Kirk Shaw

Kirk Shaw is one of North America's most prolific award-winning producers, with over 250 films and television credits built over a career spanning 30-plus years. He has worked with all major studios and collaborated with A-list talent including Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron, Ashton Kutcher, John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kim Basinger, Ray Liotta, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Throughout his career, Shaw has been recognized for leadership in the entertainment industry and for creating innovative ways to finance and package film and television projects.

In 2017, Shaw was inducted into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame, recognizing his lasting impact on Canada’s screen industry.

Shaw built Canada’s largest independent production company, turning creative ventures into globally competitive enterprises. As a CEO, he works across scripted and non-scripted production, high-concept IP packaging, financing, and international co-productions. His expertise includes IP acquisition, development strategy, and managing budgets from $1 million to over $200 million. He has developed partnerships with top talent and commercial collaborators in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, securing theatrical, streaming, and broadcast distribution. Shaw is skilled in business affairs, legal oversight, investor relations, and marketing. Shaw guides creative teams and corporate growth.

He serves as Co-President of Ambitious Entertainment, a next-generation studio with offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver focused on global content packaging. Since its founding in 2017, Ambitious has produced films such as Guns of Redemption, Viper, and Dead Man’s Hand. By 2025, Shaw had developed Ambitious into a fully integrated IP-acquisition and packaging studio, creating content for streamers, major studios, and international markets. The company specializes in profitable, high-concept storytelling and is positioned to be publicly traded on the NYSE.

2009 Shaw launched Odyssey Media Inc., a boutique studio specializing in lower-risk international co-productions. Backed by a $25 million investment fund, Odyssey produced over 20 films with combined budgets exceeding $70 million. Notable projects include Drive Hard, filmed in Australia with John Cusack; Pound of Flesh, filmed in China with Jean-Claude Van Damme; and The Town That Came A-Courting, filmed in Canada with Valerie Harper.

Shaw’s career began in 1990 with the founding of Insight Film Studios. The company first produced museum audio guides, then shifted to documentaries such as Inside Track. By the early 2000s, Insight produced long-form projects, starting with Maximum Surge in 2002. Under Shaw’s leadership, it became Canada’s largest independent film and television production company, creating over 130 titles with annual budgets exceeding $200 million. Highlights included Battle in Seattle (2007), Helen (2009), and the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker (2008). Other works included When A Man Falls, Personal Effects, and television series such as Blood Ties and Painkiller Jane. By the mid-2000s, Insight supported thousands of jobs and generated more than CAD 500 million in local economic activity.

Kirk Shaw is a member of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, and the Producers Guild of America (PGA). He studied journalism at Douglas College, helped launch the Edmonton Sun in 1978, worked in the computer industry, attended Vancouver Film School for screenwriting, and completed a National Screen Institute (NSI) of Canada program in production.