John Lee

I began writing short stories and taking photographs when I was seven years old. Before I graduated high school in 1997, I had won two Editor's Choice Awards for Poetry and was accepted as a Distinguished Member to the International Society of Poets. In 1999 I accepted that I would not be able to support myself (let alone a family) writing poetry and by October of 2000, I had begun filming interviews I wrote and conducted for a documentary on the history and culture of Electronic Dance Music Culture (then titled, 'Movement'). Boy George (formerly of The Culture Club) was instrumental in getting my name out and catching the attention of HBO. By 2002, that project folded but led me directly into my first original screenplay, 'Blackline'.

Between 2010 and 2012, I wrote, directed, produced, shot, edited and scored eight short films for my demo reel, 'Polarizedentropy'. One of the shorts was a Stephen King 'Dollar Baby' adaptation of the short story, "Night Surf." There was also a trailer and a prequel to Blackline (comprised of deleted scenes) in the reel. The design was to give the impression of watching a fictional tv station, 'Channel 3JV'. Polarizedentropy also included a 'Rise' a drama focused on an attempt to rebuild the government after a zombie apocalypse (in three acts of 15-20 minutes each), station IDs, commercials for fictitious products and news updates about a societal collapse in the face of a viral outbreak.

Over forty actors (many of whom made a living as actors) graciously worked on my reel free of charge. Nearly all of them also put in copious amounts of time, effort, insight, patience - not to mention financing - it was a life-changing experience when they explained the would do it because they loved my writing and vision for how to shoot and assemble it. One of the biggest hurdles was teaching myself Final Cut Pro 7; a feat which did little to expedite the post-production process. The entire reel was shot on Canon T2i, T3i and 60D DSLRs. The primary lenses were a 10-24mm, an 18-200mm and an 18-55mm. Locations included Ocean City, Washington DC, Bethesda, New York and Fairfax.

In 2011, the research for Blackline went through a kind of mitosis and the non-fiction aspects became a documentary about how society would be affected by Nanotechnology; the cure for cancer, natural life extension, physical enhancements and more. 'The Posthuman Condition' got me back onto HBO's radar and I am currently in pre-production on a new version of the project for their documentary films department which is less technical and aimed at a much wider audience.

I have copyrighted over twenty original screenplays with the Library of Congress and am currently preparing a second demo reel which will follow the 'Channel 3JV' format. In April, I will be serving as Assistant Producer, Director of Photography and possibly editor on a short film by a Canadian filmmaker.