Having grown-up in rural Minnesota, Director/Cameraman Shaun Conrad left for the big city and earned a bachelor's degree with honors at the University of Illinois - Chicago. While in school, he explored the world of film-making beyond the classroom by shooting live rock concerts and music videos. He soon met up with Backyard co-founder Roy Skillicorn, who got him some local Chicago market spot jobs for hair salon Vidal Sassoon. These projects led him to do promos and spots for American Crew, Mop and other clients. With enough commercials under his belt, Conrad joined Backyard's directorial roster in 1998. While with Backyard, Shaun shot and directed an Adweek Spot of the Month as well as won the 2000 Cannes Short List award. He also directed national spots for Vidal Sassoon, Ameritech, Nintendo 64, Kraft, Mervyn's, Sears and others.
Three years later, in 2002, Conrad left Backyard and headed for the West Coast, where he linked up with Tate USA. He worked consistently in the fashion/design arena, helming national campaigns for K-Swiss, Reebok, Earthlink, Lady Footlocker, Burger King, Hasbro and many more.
He then made a conscious decision to diversify in August 2003, when David Raccuglia asked him to co-direct the feature documentary, “Purvis of Overtown”, which chronicles the life and observations of Purvis Young, a self-taught painter and icon of African-American culture and history. This effectively took Shaun out of the commercial scene until in 2006. Then, with the movie earning rave reviews and multiple awards at Film Festivals around the world, he signed with SNUG, joining director/owner Michael Grasso and Executive Producer, Fran Wall.