VFX/Director/Writer/Professor, MFA @VCFA | Severance S2, Alpha Gang, Chasing Summer, Hocus Pocus 2, A Ghost Story, Native Son, One & Two. Former college 🏀
Joined October 2010
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I got into this industry because I wanted to write and direct, but for the last 20 years, I’ve built my career working as a Visual Effects Supervisor and artist to pay the bills. Just a few months ago, I received Emmy honors for my work on Severance as a VFX artist, and I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with incredible filmmakers over the years on 29 feature films, including 7 Sundance films. However, this fellowship is by far the most meaningful achievement in my career. For the last eight years, I’ve made a continuous effort to focus more on telling my own stories. I earned my MFA in Screenwriting from @vcfafilm in 2021, and I’ve been quietly writing as much as I can. I have so many stories I want to share with the world. As I often tell my students, I believe that working relentlessly hard and approaching life with kindness will pay off. I work hard every day to improve my craft, and having my work recognized through this fellowship is so incredibly validating. To see my writing resonate with readers means everything. A big thanks to all my supporters and collaborators. 💻🎥🙌🏽 #screenwriting #filmmaking
Josh Johnson retweeted
We made a Sci-Fi #climatechange short film. It means that much more to me now that I’m a dad.
It’s now available for free on Crafty.
Give it a watch. Please share it with someone it may resonate with 🌎 🌳.
youtu.be/XtYYGgRu11A
Teaching my Unreal Engine for a filmmaker’s class again this semester. I love seeing my students progress, and I also love that teaching lets me continue my learning journey alongside them. I’ve been working for a while trying to get a stop motion look in @UnrealEngine #animation
Josh Johnson retweeted
OK Screenwriters -- Get ready for this post - it's a doozy! But please read and save yourself from wasting your money...
First - an important update and correction on my tweet: I was wrong! Gareth below is correct. The SBIFF has nothing to do with the contest I named!
But upon further investigation, I realized there is a large & specific subset of Screenwriting Contests that IMO are ALL UTTER BULLSHIT (even by contest standards). These are online contests that use respected Film Festival names and locations to make their money grab contests SEEM legit - but they are not! There is NO Connection. The following Contests are not connected to ANY film fests or cities. The laurels mean nothing. You win nothing. You are up against nobodies.
DO NOT ENTER THESE CONTESTS:
Santa Barbara Int'l Screenplay Awards
Berlin International Screenplay Festival
Atlanta International Screenplay Awards
Palm Springs International Screenplay Awards
Los Angeles International Script Competition
And probably many others...
But we're not done! I had a sneaking suspicion due to their names & entries that ALL or many of these contests might be run by the same company... and I was right! All of the contests above - except for the Berlin Contest (I couldnt find info) - are owned and run by....
Butterfly Beach Media Inc.
Which also runs World's Fastest Screenplay Contest, Where Hollywood Hides, and god knows what other services.
Butterfly Beach Media Inc is a private company run by washed up screenwriter Bob McCullough, who has had 1 TV series credit since 1998.
The judges for many of these seem to be all of his old tv buddies & former exec friends, who im sure make a nice little sum for all their "reading expertise." In other words - no one that can help your career.
Of course all contests are subjective and writers need to do their due diligence, but these feel like a targeted effort to mislead & confuse writers into thinking they are prestigious contests connected to film fests. And at quick glance, you wouldnt know they're not. It fooled ME and I have been doing this for 23yrs. So I can only imagine what newbie writers might think.
SO many writers - clients of mine - whose scripts I KNOW are not contest-ready yet have advanced in these contests. I was already suspicious. But Gareth's tweet pulled it all together for me and I went digging. So that YOU can beware and stop entering bullshit contests that cannot and will not help you or your career! There are some very worthwhile contests out there, but IMO these are not them.
Good luck everyone, I hope this is helpful. And that's no bull. 😉
So happy I have a movie buddy now! One of my dreams as a dad was to have a kid I could take to the movies and teach them all about film, and just art in general. Just fills my heart with so much joy. Our 4th movie together 🥰. Nothing beats cinema in a theater! @Marcus_Theatres
Our short film is live on YouTube. Please give it a watch and share it with someone it may resonate with! Link below #shortfilm #climatechange
We made a Sci-Fi #climatechange short film. It means that much more to me now that I’m a dad.
It’s now available for free on Crafty.
Give it a watch. Please share it with someone it may resonate with 🌎 🌳.
youtu.be/XtYYGgRu11A
Josh Johnson retweeted
Bassam Tariq's YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER is unquestionably one of the year's great action movies and features Mahershala Ali's best performance since MOONLIGHT.
My review via @Screendaily
screendaily.com/reviews/your…
Absolute treasure trove. Thank you, @GoIntoTheStory!
