Lynn Shelton, Director of Mad Men and GLOW, Dies at 54

Longtime television director Lynn Shelton has passed away. One new report (via Variety) says the filmmaker passed away Friday due to a blood disorder. She was 54. Though she earned credits on Man Men, GLOW, The Mindy Project, and Fresh Off the Boat, Shelton might be best known for her work on the “mumblecore” indie film circuit with features like Humpday and Your Sister’s Sister. There was one point she had even been approached about directing Black Widow, though the filmmaker admitted in an interview some six years ago she appreciated the creative freedoms afforded with small-budget ventures.

“It’s very easy to have creative freedom when you’re making movies for a very small amount of money,” she told Variety in 2014. “The more money involved, the more complicated it becomes because there are people involved who want to make sure they’re not throwing their cash down a big hole.”

Prior to becoming a director, Shelton served as an editor on nearly a dozen projects, including five short films. Her first directing credit came with 2006’s We Go Way Back, a feature she also wrote. In fact, with the exception of Laggies, Shelton wrote the screenplays for her entire catalog.

In a separate interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2014, Shelton encouraged those who wanted to get into filmmaking to go out, get whatever camera they could, and hit the ground running. “I self-generated my work, and I never went around asking permission to make it. The main reason women make inroads in independent film is that no one has to say, ‘I pick you.’ I’m not pounding on anybody’s door. I’m just making my own way. You can buy a camera for $1,500. It’s insane how easy it is to make a movie,” the filmmaker told the Times.

Shelton had previously been married to actor Kevin Seal from 2011 to 2019 and was in a relationship with actor and comedian Marc Maron at the time of her death. She’s survived by her parents Wendy & Alan Roedell and David Shelton & Frauke Rynd in addition to brothers David Shelton Robert Rynd, and sister Tanya Rynd.