Paul Ian Johnson

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).