Stewart St. John
Stewart St. John is an American filmmaker, writer, author, composer, director, producer of television, feature, online and mobile entertainment.
Television and film
St. John began his professional career under contract at Hanna-Barbera, working with founder Joseph Barbera on writing episodes of Tom & Jerry Kids, Droopy and Dripple, and Spyke & Tyke. He served as story editor/writer on over fifty episodes of the smash Fox Kids series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers where he injected his signature soap-style arcs to some of the series most well-known episodes, including the famous Green Ranger mini-series. He also penned episodes of other children's shows, including Sabrina, the Animated Series, The Incredible Hulk, Heavy Gear, and VR Troopers. He won a Humanitas Prize for an episode of the animated series The Legend of Prince Valiant that dealt with child abuse.
St. John wrote and produced the award-winning Showtime Original Family Feature Seventeen Again[1](currently airing on Disney Channel, Starz, BET), starring Tia and Tamara Mowry, stars of the hit WB series, Sister, Sister. The movie was later nominated for a Young Artist's Award. He has written animated and live-action pilots for Disney Channel, Fox and ABC, as well as original features for many of the major studios.
Technology/New Media Pioneer
In the mid 90s, St. John was part of American Cybercast, the online network backed by Microsoft. He became the story editor and executive producer of the critically acclaimed web site, The Spot, which he revived in 2004 with an all-new cast for the web, and created a cell phone component with over 2500 mobisodes that aired on Sprint PCS Vision enabled phones, essentially becoming the first American cell phone soap. A huge believer in online entertainment and the community it reaches, St. John created California Heaven – as the first scripted TV series produced exclusively for broadband. It launched in August 2005. Its first season was licensed to Japan. In 2011 St. John and producing partner Todd Fisher re-launched a newer version of California Heaven on their online television network, The SFN.
The SFN
St. John and Fisher launched The SFN – The Online Network – a groundbreaking, appointment-viewing web destination for original series including their own California Heaven, as well as other in-house productions and select web series.. Also referred to as SFNTV, the site is focused on creating a television network experience for online users.
Clothing lifestyle brand 69 Slam was the first to embrace the new network with an integrated ad campaign sponsoring select episodes from the first season of California Heaven.
On January 12, 2012, the second season of web soap DeVanity premiered exclusively on The SFN, with guest stars Alana Stewart, Robin Riker and Kyle Lowder from The Bold and the Beautiful.
On January 13, 2012, River Ridge premiered, starring daytime Emmy Award winner Julie Pinson, Emmy Award nominee Beth Ehlers and Signy Coleman, and Savannah's Shannon Sturges among the cast.
Another series, Fumbling Thru The Pieces, stars daytime Emmy Award winner Hillary B. Smith, also aired on the network.
Western drama "Thurston" premiered on the network in April 2012, created by Kathryn O'Sullivan and executive produced by O'Sullivan and Paul Awad. The award-winning drama tied with California Heaven to become the two most-watched series on the network.
On June 8, the trailer for The SFN's first reality series – Project Poker – made its debut, announcing a July 12 premiere for the series about an amateur gambler and his quest for fame and fortune in the world of professional poker.
Production
Through his St. John-Fisher Post company with Todd Fisher, St. John has cast, adapted, voice directed and supervised mixes of foreign to English-dub feature films, working with companies including The Weinstein Company, Universal Studios, Blue Wave, Deluxe Digital and more. Some of the films St. John has overseen include "13 Game of Death" (Mandarin), King of the Mountain (Spanish), The Rebel (Vietnamese), the animated musical The Great Music Caper starring Cheech Marin, Bow Wow and JoJo, and the animated musical Leo The Lion to be released on DVD in 2011. St. John also wrote all the lyrics and directed the singers for Leo The Lion, including "The Shaman Song" and "Vegetarian".
Music
St. John, who previously won a philharmonic award at the age of 15 for a song he composed completely by ear, returned to composing music in 2007. He was contacted by Jerry and Esther Hicks, the New York Times best-selling authors of Law of Attraction and Ask And It Is Given, about bringing their children's book series to the big screen as a movie musical. St. John collaborated with Esther Hicks on the project and composed 15 original songs while Esther wrote the lyrics. Esther and Jerry asked to play two small roles in the film. St. John, who combined Sara Book 1 and Sara Book 2 into a final screenplay, will direct the film while his production company produces. It is to be shot on location in Austin, San Antonio and Bourne, Texas. Stewart also scored 13 CD's of original music and cues for the Sara audio books on which the movie was based. The audio books were released through inspirational self-help publishers Hay House, Inc.
Stewart, a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys), composed his first solo album of inspirational music in the spring of 2008. Called Cloudwalking, the album is currently available on iTunes, Amazon and select book stores including the Edgar Cayce bookstore ARE located in Virginia. In 2010 Stewart released his second CD Global Symphony composed of 12 instrumental songs for meditation and relaxation. The CD made the entry ballot as "Best New Age Album" for the 2011 Grammys. He has followed up that album with the 2011 release of Love, featuring 13 brand new tracks of stirring piano melodies and "Alchemy", a collection of energy-focused music and chants.
Books
In 2011, St. John authored an inspirational book with Todd Fisher entitled Love: A Story. The short book is composed of Todd Fisher's love quotes and St. John's poignant story about a woman's mystical encounter on a Malibu beach. It is rumored to be the first part in a series of empowering books.
- "Love: A Story", by Stewart St. John and Todd Fisher. Published by St. John-Fisher Publications, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9830463-3-2
Children's Books
St. John created a book/multimedia franchise series called The Good Little Monsters, based on stories he told his siblings growing up. Themes include friendship, teamwork and adventure.
- "Good Little Monsters, The: Willie The Werewolf And The Buried Treasure", by Stewart St. John. Published by St. John-Fisher Publications, 2011. ISBN 978-0-9830463-2-5
References
External links
- Stewart St. John – Official website
- Stewart St. John speaks to fans at the Power Morphicon, Pasadena 2010
- CNet Interview – Interactive Pioneer Stewart St. John Brings Back The Spot
- Stewart St. John at the Internet Movie Database
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