Meet Anthony Johns | Content Producer & Creative Technologist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony Johns and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I’ve always tried to approach risk as opportunity, not something to fear. I think there are times to be iterative and build more slowly, but then there are times where we have to sort of embrace the unknown out there and take some shots. One of the things I like about the freelance world so much is that I often get to settle into a project for several weeks or months and that’s where it’s usually head down with laser focus, but it’s the time in-between projects that really feels exploratory. That’s when I feel free to travel, dive into new hobbies, and pursue new business. For me, it always goes back to asking the question of if I’m thinking about an opportunity in the short term or long term and trying to ideally get those two different worlds to meet and that means considering different levels of risk aversion at different time scales. I’m a big believer in my white board. I put goals and todo’s that are both short term and long term oriented and it’s always amazing to see how what seem like distant foggy long term goals come into focus over time. They become real, actionable. These days, I’d say I’m trying to approach things more from the place that overall in life we have everything to gain.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My career has been anything but straightforward or linear, but that’s part of what’s made it so exciting. I graduated with a film degree from Temple University in Philadelphia and for a while, didn’t really have a clear direction. I spent a few years in Philadelphia after school doing music and working doing tech support for a few universities. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC in 2017 that I felt my career really opened up and came more into focus. I sort of just took a shot and moved to NYC and stared applying for various post production jobs, eventually ending up at Vice, where I worked on Vice News Tonight (HBO) for a bit, which was a great launching point. I meet some friends there I still talk to today and it was cool to be a part of that wave. From there, I worked with multiple agencies in Brooklyn and LA, settling into Editing for a few years. I then teamed up with Cameron Mitchell in 2022 to edit Elsa, a short PBS doc on DeafBlind fencer, hiker, published author Elsa Sjunneson, which took us to Edmonton, LA, and Slamdance in the festival circuit. That was a lot of fun and opened up the possibility of exploring long form in the future. I’m always trying to find the synergy of my core experiences and integrated them in new ways — there’s the technical and organization stuff, and then there’s the more purely creative stuff and I’m always interested how those words intersect. These days I’m interested in levering my creative edit experience with project management and producing work.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
NYC is such a vibrant city, that it’s hard to NOT do something. There are so many amazing bars and restaurants in the city.Some of my favorite bars to take friends and collaborators alike to are in Brooklyn — Covenhoven, Bar Meridian, Brooklyn social — to name a few. I love cozy bars that are conducive to good bar conversations. But I would actually say though that it’s nature upstate that I find the most inspiring these days. There’re beautiful trails and preserves up the Hudson and further north that I find are great for reflecting and processing some of your ideas. I’m a big believer that the body and the mind have to get in sync and I find nature hikes to be one of the best ways to align them. Those hikes are sacred to me and one of my secret creative tools.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to Shoutout my friend and artist Jess Meoni, of Scranton, PA. Jess has always been active in the arts and events scene in Scranton, and she’s been an inspiration to what’s possible with persistence. Jess has championed my film photography since we were in high school, and it’s always a reminder to keep believing in and doing what you want to do. These days, you can find Jess busy with her graphic design projects for brands, organizing local arts events, or playing shows with her band. Her expression amongst an eclectic and diverse range of creative outlets is a good reminder to not just get tunnel vision with one medium, but to play around and keep discovering new forms of expression that may in fact supercharge our other forms of expression.

Website: www.anthonyjohns.info

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthonyrjohns

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyjohns/