American filmmaker and voice actor
Philip Johnston
(born October 26, 1971) is an American filmmaker and voice actor, best known as one of the writers for the
Walt Disney Animation Studios
films
Wreck-It Ralph
(2012),
Zootopia
(2016)
[1]
and
Ralph Breaks the Internet
(2018), the latter of which he directed alongside
Rich Moore
.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Johnston was born in
Minneapolis
to Beverly & William Johnston.
[2]
He was raised in
Neenah, Wisconsin
.
[3]
[4]
His father was an
Episcopal priest
.
[4]
When he was young, he received an annual pass that allowed him free entry into the
Marcus Theatres
, a Wisconsin-based theater chain, through a connection at his father's church.
[4]
Johnston is a graduate of
Neenah High School
.
[2]
He graduated from the
University of Wisconsin?Madison
in 1994 with a degree in journalism.
[5]
After graduation he worked in regional news television for nine years.
[3]
His first job was as a weatherman in
Rochester, Minnesota
despite knowing nothing about
meteorology
.
[6]
[3]
He then worked as a bureau reporter at the
Omaha, Nebraska
,
ABC
affiliate,
KETV
.
[7]
Afterwards, he transferred to
KARE
station in Minneapolis.
[8]
[4]
Johnston graduated with a
MFA
in film from
Columbia University School of the Arts' Film Program
in 2004.
[9]
He was classmates with
Jennifer Lee
, whom he later brought on to co-write
Wreck-It Ralph
with.
[10]
His short,
Flightless Birds
, about a community of five trying to save their town was shot in South Dakota.
[11]
After graduation, Johnston sold his first work to ABC.
[12]
The half hour comedy,
Life is Super
, is about a woman who adopts several children and subsequently turning her experience into a podcast.
[12]
Johnston optioned his first feature script to
ThinkFilm
before it went bankrupt.
[3]
Jeremy Orm Is a Pervert
is about the intersection of a preacher's career and his son's pornography business.
[3]
This was loosely based on his side hustle back in middle school selling pornographic magazines he acquired from upperclassmen to his classmates.
[6]
He managed to buy a pair of Air Jordans with the profits before eventually getting the operation shut down by his parents.
[6]
His script for
Cedar Rapids
(2011) was included in the 2009
Black List (survey)
, a list voted by members of the entertainment industry for favorite, unproduced screenplays.
[13]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Johnston met his wife,
Jill Cordes
, while working as a reporter at KETV, Nebraska, where she was a morning anchor.
[14]
While attending Columbia, he lived in Brooklyn with his wife, Jill.
[4]
He was neighbors with film critic
Christy Lemire
.
[4]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Feature films
[
edit
]
Short films
[
edit
]
Year
|
Title
|
Director
|
Writer
|
Producer
|
Film Editor
|
Other
|
Role
|
Notes
|
2004
|
A Thousand Words
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
2005
|
Two Men
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
|
|
Rupture
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Chet Rimson (Radio Announcer)
|
|
Flightless Birds
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
2007
|
Bomb
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
|
|
2013
|
Garlan Hulse: Where Potential Lives
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Garlan Hulse
|
|
2024
|
Dust Monster
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Special thanks
|
Other credits
[
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]
Awards and nominations
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Welcome to Zootopia at D23 EXPO!"
. D23. August 15, 2015.
Archived
from the original on September 20, 2015
. Retrieved
August 30,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"COMMON COUNCIL MINUTES"
(PDF)
. May 3, 2017.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on March 27, 2022
. Retrieved
December 9,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Kaufman, Anthony (July 28, 2009).
"Phil Johnston - 10 Screenwriters to Watch"
.
Variety
.
Archived
from the original on December 8, 2019
. Retrieved
December 8,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Breakfast All Day: Episode 018: A La Carte With Phil Johnston"
.
bfastallday.libsyn.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-09
. Retrieved
2019-12-09
.
- ^
"Badgerwood: Video series features UW-Madison alumni in Hollywood"
.
news.wisc.edu
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-11-08
. Retrieved
2019-11-08
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Cartoon Pyramid With Phil Johnston And Mo Willems"
.
NPR.org
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-09
. Retrieved
2019-12-09
.
- ^
Robinson, Laurann.
"Oscars Preview: What goes in to making an Oscar-winning animated film?"
. Omaha, Nebraska:
KETV
.
Archived
from the original on February 28, 2018
. Retrieved
February 27,
2018
.
- ^
"Former KARE reporter now an Oscar nominee"
.
KARE
.
Archived
from the original on 2023-07-29
. Retrieved
2019-12-10
.
- ^
"
'Green Book' by Writing Alumnus Peter Farrelly '86 Wins Three Golden Globes"
.
Columbia - School of the Arts
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-11-08
. Retrieved
2019-11-08
.
- ^
Stewart, Jill (2013-05-15).
"Jennifer Lee: Disney's New Animation Queen"
.
LA Weekly
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-11-08
. Retrieved
2019-12-08
.
- ^
Taylor Rick, Lynn (7 March 2004).
"Big Dreams in a small town"
.
Rapid City Journal Media Group
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-09
. Retrieved
2019-12-09
.
- ^
a
b
"The Bricks of Breaking In: 'Wreck-It Ralph's' Phil Johnston on Screenwriting as a Second Career"
.
blog.finaldraft.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-08
. Retrieved
2019-12-08
.
- ^
Finke, Nikki (2009-12-11).
"The Black List 2009: Full Roster"
.
Deadline
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-09
. Retrieved
2019-12-09
.
- ^
"AN ATYPICAL LIFE AFTER TV NEWS ? NewsBlues.com"
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-12-09
. Retrieved
2019-12-09
.
- ^
"44th Annie Award Nominees"
. International Animated Film Society. November 28, 2016.
Archived
from the original on July 17, 2017
. Retrieved
November 29,
2016
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
- Brenda Chapman
(1994)
- Andrew Stanton
,
Joss Whedon
,
Joel Cohen
and
Alec Sokolow
(1996)
- Rita Hsiao,
Chris Sanders
,
Philip LaZebnik
, Raymond Singer and Eugenia Bostwick-Singer (1998)
- Brad Bird
and
Tim McCanlies
(1999)
- John Lasseter
,
Pete Docter
,
Ash Brannon
,
Andrew Stanton
, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin and Chris Webb (2000)
- Ted Elliott
,
Terry Rossio
,
Joe Stillman
and
Roger S. H. Schulman
(2001)
- Hayao Miyazaki
(2002)
- Andrew Stanton
,
Bob Peterson
and David Reynolds (2003)
- Brad Bird
(2004)
- Steve Box
,
Nick Park
and
Mark Burton
(2005)
- Dick Clement
,
Ian La Frenais
,
Christopher Lloyd
,
Joe Keenan
and
William Davies
(2006)
- Brad Bird
(2007)
- Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger
(2008)
- Wes Anderson
and
Noah Baumbach
(2009)
- Chris Sanders
,
Will Davies
and
Dean DeBlois
(2010)
- James Ward Byrkit,
John Logan
and
Gore Verbinski
(2011)
- Phil Johnston
and
Jennifer Lee
(2012)
- Hayao Miyazaki
(2013)
- Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
(2014)
- Pete Docter
,
Meg LeFauve
and
Josh Cooley
(2015)
- Jared Bush
and
Phil Johnston
(2016)
- Adrian Molina
and Matthew Aldrich (2017)
- Phil Lord
and
Rodney Rothman
(2018)
- Jeremy Clapin and Guillaume Laurant (2019)
- Pete Docter
,
Mike Jones
and
Kemp Powers
(2020)
- Mike Rianda
and
Jeff Rowe
(2021)
- Dean Fleischer Camp
,
Jenny Slate
, Nick Paley and
Elisabeth Holm
(2022)
- Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor (2023)
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