Jon Ellison

 Just recently, I've entered one of my short films into a monthly film festival known as Lift-Off Sessions. The film is one which I made just a few years ago. It was shot in my hometown, Leicester, and partially in association with Seven/Five Productions, which was then a collective of independent filmmakers across the county of Leicestershire. I was recommended Lift-Off Sessions by a friend of mine who I knew through Seven/Five when he told me about it during a screening at a festival in Coalville. At the time, that very same film I was referring to was being screened there. For those of you who don't know, Lift-Off Sessions is an online monthly film festival based at Pinewood Studios. What happens is that they screen each film that has been entered on Vimeo for a certain period of time and provides the audience an opportunity to cast their votes, whichever film gets the most votes also gets shown at the Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival. All that have been entered are scree...

 Hello everybody, before I start, just a little update; the script that I submitted to Wiki: The World's Fastest Screenplay Contest had entered the quarter finals and has since been labelled as an Honourable Mention. So my next step shall be to try and get the script submitted to a film production company. As some readers may know, a few months ago, I achieved a masters degree in Creative Writing. Through my early posts, I mentioned that I mostly write film scripts. That being said, each of us had to write an essay about meeting one of our favourite writers. It was pretty much more like a story than an essay and the project itself didn't exactly have to be true. Some of us eventually made up our stories.  I originally thought about writing about how I met Shane Rimmer at the National Space Centre in Leicester, but it was hard to think about what to write around it. Eventually I decided to eventually write about how I "met Quentin Tarantino" instead. Just to point out ...

Just over two months ago, I mentioned that one of my screenplays won the Best Script Award for Screenplay Written For Children (March 2021). It hasn't exactly gotten to the next stage of the submission process - basically, the organisation picks certain screenplays from the general monthly category and decides which one is the best screenplay of the year. However, the award I received is enough to be proud of. The story doesn't stop there. This is because the very same screenplay I submitted for Best Script Award has just recently been selected for Wiki: The World's Fastest Screenplay Contest. For those of you who don't know, Wiki: The World's Fastest Screenplay Contest is an organisation that holds international screenwriting competitions and is based in California, USA. More information can be found on the following link:  https://www.wikiscreenplaycontest.com . Sometime afterwards, I do plan to start submitting my screenplay to certain film companies. Another upd...

 Hello readers, sorry for not posting anything last month. I've been busy. Plus, I did post quite a lot the month before. I came across this petition recently, which I think is worth signing. Apparently, the Government intends to impose a catastrophic 50% funding cut to arts subjects at higher education level in England. Through the guidance letter, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, has had this to say; "The OfS should reprioritise funding towards the provision of high-cost, high-value subjects … We would then potentially seek further reductions in future years." This 50% cut could jeopardise the future of the UK Arts and for those who want a career in th creative arts. So far, this petition has had 153,224 signatures, but the more signatures this petition gets, the merrier. Arts education matters a lot to the future and no less than education in other sectors. As was always stated; Education is a right, not a privilege. The link to the petition is displayed belo...

Earlier in March, I submitted one of my feature film scripts to two film festivals, one of them which is Best Script Award based in London. I write this article as a follow-up to the progress with some good news. I've heard back from the Best Script Award and I'm pleased to confirm that my film has won an award for Best Film Awards - Screenplay For Children (Feature), March 2021. So basically, this film is called Thrill House and focuses on a working-class family who enter a game show whilst on a fight for survival. As a matter of fact, the script won me another award a few years back - Achievement in Writing 2017 which was presented by Seven/Five Productions. So this award makes it my second. I display an image of my certificate, plus a link to a list of the Monthly Winners for March 2021. https://files.vlastnawebstranka.websupport.sk/60/40/60400eca-c853-4fb8-a22e-9ef2745dea36.pdf

Displayed below is a link to my online portfolio. It showcases some of the films and videos I was involved in production for. My roles for each project have varied including as a writer, camera operator, editor, sound recordist, runner, etc. https://jonellison.portfoliobox.net

 Hello blog readers. So, here's a bit of news. I have submitted one of my feature film scripts to a couple of festivals. One is the Best Script Award festival which is based in London, England, and runs on a monthly basis. The other is the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards festival. The film is a family adventure drama. Without giving too much away on what the film is about, I'll put it this way; it includes a working-class family, a TV game show, and sabotage. I first began developing the idea five years ago and also submitted the script as part of my dissertation. I guess I should talk about some of the family movies which influenced my writing. Not all of them have influenced just this one project of mine in particular, but are most likely to serve as influences for other projects as well. Some of the influences are very loose. I must warn readers that there may be spoilers. Also, this list is in no particular order. Films Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory ...