Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Graydon Sheppard. I'm a writer, director, and sometimes performer. Most of my work has been shorter form - short films, music videos, comedy sketches, and web series. I used to make commercials but I left that industry to focus on making longer format work. I constantly have side-projects on the go, like "The Criterinot Podcast" where I talk to other people in the industry about movies we love that aren't in The Criterion Collection.
I am Canadian, and I recently moved to Montreal where I make a fool of myself daily while trying to speak French through masks and plexiglass.
What hardware do you use?
I use a 2017 15" MacBook Pro. I just found my "lost" Wacom tablet which I'm really happy about. It makes editing and visual stuff go so much more smoothly. For podcasting I use a Scarlett 2i2 mixer with some $20 mics I got online. They are chunky and heavy but nobody has to see them so that's fine. They make me feel like the host of a 70s gameshow. And I have a Fuji X-T1 camera that I love and use to film sketches and scout locations and occasionally take actual photographs to print. I got my bachelor's degree in photography right when everything was switching to digital, so it was basically a useless education, but because of it I also have an old Mamiya RZ67 medium format film camera that I just pulled out of storage. Doubt I'll ever use it again, but I have it!
And what software?
Software-wise I use Premiere, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Final Draft, and I used to use Audacity for the podcast until the OS updated and made it obsolete. Now I use Voice Memos for that. I use Mail for the obvious reasons but also to write down notes on calls cause it's easier than opening Word. I use Stickies to track hours and write down quick ideas. Actually I'll use pretty much anything to write down an idea. Sometimes I create a folder and name it with an idea or a thought. It's really annoying for future me to deal with the messes I make, but that's his problem. I use Dropbox like a life preserver - any project I'm working on has an alias on the desktop linked to a folder in Dropbox. But my favourite software is the game Factorio. It can be a problem.
What would be your dream setup?
Dream setup would be whatever is going to keep my spine from turning into a C-shape. I've got a really bad habit of sitting in things that look great but are giving me peach pit-sized knots in my neck. Is there such a thing as an office massage chair? Also, something with infinite, indestructible storage, and someone to organize it for me. I'm pretty good about backing up, but I'm terribly disorganized, so finding things can be an issue. A proper second display I guess would be nice. Headphone implants that are universal so that I don't have to scramble for the right pair to fit into the right device, or charge, or lose. Oh, a Mac without a touchbar. I hate that thing so much.