John E. Johnson

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.