--- name: "Richard Phelan" canonical: "https://film.one/person/richard-phelan" fi1m_id: "richard-phelan" imdb_id: "nm4503368" tmdb_id: 2355753 wikidata_id: "Q84784184" roles: ["Writer","Director"] born: "1 January 1982" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 68 average_as: "writer" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-03T00:45:28.003043+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Richard Phelan ## Identity Richard Phelan - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/richard-phelan - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** richard-phelan - **IMDb ID:** nm4503368 - **TMDB ID:** 2355753 - **Wikidata ID:** Q84784184 - **Same entity:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84784184, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4503368/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2355753 Writer and director. Born 1 January 1982. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Director - **Born:** 1 January 1982 - **Active:** 2019–present - **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 1 directing, 2 writing - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as writer, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 78 (1), 2020s 68 (2) - **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84784184, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4503368/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2355753 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon*](https://film.one/film/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Richard Phelan > Richard Phelan’s shared direction of *Farmageddon* suggests a film-maker worth following for his clear, wordless comedy. The farmyard jokes are stronger than the science-fiction story, but he and Will Becher make an amiable family adventure that earns its laughs. In *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019), the farmyard business remains the strongest material even when the sheep have a larger adventure to attend to. We laughed at the small jokes because the stop-motion characters make themselves understood without stopping to explain. Richard Phelan and co-director Will Becher are good at this, and their care makes the film worth an evening despite its familiar science-fiction story. There is enough here to make us interested in what Phelan directs next. That attention to clear action makes sense given his work in story departments. Before co-directing *Farmageddon*, his feature debut, Phelan had worked as a storyboard artist and writer on the *Shaun the Sheep* television series, and as senior storyboard artist on *Shaun the Sheep Movie* (2015) and *Early Man* (2018). With no dialogue to explain a character’s intentions, the action has to make those intentions readable. *Farmageddon* benefits from that discipline even when its story is predictable. Lu-La, the alien introduced into Shaun’s world, is a useful test of the directors’ judgement. The new character fits in, and the science-fiction references leave room for the gentle comedy of characters trying to understand one another. There are limits to what this care can achieve: the story remains familiar, and the songs sometimes intrude on the fun. At 87 minutes, however, the film has the good sense not to stretch a modest adventure too far. Phelan subsequently served as head of story on *Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget* (2023) and story artist on *Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl* (2024). These are story roles, not further directing credits. We would be cautious about assigning him a solitary style on the strength of a film he made with Becher, though his continuing work on character and physical action gives us something concrete to follow. Start with *Farmageddon* for its gentle physical comedy; expect good incidental jokes rather than a fresh reason to send sheep into a science-fiction adventure. ## Biography Richard Phelan is a British animator, storyboard artist and film director. He studied animation at the University of Wolverhampton and completed an MA in animation directing at the National Film and Television School. His graduation short film *Damned* (2011) received awards including from the Royal Television Society. Phelan began his career at Aardman Animations as a storyboard artist and writer on the *Shaun the Sheep* television series. He served as head of story on the miniseries *Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas* (2015) and as a senior storyboard artist on *Shaun the Sheep Movie* (2015). He co-directed the feature *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019) with Will Becher; the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, de.wikipedia.org, collider.com, deadline.com.* ## On Fi1m (3) ### Directed (1) - *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019), Fi1m 78, as Additional Voices (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon.md) ### Wrote (2) — the average rests on these - *Project Hail Mary* (2026), Fi1m 73, Head of Story — [page](https://film.one/film/project-hail-mary.md) - *Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget* (2023), Fi1m 64, Head of Story — [page](https://film.one/film/chicken-run-dawn-of-the-nugget.md) ## Complete filmography (7) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Project Hail Mary* (2026), Head of Story — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/project-hail-mary.md) - *Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl* (2024), Story Artist - *Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget* (2023), Head of Story — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/chicken-run-dawn-of-the-nugget.md) - *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019), as Additional Voices (voice) · Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon.md) - *Damned* (2011), Director - *Shaun the Sheep* (2007), series, Writer - *The Beloved Ones* (2007), Storyboard Artist, Animation ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 2021: Best Animated Feature (nominated), for *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/richard-phelan