Angela Shelton
Encyclopedia
Angela Shelton is an American screenwriter
, actress, and documentary film
producer
, best known for the film Tumbleweeds
and the documentary Searching for Angela Shelton, which she wrote, directed, and edited. She has also just released her book, Finding Angela Shelton: The True Story of One Woman's Triumph over Sexual Abuse.
for the 1999 film
Tumbleweeds, based upon her experiences with her serial-marrying mother, to whom she was returned after being in foster care. She also has acted in the films Comfortably Numb (1995), The Shrink Is In (2001), The Big Time (2002 television movie
), The Safe Side, a 2004 instructional video, and Beautiful Dreamer (aka Daysleeper) (2009). On television
, Shelton has appeared in Pacific Blue
, Chicago Hope
, and Becker
.
. The events in her childhood inspired her to make a documentary.
In 2001, Shelton undertook the production of a documentary in which she travelled the United States in an effort to interview 40 of the 76 anonymous women, who shared her name, whom she found while searching the Internet
.
Shelton found that many of the women whom she interviewed had either been raped, beaten, or molested. Shelton, inspired to document her quest to find the women and to catalogue their traumas, rented a motor home and spent 57 days traversing the United States, spending nearly $300,000, some of which was donated by personal friends and family and professional contacts. Shelton also confronted her father, her own abuser, during the production of the film, meeting with him on Father's Day
2001 to discuss her molestation. It took three years and three different editors
to complete the film. In the end Shelton edited the film herself.
Shelton chose to promote and distribute the film independently, notably appearing in 2004 on the American television programs 48 Hours
and The Oprah Winfrey Show
. Since then, in an effort to bring attention to domestic violence
, especially when perpetrated against women and children, Shelton has travelled the United States speaking at colleges and universities and film festivals. In April 2006, an edited version aired on the cable television
channel Lifetime, as part of their campaign to end violence against women. Presently, Shelton presents the film and gives speeches at colleges and universities across the country in an effort to end violence against women.
Angela's documentary Searching for Angela Shelton won 12 awards, including audience awards for best documentary at the 2004 Asheville and Austin Film Festival
s.
The mayor of Asheville
, proclaimed April 29, 2005 Angela Shelton Day.
Angela created the Survivor Manual as a way to help abuse survivors and their loved ones find healing. The site which houses Angela's articles, videos, and new submissions by others who share Angela's vision of a better world. http://www.survivormanual.com/
The Angela Shelton Foundation has been dissolved and is no longer active.
Angela donated the foundation's assets to the 501C3 Darkness to Light in an effort to have her work in the trauma and recovery movement continue to reach more people as she went back to her writing and film making career. http://darknesstolight.org/
The Survivor Manual is still running and donors are directed to Darkness to Light.
In 2009, Angela released a revised second edition on Amazon called Finding Angela Shelton Recovered with an addition chapter explaining all that happened since she made her film and why she went back to writing more fun things. It also is literally recovered with a new cover.
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, actress, and documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, best known for the film Tumbleweeds
Tumbleweeds (1999 film)
Tumbleweeds is a 1999 American drama film directed by Gavin O'Connor. He co-wrote the screenplay with his then-wife Angela Shelton, who was inspired by her memories of a childhood spent on the road with her serial-marrying mother.-Plot:...
and the documentary Searching for Angela Shelton, which she wrote, directed, and edited. She has also just released her book, Finding Angela Shelton: The True Story of One Woman's Triumph over Sexual Abuse.
Early career
Shelton was a co-screenwriter (with then-husband Gavin O'Connor) and executive producerExecutive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
for the 1999 film
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
Tumbleweeds, based upon her experiences with her serial-marrying mother, to whom she was returned after being in foster care. She also has acted in the films Comfortably Numb (1995), The Shrink Is In (2001), The Big Time (2002 television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
), The Safe Side, a 2004 instructional video, and Beautiful Dreamer (aka Daysleeper) (2009). On television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, Shelton has appeared in Pacific Blue
Pacific Blue (TV series)
Pacific Blue is an American crime drama series about a team of police officers with the Santa Monica Police Department who patrolled its beaches on bicycles. The show ran for five seasons on the USA Network, from March 2, 1996 to April 9, 2000, with a total of one hundred and one episodes...
, Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
, and Becker
Becker (TV series)
Becker is an American television sitcom that ran from 1998 to 2004 on CBS. Set in the New York City borough of The Bronx, the show starred Ted Danson as John Becker, a misanthropic doctor who operates a small practice and is constantly annoyed by his patients, co-workers, friends, and practically...
.
Searching for Angela Shelton
After her parents divorced, Shelton lived with her father, stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister in North Carolina. She and her siblings were sexually molested by her father and step mother and eventually removed from their care and placed in foster careFoster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
. The events in her childhood inspired her to make a documentary.
In 2001, Shelton undertook the production of a documentary in which she travelled the United States in an effort to interview 40 of the 76 anonymous women, who shared her name, whom she found while searching the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Shelton found that many of the women whom she interviewed had either been raped, beaten, or molested. Shelton, inspired to document her quest to find the women and to catalogue their traumas, rented a motor home and spent 57 days traversing the United States, spending nearly $300,000, some of which was donated by personal friends and family and professional contacts. Shelton also confronted her father, her own abuser, during the production of the film, meeting with him on Father's Day
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
2001 to discuss her molestation. It took three years and three different editors
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
to complete the film. In the end Shelton edited the film herself.
Shelton chose to promote and distribute the film independently, notably appearing in 2004 on the American television programs 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
and The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
. Since then, in an effort to bring attention to domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, especially when perpetrated against women and children, Shelton has travelled the United States speaking at colleges and universities and film festivals. In April 2006, an edited version aired on the cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel Lifetime, as part of their campaign to end violence against women. Presently, Shelton presents the film and gives speeches at colleges and universities across the country in an effort to end violence against women.
Awards
Angela Shelton won a regional Emmy for her appearance as Safe Side Superchick in The Safe Side Series created by Baby Einstein's Julie Clark and America's Most Wanted's John Walsh http://thesafeside.com/Angela's documentary Searching for Angela Shelton won 12 awards, including audience awards for best documentary at the 2004 Asheville and Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
s.
The mayor of Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
, proclaimed April 29, 2005 Angela Shelton Day.
- Newport Beach Festival - Best Independent Documentary
- Durango Film Festival - Audience Award
- Asheville Film Festival - Best Documentary
- Sonoma Valley Film Festival - Audience Award
- Zoie Fest - Best Documentary
- Memphis International Film Festival - Best Documentary
- Austin Film Festival - Best Documentary
Angela Shelton Foundation
In response to the acclaim received by her documentary, Shelton was gifted with the Angela Shelton Foundation in 2003.Angela created the Survivor Manual as a way to help abuse survivors and their loved ones find healing. The site which houses Angela's articles, videos, and new submissions by others who share Angela's vision of a better world. http://www.survivormanual.com/
The Angela Shelton Foundation has been dissolved and is no longer active.
Angela donated the foundation's assets to the 501C3 Darkness to Light in an effort to have her work in the trauma and recovery movement continue to reach more people as she went back to her writing and film making career. http://darknesstolight.org/
The Survivor Manual is still running and donors are directed to Darkness to Light.
Finding Angela Shelton
In April 2007, she released her book, Finding Angela Shelton: The True Story of One Woman's Triumph over Sexual Abuse. The book is not based upon her movie, although it does run parallel to it. In it, Angela shares how making the film forced her to face her past. She wrote the book to call for a healing revolution after seeing so many people in pain. The movie breaks the silence and the book breaks the cycle.In 2009, Angela released a revised second edition on Amazon called Finding Angela Shelton Recovered with an addition chapter explaining all that happened since she made her film and why she went back to writing more fun things. It also is literally recovered with a new cover.
Other Accolades
- Angela Shelton was presented with the Voice of Courage award from Darkness to Light.
- Angela was also presented with the Humanitarian Award from the Cultural Enrichment Committee at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.