John Ainslie

John is a 2020 Academy Nicholl Fellowship Semi-Finalist for his feature screenplay SHE CAME KNOCKING. Another of his screenplays, TRESPASS made the 2nd round at the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Contest the same year. John's first feature was the horror/comedy JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER. His screenplay was nominated for a Fangoria Chainsaw Award and the film premiered at Sitges International Film Festival where it won Best Midnight Film before screening at Fantasia and selling to Anchor Bay at Slamdance. In 2012, John attended Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Centre Writer's Lab where he wrote the short film COLD FEET that screened numerous festivals including Fantasia and sold to AMC-IFC Networks. In 2014 John wrote and directed his first feature film - the award winning THE SUBLET. "One of the most effective psychological horror films of the decade." (horrorgeeklife.com). It premiered at Whistler Film Festival and won the awards for Best Actress and Best Cinematography at Blood in the Snow Film Festival in Toronto. John followed that up with the intense thriller short SHE CAME KNOCKING. It was awarded Best Short at the Canadian Film Festival in Toronto where it premiered. It also won Best Short and Best Actress from the NSI Online Film Festival as well as a Platinum Remi at WorldFest-Houston and an Audience Choice Award in his home town of Miami at the FilmGate NOLA Film Festival. Prior to writing, John won the Borsos prize of Best Cinematographer at the Whistler Film Festival for his work on the feature SK8 LIFE, which also screened at Sundance.