Five Questions with SCREEN: Executive Creative Director Shawn Francis

What do Rihanna, a fake soccer team, and the best brisket ever have in common? They’re all right there as Executive Creative Director Shawn Francis of Columbus, Ohio and NYC-based sports marketing agency Civitas stops by for a thoroughly entertaining round of Five Questions with SCREEN. Let’s get to it!

SCREEN: Thanks for stopping by, Shawn! So who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?

SHAWN: Probably Rihanna, but she wasn’t famous yet. I worked in MTV’s talent department when MTV was still a thing. Jay-Z was VP of A&R for Island/Def Jam at the time and brought his new signing in to introduce her to the team that books the VMAs and chooses the playlist. She was 19 and not the full-formed icon that she is today. She was quite shy and reserved and super-dressed down, none of the high fashion looks she’s known for now. Just a 19-year-old from Barbados in a turtleneck, jeans, and Timbalands, who was maybe a little in awe of Jay-Z herself.

Here’s a clip of Rihanna more than a few years later as she headlines the Super Bowl Halftime Show…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBo–1n8lI

SCREEN: If you could appoint ANYONE to be the next President of the United States, who would it be and why?

SHAWN: Rick Rubin. Only a man who has produced albums for both Lil Uzi Vert and Johnny Cash can unite this country.

SCREEN: One restaurant, one meal, anywhere you want, and we’re buying. What will it be?

SHAWN: The smoked beef short rib at Bullard Tavern, Portland, OR. It’s smoked for seven hours, then served with house-made flour tortillas, guacamole, salsa verde, and pickled jalapeños. An improbable slice of Texas Hill Country nestled in the PNW.

Here’s a chat with the Top Chef alum who opened Bullard Tavern and a trip into his esteemed kitchen…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2-j6dYInWY

SCREEN: So you’ve been chosen for the new season of Shark Tank. What are you pitching to the Sharks?

SHAWN: Oh, this is an easy one: Asbury Park F.C., a soccer club that doesn’t actually play games. I’ve been involved in this project as co-founder and owner for a decade now and it’s been fun, a lot of hard work, but fun. The reality is that you can build fandom in the social media era without actually delivering a product. To look at it another way, the fandom is the product. You don’t need an actual team so much as you need an ethos and a vibe to sell sponsorships, build a community, host events, and move merch. It also helps that we’re undefeated. 

SCREEN: What is your most prized possession?

SHAWN: My family: being a dad is job No. 1 for me. But if we’re talking possessions, my most prized possession is a pair of cookbooks printed in the early 1980’s by the Lafayette Parish Ladies Jr. League. They were given to me by my grandmother. I grew up mainly in Texas but come from a Creole family, so having access to the long-gone culinary secrets of southern Louisiana’s finest chefs – ”Grand-mère”s and “Mémé”s – is something I cherish; people may emigrate, change names, lose religions and assimilate but they always keep their food.

BONUS QUESTIONS!

SCREEN: Your favorite project you’ve ever worked on?

SHAWN: I had the privilege of creative directing a suite of video content that was part of the announcement that the 2026 FIFA World Cup final was coming to New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium. As a lifelong fan of the game and a longtime NJ resident, it was pretty surreal to get a call to help announce that the biggest show in global sports was coming to my adopted home state. It still feels a little unbelievable, to be honest. I’ve worked with some heavyweight, blue chip brands, but I’m not sure you can touch anything more globally relevant and immense than the World Cup. 

SCREEN: Favorite American city? Favorite International city?

SHAWN: American city: New York City. It’s cliche, but it’s the Greatest City in the World for a reason. Whatever you want, the city has it, as long as what you want isn’t cheap rent.

I fantasize about moving to the mountains upstate or to the endless summer of Miami, but I don’t know if I’d stop yearning for the everyday adventure by just walking around NYC. There is so much inspiration, so many wonderful weirdos, and creatives around every corner. 

International city: Montreal. One of the funny things about driving up there from any city in the Northeast is that you can get in the car for five hours and be somewhere that feels un-American. Toronto is great, but in many ways, it feels like it could be Chicago or another big Midwestern city. Maybe it’s just the language and how that Franco-Gallic influence permeates everything, but Montreal tricks you into thinking you drove somewhere you should have had to board a plane to get to.

SCREEN: Worst job ever?

SHAWN: In high school, I washed dishes in a Mexican restaurant in Amarillo, TX and there is no possible way it was Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliant. Think two inches of putrid, standing brown water on the floor, making the tile beneath greasy, slick and dangerous. During my first shift, I slipped and fell twice, breaking seven dishes in the process – which were deducted from my already low paycheck. There was not a second shift.

SCREEN: Best advice you’ve ever been given?

SHAWN: Ari Halper, global ECD at R/GA, once told me to lean into the work. Embrace the suck and obsess over the details even though you may be tired, hungry, burnt out, or you just flat out don’t care. You’ll hate it when you’re in it, but be happier with the work in the end.

Thanks for playing, Shawn! For more from Shawn and his team at Civitas, click right here.

Be sure to check back here at SCREEN Magazine for next week’s round of Five Questions with SCREEN. You can also click right here to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter.