Shields earned his Bachelor's of Science degree, Telecommunications & Film, from San Diego State University in '87.
In his role as producer of over 80 films, Brent has successfully adapted for television such classic works as William Faulkner's Old Man, Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native, Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost as well as contemporary works by such acclaimed writers as August Wilson, John Grisham, Pat Conroy, Anne Tyler, Richard Paul Evans, E.L. Konigsburg, and Norman McLean.
And he helmed the 2007 season's highest-rated television film The Valley of Light starring Chris Klein and Gretchen Mol.
Brent has worked with such noted artists as Kathy Bates, Cuba Gooding Jr., Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Laura Linney, Gary Sinise, Sissy Spacek, Jessica Tandy, Alfre Woodard, James Woods, Sam Elliott, Judy Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, Andy Garcia, William Hurt, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Garner, Clive Owen, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alicia Keys, Christopher Lloyd, Julia Stiles, Odette Annable, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Alexis Bledel.
His credits include The Makeover (an update of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion), A Smile as Big as the Moon,[7][8] Firelight, Brush with Fate,[9][10] Christmas with Holly, and Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith.