Paul Ian Johnson
- Redação
- Produção
- Roteiro e continuidade
Former British Council communications director, Paul Ian Johnson
abandoned a 15-year marketing career in 2006 to pursue a driving
ambition to write movies. Within three months, his Law & Order spec
episode "Malicious Intent" saw him named the only non-US semi-finalist
in the TV Drama category at the 2006 Austin Film & TV Festival. In
2007, Paul became the first African screenwriter to make the Top 10 at
Francis Ford Coppola's American
Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, when a judging panel headed by director
Gus Van Sant selected his first feature
screenplay The Last Marine, an Alaska-set modern-day Western. Later
that year, Paul became, at that time, the highest-ever placed South
African for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' prestigious
Nicholl Fellowship, when he was named a semi-finalist for A Tin Of
Paint (a feat repeated two years later with his Congo genocide script,
In The Garden Of The King). A judging panel chaired by
Francis Ford Coppola selected A Tin
of Paint into the Top 10 for the 6th American Zoetrope Screenplay
Contest, making Paul the only emerging writer to make the Zoetrope Top
10 twice. In The Garden Of The King also earned top placement in the
Script Pipeline screenplay contest, a result that led to the conclusion
of a Hollywood option on The Last Marine in 2009. In 2007, Paul's first
stage play, False Witness, won Best Play at the Western Cape Festival
of Contemporary Theatre and was later also Joint Winner at the
PANSA / NLDTF National Festival of Contemporary Theatre Readings,
earning warm critical praise, as well as the coveted Audience Award.
Paul's 13-episode TV series, Malicious Intent, was selected for
development by Telkom Media, before the telecomms giant's financial
difficulties caused it to dissolve its broadcasting subsidiary. Paul
has quickly become one of South Africa's most sought-after
screenwriters, with a number of local and international projects housed with
leading South African, UK and US production companies, including a recent Academy Award-winning producer. His contract for
Winnie Mandela, a project he subsequently left, was at the time a record deal
for a first-time South African screenwriter. A 2011 feature film deal
with a South African production company is rumored to be a record
amount for a South African screenplay contract. One of South Africa's busiest screenwriters, his projects
include a 3D animation feature with writer-director Wayne Thornley (Adventures in Zambezia)
and historical dramas with producer Michael S. Murphey (Dredd 3D;
District 9) and Talent Film & TV UK. Paul recently worked with South African filmmaker
Khalo Matabane on a film adaptation of
Jonny Steinberg's award-winning book on prison gangs, The Number. In 2015, Paul delivered a conspiracy thriller and a rom-com for US producer Milan Selassie (Back To School Mom) and received 2016 development funding from South Africa's National Film & Video Foundation for his apartheid-era courtroom drama, A Simple Matter Of Conviction. Paul's 13-episode boxing drama series, JAB, co-created with producer Lucilla Blankenberg, broadcasts from February 2016 on SABC 1, South Africa's highest-viewership TV channel. In March 2016, Paul won the Writers Guild Of South Africa's prestigious WGSA Muse Award for Outstanding Achievement in TV Drama Screenwriting (for JAB).
