John Hoernschemeyer

A writer and producer of features, series and documentaries, John is Co-Managing Partner of the German production company 'Penned Pictures''. As a Producer, John began his involvement in the film industry by participating in the development and production of a number of shorts, including the award-winning drama, 'Fragile Storm', starring Lance Henriksen, before venturing into the production of features and creating Penned Pictures. Among his recent projects, he produced the New Zealand based documentary 'There's a Hole in My Bucket', narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, and involving Oscar winning director, Peter Jackson, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, and Oscar winning SFX/VFX studio Weta Workshop. His current projects include the feature 'In a Heartbeat', the authorized biopic of British singer/songwriter Chris Norman and his rock band Smokie, and 'Villa Aurora' with Malcolm McDowell. In October 2019, John was a member of the German delegation of film professionals that visited China in anticipation of the signature of a co-production treaty between the two countries. As a screenwriter, John won the Louis Mitchell Award for his thriller 'Chilling Truths' at the 2015 Action on Film Film Festival in Los Angeles. In 2016, his Tokyo based drama feature 'Mujo' was one of six international projects chosen for the Capalbio Future Storyteller Lab in Italy, with mentorship from Colin Trevorrow, director/writer of Jurassic World, before being subsequently selected to represent the Lab at the MIA International Audiovisual Market of the 2016 Rome Film Festival. More recently, John's historical Chinese Drama 'Torn Silk' was one of nine European projects selected for the 4th Sino-European Project Lab, an immersive international workshop and think-tank for Sino-European co-productions, held in both China and Europe. Another of John's interests, the exploration of innovative story formats and cross-media technologies, resulted in the development of the German/US transmedia mystery series 'Lostfriesland'. Destined for the mobile generation, it explores interactive storytelling through the use of multiple media platforms, and VR technologies, immersing the audience in the story. The unique concept aroused such interest in Germany that the German TV channel NDR filmed the 'making of' the proof of concept teaser.