Born in 1973 in East London, Gerard Johnson has always had a passion and ambition for cinema.
After years of dead end jobs he finally entered the industry as a commercials runner, but found more regular work at a post-production company. It was here that he was able to develop his ideas and make
short films completely independently, learning all he could in the process.

With actor and cousin Peter Ferdinando, Gerard created his first short film called Lone Man. From here a creative partnership was formed, which would be built upon throughout all his future projects.

Gerard's next short, Mug, won the Big Issue Film Festival award 2004, was distributed by Brit Shorts and caught the attention of BAFTA winning writer/producer Paul Abbott. Gerard then created a new character and filmed it with Peter, some friends and a hundred quid over one weekend. The short
was to be called Tony. On seeing the first cut, Paul Abbott suggested they turn the character into a feature film, which he wanted to produce through his new talent focused company, Abbott Vision.

After an intense six month casting and rehearsal process, Tony was shot around the East End with Abbott Vision and the UK Film Council financing.

Officially selected for Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2009 on the strength of a DVD fine cut,
Tonywas awarded the completion funding needed for it to be theatrically released.

Gerard currently has several new ideas in various stages of development including The Trainer; Barking (with Paul Abbott) and Hyena.

Tony (Writer/Director)
Thu 18 June: 22:00 FILMHOUSE 2