Published: http://north-west-news.whereilive.com.au/news/story/greg-shaw-in-comedy-series/ | AAP

BRISBANE: Keith Urban’s former manager Greg Shaw is drawing on his experiences with the country star to script a comedy series.
Shaw managed Urban for all but 12 months from 1986-2000, and since returning to Brisbane he has been the tour manager for US song writing legend Burt Bacharach and 70s soul star Roberta Flack.
Yet behind the scenes, while steering Urban to stardom, Shaw has been trying to erect indie comedy series RockDogs with Brisbane animator and web designer Martin Hill.
“It was originally claymation, but it was too expensive to fund so we changed to having comedians playing the RockDogs,” Shaw told AAP.
“I was working on this while I was with Keith.”
The first of five “webisodes” of RockDogs premiers on http://www.rockdogs.com.au on October 2.
Shaw said the story line for future shows would be heavily based on his experiences with Urban and the people he met during his time managing the country star.
“There will be lots of Keith Urban stories coming out in RockDogs,” Shaw told AAP.
“It will be riddled with most of my experiences with Keith Urban and the other bands and people I met who gave me scenarios of situations.”
Shaw said more than $100,000 had been spent developing the series over 17 years, mainly because they were obsessed with clay animation.
In the end the first five episodes were shot over two days using local comedians working pro bono in a Brisbane house earmarked for demolition.
Shaw and Hill have even devised a board game based on the series about managing a band.
As for his time with Urban, Shaw said he had no regrets about parting ways with Queenslander just as he hit the big time in 2000.
He said they mutually split in 1998 when Urban took on US management, although they teamed up again 12 months later under strenuous circumstances when the artist entered rehab for drug use.
“I left Keith’s management the first time and bowed out as I said I would never stand in the way of his career,” Shaw said.
“So I bowed out and came home and Miles Copeland took over. Miles Copeland was managing Sting, The Police and also managed the Go-Gos.
“Twelve months later when Keith ended up in rehab, I quit both my jobs here and went back to America to take up management with Keith once again.
“That’s when I said: `We’re working six days a week and I am hanging around until I get you No.1 because we came to America with the belief that you are a superstar’.”
One webisode of RockDogs will be released each Friday during October.