Draft:Shawn Paper

Paper was born in Rockville, Maryland, and graduated from Winston Churchill High School.^[4][5] He attended Hunter College in New York City before transferring to Bennington College, where he studied theatre and literature.^[4] During college he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve as a Seabee, and his reserve battalion was activated during Operation Desert Storm.^[4]

Paper began his career in Los Angeles, working in television and feature post-production.^[1][5] His early credits include science fiction and genre films such as Alien Apocalypse, Planet Raptor (also known as Raptor Island 2: Raptor Planet), The Man with the Screaming Brain, and Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman.^[1] On television he has edited or produced episodes of series including Mike Hammer, Private Eye, Arrest & Trial, Unsolved Mysteries, Ugly Betty, Girls, Parks and Recreation, Flight of the Conchords, Santa Clarita Diet, Friends from College, Crashing, What We Do in the Shadows, Mozart in the Jungle, Sweet Tooth, Partner Track, In from the Cold, Platonic, and Outer Banks.^[1][6][7]

He edited the romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery and the drama Love, Brooklyn, the latter of which screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.^{[2][7][6][8][9][10]} Love, Brooklyn received five nominations at the NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding Independent Motion Picture, and won the award for Outstanding Independent Motion Picture in 2026.^[11][12][13] Paper and his work on The Broken Hearts Gallery have been profiled in industry outlets including ProVideo Coalition, Awards Daily, and Monkeys Fighting Robots, as well as discussed in coverage of the film’s crafts in Variety.^{[2][7][6][14]} Over the course of his television work he has been credited with working with directors Judd Apatow, Taika Waititi, Nicholas Stoller, Seth Gordon and Matt Shakman.^[2]

As an editor and producer on Ugly Betty, Paper worked on a series that received multiple Primetime Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards and other honours.^[15][16] His work on Veep earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, and he has also been nominated for an ACE Eddie Award.^[3][2] Series he has worked on, including Girls, Mozart in the Jungle and Sweet Tooth, have received Golden Globe and Children's & Family Emmy Awards and nominations.^[17][18]

After approximately 25 years in Los Angeles, Paper relocated to upstate New York.^[4][5] He lives in Cambridge, New York, with his wife, novelist Cecily Dixon, and edits remotely from an 1840s barn converted into an editing studio.^[4][5]