Tacoma-born writer’s latest story, narrated by an octopus, debuts on Netflix
Shelby Van Pelt has made it into The News Tribune again.
When the Tacoma-born-and-raised author of “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” a novel and now Netflix movie released Friday, was in the 8th grade at Hunt Middle School, she published her first piece ever in the Tacoma News Tribune.
It was about garden burgers.
“You used to have that kid’s section every Saturday,” Van Pelt told The News Tribune on Thursday at the Point Defiance Aquarium. “You guys had a call for kid pitches where you could write an article and get paid ten bucks.”
Van Pelt, then known as Shelby Johnson, wrote about the sudden rise of garden burgers.
“I was in my vegetarian era, and garden burgers were kind of a new thing back then (1993).” “The headline was, ‘Where’s the beef? Not in these burgers.’”
It was a great title written by Tacoma’s newest writer. Van Pelt is no longer a vegetarian, but says she’s definitely an animal lover.
Her debut novel, “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” published in 2022, is narrated by an octopus named Marcellus, whom Van Pelt says inspired the story.
“Obviously, they’re very smart, and I like the idea of an octopus who knows he’s smarter than the humans who have held him captive. For me, there’s something so mysterious about them – extraterrestrial. It gave me freedom. I don’t know that octopuses can read, but I don’t know that they can’t read.”
As far as Northwest authors go, Van Pelt isn’t the first to have an animal narrate their book. Seattle’s Garth Stein wrote “The Art of Racing in the Rain” from the POV of a dog, and Seattle-based author Kira Jane Buxton wrote a zombie-apocalypse novel titled “Hollow Kingdom” from the POV of a crow.
Maybe there’s just something about the Pacific Northwest and literary animals.
Van Pelt doesn’t live in Washington anymore, but the Pacific Northwest heavily influenced the book and movie, serving as the setting for a fictional town called Sowell Bay.
“Sowell Bay was more inspired by the islands around the Puget Sound than Tacoma,” Van Pelt says. “Tacoma is a much bigger city than what I was going for, but growing up here, you spend a lot of time driving through these little coastal towns, and they just pop up out of nowhere. They’re kind of hidden because of cliffs and things.
“I wanted that feeling, that this town be an island unto itself. Which raises the claustrophobia and tension, and all the wonderful things we love to have in a good story.”
Olivia Newman, the director of “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” also found herself drawing from Washington State as inspiration while she adapted Van Pelt’s novel into the screenplay for the film.
“When I was writing a draft of the script, I went up to Port Townsend just to be near the Sound and be able to see the mountains, and be in that dreary, gloomy, wet atmosphere,” Newman told The News Tribune. “So I sort of had Port Townsend in mind when I was writing the script.”
The movie wasn’t filmed in Washington. It was filmed entirely on location in a town called Deep Cove, British Columbia.
“We had to shoot in Canada because it’s cheaper with the tax incentives. We would love to have worked in Washington, but it was much cheaper to film in Canada,” Newman said.
The production had a local location manager who took them scouting for the perfect house for Tova, the main character played by Sally Field, through all the small towns on the coast of British Columbia.
“The house had to be charming and not feel too big, and ideally be on the water, close to the shore or bay,” Newman said.
Newman fell in love with a house she spotted while driving around in a scout van and had the location manager track down the owner. The homeowner wasn’t interested in filming at first.
They looked at several other houses, but nothing would suit Newman except that house. Finally, the homeowner agreed, and Newman got her perfect location.
“I didn’t want to waste my visual effects money on anything other than the octopus. So the location had to be right,” she said.
In Los Angeles, movies often film exteriors on location and then build interiors on stages due to logistical issues with filming equipment. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” filmed everything at the Deep Cove house, much to the chagrin of the director of photography, Ashley Connor (who is in charge of all the camera equipment).
“It was much smaller inside than a soundstage, of course, and had a lot of wood,” Newman recalled. “Too much wood. The director of photography actually got a splinter in her eyeball.”
Newman couldn’t recall exactly how Connor managed to get a splinter in her eyeball but was sure it had something to do with how small the home was and how much wood it had.
Van Pelt says she loves Tacoma, but the Northwest will likely not be a recurring theme in her books. She lives with her husband in Chicago and set her new novel in the Midwest.
“I’m trying to write about all the places I’ve lived,” she says.
Van Pelt’s new book does feature an animal, though she wouldn’t disclose what kind, only saying it’s not an octopus.
As for her review of Newman’s adaptation of her book, Van Pelt says she: “Loves, loves, loves it.” That was three “loves,” by the way. Exactly the number of hearts an octopus has.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures” is out now on Netflix, and stars Sally Field and Lewis Pullman in the lead roles, with Alfred Molina as the voice of Marcellus.
“Alfred Molina’s voice was so wonderful for Marcellus; it was a great blend of world-weary and cranky, but also warm and kind. It was perfect,” Van Pelt said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Tacoma-born writer’s latest story, narrated by an octopus, debuts on Netflix."
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