Randy Shinn is a St Louis/Metro East videographer who came to my attention for his documentary of local figure, Susan Stone who calls herself the Dance of Life Dancer.
His previous documentaries include an examination of the porn industry titled Pornoland, an look at Belleville Illinois’ Programs and Services for Older People titled Gray Matters and a documentary of gay rights titled Out.
We discuss Randy’s creative impulse and his creative attraction to polarizing figures and subject matter. Shinn discusses the difficulties he has encountered in carrying out his documentary projects including personnel problems in documenting the essence of his subjects.
We were able to discuss the shutdown of his work in progress centering on local shock-jock, Bob Romanik. Shinn tells a great story about the day when rapper Waka Flocka Flame was expected to show up at Romanik’s Belleville studio.
We talk about inspiration, making great art while holding down a day job, future projects.