Russell Johnson - Writer - Director
RUSSELL JOHNSON is from Lexington, KY. After a short stint in Los Angeles, CA as a musician back in the late eighties, he began his career in graphic art and design working for an international publishing house in Lexington, KY. He went back to school in the late nineties, taking writing classes at the University of Kentucky and began writing the first of his screenplays.

In February of 2001, Russell teamed up with David Cottingham at Twenty One Productions as a writer and director. His first project was a short film entitled CLOSURE which played at 2 local film festivals as well as the 2002 Hollywood Underground Film festival in Los Angeles.

He next set out to shoot his first feature length film, entitled THE MIDNIGHT which was released in early 2003. Other credits include; directing 3 shorts, FOREVER THERE (co-director), IN PASSING and a Star Wars fan film, THE UNKNOWN DISCOVERY, which received many viewings and favorable reviews on both Triggerstreet.com and iFilm.com. He was also a cowriter and executive producer for A SECOND MORE. He has several local production credits working as a production assistant and camera operator.

12 STEPS NOWHERE is the film that Russell has the most excitement for since he began writing and directing 4 years ago. The story about one man’s fight to overcome addiction and win back his one true love, finished shooting in early 2004. Russell says, “This film is the best we have made to date. We are using all our knowledge gained from our past films and incorporating a lot more editing techniques we have never used in the past. I believe I have really started to hit my stride as a storyteller and film maker with 12 STEPS.”