festivals such as the Chicago CineYouth Film Festival, Indie Short Fest, LA Independent Women Film Awards, and Yale Student Film Festival. Additionally, NUCLEAR premiered at the Golden State Film Festival, which takes place annually at the iconic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. She continued to refine her skills as she went, preparing for work on larger-scale productions.
Now, it’s time to put those skills to work. As a production assistant for Paramount Animation’s feature film, Aang: The Last Airbender, Delhaes works with a significant franchise to a large fanbase.
Meanwhile, she’s also actively participating in the Group Effort Initiative (GEI), an organization founded by Blake Lively and Ryan Reynols. Learning from the seasoned professionals around her, providing her insights into the workings of multiple major productions.
These opportunities are helping her to make strides toward even further goals. Delhaes sees herself eventually becoming a full producer for independent films and potentially opening her own production company. With her foundation in independent filmmaking and now in large studio productions, this future seems more likely than ever.
Driven by a passion for creating spaces for underrepresented narratives and plenty of experience working through the industry’s difficulties and trials, Delhaes has a strong foundation for ongoing success.
Website: https://shalyndelhaes.com/
IMDb: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm13526292/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shalynvfm/?hl=de
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shalyndelhaes/