Elle Shaw got her start as an actress about 15 years ago, working on projects in Las Vegas and later in the Los Angeles area.
After a pivot to theater production, she’s back to working in film as a producer. Now, living in Olathe, a project she’s worked on is on the docket at the Sundance International Film Festival later this month, which she’s “over the moon” about.
The project, called “Chasers,” is a 30-minute short film that doubles as a pilot for a prospective television show. It’s what Shaw described as a “traumady” — a trauma, drama and comedy hybrid.
At Sundance, “Chasers” is one of just a few episodic projects that have been selected to be shown out of thousands of submissions to the festival.
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What is Sundance?
- The Sundance International Film Festival is a prestigious showcase and contest put on annually by the Sundance Institute in Utah.
- The festival gets thousands of submissions every year. In 2025, there were about 16,000 total submissions across all categories.
- It started in the 1970s as the Utah/US Film Festival, and it is considered the largest independent film festival in the U.S.
- There are also in-person industry events and panels held throughout the festival.
- This year, Sundance runs from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2.
‘Chasers’ is inspired by industry
“Chasers” was written by Erin Brown Thomas, who directed the film, and Ciarra Krohne, who also starred in it.
Shaw said the film focuses on people who are chasing their dreams in Hollywood — though she thinks it can apply to people pursuing other dreams as well — but are starting to ask themselves if it’s really worth it in light of their experiences on that path.
“Eventually, are you chasing your abusers and kind of complicit in it, and how far are you willing to go in order to do that and see how people take advantage of that?” Shaw said.
The story was inspired by a post on Overheard LA, an Instagram account that posts follower-submitted dialogue overheard, and it’s one Shaw feels many people could relate to, particularly people who have worked in Hollywood.
“It feels kind of nice to take charge of a narrative in some way and to do something with that angst or that pain that you’ve experienced,” she said.
‘We just started moving forward with it’
While the subject matter is a little heavy, the film itself came together quickly, Shaw said. In all, it took about a month.
They had an idea for the film and a free location, but the location was only going to be available for a short amount of time, so the team got cracking.
“We just started moving forward with it,” Shaw said. “It was very fast for the size and the vision of what we were going to do.”
It was during post-production that the team realized there might be more story to tell, thinking maybe it would work better as a pilot to a series.
“By the end of it, you wanted to see what happened to these characters and maybe follow along,” Shaw said.
“Chasers” was also accepted to the Slamdance Film Festival, an Indie festival in LA in late February. Shaw and Brown Thomas also have another short film project showing at Slamdance.
Shaw is no stranger to film festivals
In addition to having a project at the Cannes Film Festival a few years ago, Shaw is also executive director of an LA-based film festival called Salute Your Shorts.
She co-runs that endeavor with Brown Thomas after taking over as executive director a couple of years ago.
Before that, she was on the programming team for the festival.
Shaw is a recent transplant to Olathe
Originally from the Topeka area, Shaw and her husband decided to move to the Kansas City area during the COVID-19 pandemic around the time her daughter was born.
“We decided to move back to be close for a little bit with the intention to move back to LA,” Shaw said.
Then, the couple had a son, and Shaw found she could do a lot of her producing work remotely. Plus, the cost of living is a lot more affordable in this area, she said.
Last spring, Shaw and her family ended up living in Olathe, where they’re staying for now.
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