BIOGRAPHY

Shanahan, a Raleigh, NC native, has been writing and directing films for more than ten years, though he began his creative career as a painter. After a fruitful start in the art world, his passion for film became his primary focus. Since then, he has written and directed three independent feature films and one feature documentary. His script, Clear Lake, is currently being produced by STX Studios in Los Angeles. When Shanahan is not on set, works on new concepts in the cocktail industry. His first two ventures, Watts & Ward and The Ark Royal are open for business in Downtown Raleigh and strive to provide amazing cocktails with even better customer service and hospitality.

During the early days of the pandemic, Shanahan turned his focus to designing spaces. What started with set building in the film industry turned into staging sets for photography until his first big project got green-lit: Watts & Ward. Watts is. 10,000 square foot cocktail club in the heart of Downtown Raleigh. Four years later, Shanahan designed his second bar, The Ark Royal, a mid century Tiki Bar in the epicenter of the Glenwood South Nightlife Scene. Finding a love for the craft and creating environments, Shanahan now does residential design and commercial projects of varying sizes. His latest creation is The Montague Suites, a 6,000 square foot communal office space where he meshed Danish furniture with Victorian artifacts and a bit of neon by renowned artist Nate Shaffer to create a truly unique and welcoming space. Whether it is design, film making, photography, or writing, Shanahan says that it is all the same thing; storytelling.

“Beneath a painting, a film, a space, a photograph, there is a story. Story comes first, followed by manifestation. What started with canvas and paint has transformed into something greater than I could have foreseen.” - Patrick Shanahan

Shanahan has made films at the most independent level. He wrote, produced and directed his first feature film, The Carolinian, at twenty-one years of age fresh out of NC State University where he received a BA in Film and at The New York Film Academy where he learned to shoot on 16mm and 35mm film. There, he acquired the necessary knowledge of film history, film theory and screenwriting. His work has screened around the world in festivals such as Bahamas International, CayFilm, Big Sky Doc Festival, RiverRun, Cucalorus, and was awarded Best Writing in a Short Documentary at the Short Film Awards in NYC. His team also won Best Feature and Best Cinematography at the NC Film Awards in 2014 for their work on Empirica.

In 2017, Shanahan embarked on The Fox Hunter; his most ambitious project to date. Alongside his production team and a cast including Madison Iseman (Jumanji) Reece Thompson (Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Jay Huguley (The Walking Dead), he found himself at home on set. Shanahan recently completed the script for a new Buddy Holly biopic entitled That’ll Be The Day; working with producer Stuart Benjamin (Ray, La Bamba) and Director Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City)

In the spring of 2025 Shanahan opened his first restaurant, Peregrine, with Chef Saif Rahman. The duo set out to create new American restaurant that celebrated Chef Saif Rahman’s migration from Bangladesh to his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Peregrine was named Eater Magazine’s Best New Restaurant of North Carolina 2025. In January of 2026m the restaurant team's dreams came true when they were nominated for a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant 2025.

Returning to his cocktail roots, Shanahan opened Capulet Cocktail Club with his long time collaborator from the film world, Robby Opperman. Together, the two hand crafted a space that would transport guests to another world, one rich with plasters, velvets, gilded paintings and marble statues, all situated under a 30 foot dome. Opperman and Shanahan are currently working on their next joint venture, a Japanese-influenced concept marrying the idea of a Kissa & a mid century cocktail lounge. The new space will be called ROSEBUD. Stay tuned for more…