I didn't attend film school, so when I broke into the business, I devoured every screenwriting interview I could find. That's why I've conducted 100s of Go Into The Story interviews with screenwriters and Hollywood professionals. gointothestory.blcklst.com/g… #screenwriting
Josh Johnson retweeted
I also have a fresh Telluride dispatch via @ebertvoices, which includes reviews of the Zellners' zany ALPHA GANG, Guy Nattiv's family cult film THE LIBERATION, and the oddball Dostoevsky biopic THE IDIOT(S)
rogerebert.com/festivals/tel…
This was a fun one to work on! #filmmaking #vfx
EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: Cate Blanchett stars in ‘Alpha Gang,’ David and Nathan Zellner’s new film that imagines the very curious, mild-mannered invasion of aliens posing as a biker gang in 1950s Eastern Europe.
The film also stars Léa Seydoux, Lily-Rose Depp, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Riley Keough, Doona Bae and Dave Bautista as the group of newly arrived aliens working out the basics of human existence while proceeding with their vague mission of conquest. What is it to listen to music? What is this strange civil war going on just outside their lair’s walls? Is it possible one of them is falling in love?
“I thought it would be funny if it’s an invasion movie all from their perspective, and they have really no idea how to accomplish that goal,” Nathan says.
Read THR’s exclusive feature on ‘Alpha Gang,’ which is premiering Friday at the Telluride Film Festival: bit.ly/4xySSOB
Josh Johnson retweeted
𝗣𝗛𝗙𝗫 | 𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗟𝗦, 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲. Filmmakers, VFX artists, Game Devs and Photographers. I have a secret. For a while, I have been working on a full redesign of PHFX.com, which includes my free-to-use and shareable interactive tools.
The big focus was to go away from my classic query/submit architecture in exchange for responsive and real-time tools. I had been tinkering with for a while working on some new tools. There are now 20 tools with more interoperability between each other. Specifically Format Compare, Shot Prep, Lens Prep, and Shot Stage are very useful for motion picture professionals.
Fully new design for Sensort Chart, now called Format Chart, which is more correct with more bespoke custom charts beyond all current formats starting witb dedicated RED, ARRI, ans KODAK formats.
I've continued my support for filmmakers and photographers working with film as well with Film Footage Calculator and the new Film Format Guide. And of course, motion and stills formats are found elsewhere as well.
Side note. PHFX.com has been online since I was a teenager. It's gone through lots of design updates/changes as the internet and technology has evolved. This was a massive undertaking that of managing over 300,000 files, some that have been hosted since the 1990s. At the end of my last shoot I commited hard to making the switchover happen. Sleep was sparse. I've chopped that file count down to 1/3rd. More to come, but it's live for all to use.
Thank you for the support and those who opted to buy me a coffee over the years via the link. PHFX | TOOLS remains free for all to use, no ads, no sponsors to help simplify and clarify the fast changing world of camera, lens, and lighting technology.
Just a reminder, everyone! 🤞 #screenwriting
🚨 DUE TONIGHT! Apply to the Screenwriting Lab to develop your fiction feature screenplay over two weeks through individualized story and career development, meetings with film industry veterans and a pitch to industry executives.
✍ Submit NOW: bit.ly/FiScreenwritingLab
#FilmIndependent #screenwriters #filmindustry
ALT Promotional graphic announcing Film Independent Screenwriting Lab with application deadlines — Non‑Member Deadline Aug 31 and Member Deadline Sep 14 — set over layered concentric green circles.
Josh Johnson retweeted
“AI-generated imagery is not photography and it never can be. Not because it lacks beauty or power, but because it lacks origin. Photography isn’t threatened by AI-generated imagery any more than it’s threatened by any other type of art. That’s because photography, by definition, remains uniquely tethered to reality. And that tether is not a limitation. It’s the whole point.”
Read more: richardbernabe.substack.com/…
Josh Johnson retweeted
Particles are supposed to be the fun part.
Today we're revealing Entropy, a modern particle instrument for After Effects built for fast feedback, directable motion, and work you can keep changing.
Public beta opens the week of August 24.
Join us at wildconstruct.com and give us a follow @wildconstructco
A mandatory watch! Such an excellent and emotional short film. Proves you can do a lot in a very short amount of time, and you don't need a million dollars. I showed it to teenagers at my summer screenwriting camp a few years ago. They were moved by it, too.
We made a short film about getting two more minutes with the mom I’d lost twenty years earlier.
It’s now available for free on Crafty. ANY ad revenue generated goes directly to the filmmakers which we, in turn, will give to our crew.
Give it a watch. Share it with someone it may resonate with. 👻🚛
youtu.be/7Euhs77bPJM
