Conversations with Dakota Shanes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dakota Shanes.

Hi Dakota, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was a first gen college student who grew up on a farm in rural Hickman County. After finally getting through grad school and getting ready to start life in San Francisco with my post grad tech career, Covid hit.

I moved back to the farm and spent the next couple years saving money but doing nothing socially or creatively.

As Covid winded down, I decided to live on the road for year to kickstart my life back. I drove down to Miami, all the way to Seattle, and all the way back over the course of several months.

My last stop (which I obviously didn’t drive to) was Hawaii. The spent several weeks there and realized that road life had become a form of extravagant escapism. I’ll always be glad I spent that year the way I did, but it was time to find what’s next.

NCIS Hawaii came to the camp I stayed at to shoot there, and a friend made a joke about trying to be extras. I could only last an hour or two on the beach in the Hawaii sun, so I figured I’d apply to have something else to do.

I was instantly addicted to being on set. Through some combination of luck, determination, and tunnel vision (which had its drawbacks) I was able to make the jump to larger roles, and here we are 250+ projects later.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Career wise, it’s always felt smooth because I never let myself “expect” the next job, and try to just be grateful I ever get paid to do anything that gets any reach.

Ive also always had other day jobs and interests like dancing and sports that keep me from “staring at the phone” or checking emails obsessively.

The struggles have been more internal. Early on, I found myself using acting as a form of escapism again. Booking roles in other states with low pay and limited chance for moving my career forward, just so I could live on the road another week and tell myself I was just grinding.

There’s also been the temptation to accept roles that don’t help me achieve my goals just so I can look busy or “cool” on social media. In these moments, I remember why I started.

But the biggest struggle has been balancing chasing a dream with being pragmatic. Less than 1% of actors are able to go full time, and that number is even lower in the South. I’ve kept my
Corporate day job and started investing in real estate to be able to go full time creative eventually, but it’s a slow
process, and it’s weighing every time
to pass up role due to work commitments and see my peers be able to invest 100% into their creative pursuits.

As a first gen college student, it feels like a betrayal of everything I worked for to exit my corporate career before I’m financially independent and
can be sure that I won’t have to start over in 3 years of acting doesn’t pan out.

My creative friends don’t really relate to this perspective, and my corporate friends often scoff at the idea of
working so hard to chase an acting career that will likely have a much lower financial ROI early on with no assurance of paying off.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I focus mostly on commercials at this point as they’re typically 1-2 day shoots and pay as good or better than my day job which isn’t really the case for music videos, and short films.

I also don’t have that high fashion/ action star look, but I think I’ve been successful in commercials because people see me using a product and
think “well if it worked for that muppet it’ll definitely work for me”

I also think being 6’4” and red headed sets me apart. I’ve learned that in a field as subjective as this one, you don’t always have to be better, you just have to stand out in your own way and own it.

My biggest projects to date have probably been singing (I use this term extremely loosely because I sound like a raccoon stuck in an air duct) in a choir for a Super Bowl commercial, speaking in a national Draft Kings commercial, being a stunt double on the Walking Dead, and playing the lead antagonist in a Sara Evans music video that promoted domestic violence awareness and
support networks

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
There are fears about AI, just like any other industry. My day job partially involves selling generative AI tools, so I’m more privy to it than most.

I’m cautiously optimistic that gen AI will never replace anything but maybe background and low budget web ads. Not because it won’t be realistic, but because I’ve already seen the backlash grow amongst non-actors when they see the ads.

Feature films and TV shows have moved a higher percentage of
shoots overseas in recent years, but I see this trend reversing at least partially after SAG and state governments work to make film productions less costly in the good ole USA.

I do think it will continue to be less concentrated (good for Nashville). More states are offering incentives and building studios after seeing Atlanta’s
success.

Contact info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @dakotashanesistired