Philip John (born in Newport,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

) is a director and screenwriter. He is the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of his own production company, Orange River Ltd, named after the River Ebbw, which, in the 1960s, was one of the most polluted waterways in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Early life and education

John played bass with

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band called Reptile Ranch. Along with Spike Reptile, Simon Smith and Andrew Tucker, he founded Z-Block Records, a non profit-making collective releasing records by fellow

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

-based DIY bands, including the

Young Marble Giants Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was ...

. John also ran a musicians collective at the seminal Grassroots Cafe on Charles Street in Cardiff. John left the music business "following an ill-fated busking-trip to Paris with nine-piece kazoo band performing Motown numbers." A graduate of

Newport Film School Newport Film School, also known as The International Film School Wales, was part of Newport School of Art, Media and Design at the University of Wales, Newport. It was considered the leading institution for the promotion and development of the au ...

(formerly part of the

University of Wales, Newport The University of Wales, Newport ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd), was a university based in Newport, South Wales, before the merger that formed the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university had two campuses in Newport, Caerle ...

, now the

University of South Wales The University of South Wales ( cy, Prifysgol De Cymru) is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wa ...

Film

On leaving film school, John made a further three short films under various schemes. ''Sixteen Ounces'' was made as part of an in-house BBC Wales scheme. BBC Wales and Sgrin Cymru collaborated on ''Welsh Rarebits'', which produced John's controversial and BAFTA-nominated short film ''Suckerfish''. John's final post graduation short ''Sister Lulu'' was made under the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

/Sgrin Cymru's Screen Gems. Both ''Suckerfish'' and ''Sister Lulu'' went on to win international festival prizes, including selection by NEW DIRECTIONS Y2K who sponsored a trip to New York and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

for the 'best new UK directors'.

Television

John's television drama work includes ''Murphy's Law'', Channel 4 feature-length comedy ''

Wedding Belles ''Wedding Belles'' is a Scottish-based British television drama film first broadcast on Channel 4 on 29 March 2007. Plot ''Wedding Belles'' centres around four young women struggling with personal issues, while preparing to throw one of their ...

'' written by

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

and

Dean Cavanagh Dean Cavanagh is a screenwriter, novelist and Playwright born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. In 1990, at the height of the acid house scene, he founded the club culture magazine ''Herb Garden'' and a band with Enzo Annecchini. His electronic m ...

and primetime series like '' Being Human'', for which he gained a BAFTA nomination as Best Director, '' Ashes To Ashes'' and ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States o ...

''. Philip's recent credits include ''

Crossing Lines ''Crossing Lines'' is a German-French-Italian-American action crime thriller television series created by Edward Allen Bernero and Rola Bauer. The series premiered on June 9, 2013, at the screening for the Opening Ceremonies of the 53rd editi ...

'', '' Spotless'' and four episodes of the Starz/

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

series '' Outlander''.

References

External links

*https://www.youtube.com/user/PhilipJohnReel *
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Philip Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Welsh film directors Alumni of the University of Wales, Newport