SHANE O’BRIEN – Creative Director, Copywriter, Screenwriter and Author.

Biography

Ex ECD BBDO Dublin. Ex CD Rothco | Accenture Interactive (Now Droga5 Dublin). Award-winning screenwriter and best-selling children's author.

I'm a multi-award winning creative director and copywriter available for freelance projects in Ireland, the UK and Europe. Over the last 18 years, my work has been recognised and awarded at the Cannes Lions, D&AD, the One Show, the Clios, Eurobest, London International Awards, EPICAs, Kinsale Sharks, ICAD, the Effies, the Webbies, the Lovies and a few others. You can have a look at some examples of that work as both a writer and a creative director on the menu on the left.

I was Executive Creative Director of BBDO Dublin for the last four and a half years, winning more than 20 international awards in my time in charge, as well as agency of the year at the Kinsale Shark Awards twice in a row. I also served as the Deputy Chair of the EMEA BBDO Creative Council and represented the network in juries at Eurobest, the Dubai Lynx, Madstars, the One Show Next Creative Leaders and Jury Chairman at ICAD. I stepped down earlier this year to focus on some screenwriting opportunities following the release of my second feature film.

Prior to working in BBDO, I was Creative Director at Rothco | Accenture Interactive (now Droga5 Dublin), Creative Director of Rothco’s sister agency Guns or Knives; and before that again, a senior writer in Rothco. In my time with the Rothco Group I worked on brands including the National Lottery, Fáilte Ireland, Dairygold, Heineken, Meteor, Eir, AIB and mytaxi.

I started my career in BBDO Dublin working on Carlsberg, Aer Lingus, Guinness, EBS, and Today FM. I’ve also had a number of stints as a freelancer over the years, bouncing around Dublin freelancing in agencies including Boys and Girls, Chemistry, and McCann Erickson.

Outside of advertising I've written comedy for stage, television and film, with credits on RTÉ2, BBC3, Channel 4 as well as feature films for 2Entertain, Fastnet Films, Ashmore Films and Screen Ireland. My second feature film, Apocalypse Clown was released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland in September 2023, and on Netflix in October 2023. I am currently developing my third with Fastnet Films with the support of Screen Ireland.

I was a Founder & Partner of Good Cop Good Cop - a collective who use their spare time to make creative things for good cause. Our first book 'How Will Santa Find Us?' raised over €80,000 for homelessness charity Focus Ireland and was featured on the Late Late Toy Show.

I was a part of the multi-award winning comedy group Dead Cat Bounce, with whom I was invited to all of the world’s major comedy festivals; including Montreal Just For Laughs, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Melbourne Comedy Festival and many others.

I was also briefly a member of Whitesnake... genuinely.

If you’d like to get in touch just drop me a message on the contact page.

Cheers.

Shane