John E. Johnson(1957-2008)
- Actor
- Casting Department
John's first break came while he was having lunch with a friend in
Wilmington, NC. John overheard an assistant producer discussing the
need for more extras on a film being done there, Simple Justice,
starring Andre Braugher, Samuel L. Jackson and James Avery.
Interrupting their conversation John talked his way into a featured
extra role playing a court reporter, photographer and spectator. He was
also a casting assistant for the independent movie This Train. John has
gone on to write numerous screenplays (To No Avail, The True Life
Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Fish, The Last Time I Saw Eve, Christmas on
Jane Street) and radio dramas, and eventually formed the American
Screenwriters Association(ASA). Leading the charge for emerging
screenwriters, John built the ASA into a 1,300 plus member organization
with members in thirty-two countries on four continents in 939 cities.
ASA now runs the longest running and premier screenwriting conference
in the world, the ASA International Screenwriters Conference, offers an
industry-leading International Screenplay Competition with more than
1,200 entries a year, and initiated the Screenwriting Hall of Fame
Awards honoring individuals who have made contributions to the art of
screenwriting. He was invited by the International Bar Association to
be a panelist at the 57th Festival de Cannes discussing adapting
literary works into screenplay, and was a featured speaker at the Les
Journées du scénario à Marseille ("Days of the Scenario in
Marseilles")in Marseille, France. John has also taught at the Austin
Film Festival, the Marco Island Film Festival, Baltimore Writer's
Conference, the Midwest Music and Film Conference and the Waterfront
Film Festival, and is a Second Decade Council member of the American
Film Institute (AFI). He has appeared on CNN International as a speaker
on Racism in Hollywood, and has been featured in various trade
publications and newspapers such as Screenwriting Secrets (Writers
Digest), Script, Honolulu Star Bulletin and Creative
Screenwriting.