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John Kent Harrison (‘JKH’) is a film and television director and writer who is best known for his work in the international mini-series format. He is a Canadian and American citizen - WGA, DGA. Lives in Portland, OR.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
1) 2015 (May-June), Director ‘Anne of Green Gables’. Script by Susan Coyne. Breakthrough Entertainment. Canadian children’s classic.
1A) 2015 - ‘THRILL’ -writer/ (director) - 2015 TV series pilot. What Happened to Amelia Earhart after the crash. The romance.
2) 2015 Writer/Director 2014 4-hour mini-series, ‘War Paint’ optioned by E-One Entertainment. Based on the acclaimed book by Lindy Woodhead about the rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein and the rise of the beauty business in New York, London and Paris, 1915-1940.
MOVIES AND MINIS:
In 2013 John was co-writer and Director of Christmas in Conway. Two-hour Hallmark Hall of Fame with Andy Garcia, Mary-Louise Parker, Mandy Moore and Cheri Oteri.
Previously, JKH wrote and directed The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler as his sixth Hallmark Hall of Fame film. It won an Emmy Award and was nominated for three, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Anna Paquin. In 2010 the film was honored by the DGA with a nomination for John Kent Harrison as Best Television Director of the year.
Other notable projects include The Lois Wilson Story which received a SAG nomination for Winona Ryder, William Faulkner's Old Man, one of the most critically acclaimed Hallmark presentations, which won two Emmy Awards, the Humanities Prize, the Christopher Medal and a Golden Reel. Other Hallmarks include The Water Is Wide, which received two Emmy nominations; What the Deaf Man Heard, which was nominated for an Emmy as Best Television Movie of the year and has been the highest- rated stand-alone 2- hour TV movie since 1991 and one of the most watched Hallmark Hall of Fame movies in history. According to Hallmark statistics, Harrison’s 7 Hall of Fame movies have captured a total audience of 120 million viewers.
In 2003 he co-wrote and directed A Bear Named Winnie, which became one of the highest rated 2-hour TV movies in Canadian history and was nominated for four Genie awards, winning two. Two years later he wrote and directed the Emmy-nominated mini- series, Pope John Paul II, starring Jon Voight.
Also in the four-hour mini-series format, JKH re-wrote and directed Helen of Troy, which !2 won an Emmy, directed A Wrinkle in Time, which won the Best Feature Film Award at the International Children's Film Festival in Toronto in 2003 and wrote and directed The Sound of Silence, which won the CableACE Award for Best Foreign Television Movie of the Year.
In the last fifteen years, Mr. Harrison has directed and written numerous other award- winning films. Among these, one of the most memorable is You Know My Name, an original two-hour he wrote and directed for Sam Elliott and TNT. It won the coveted Wrangler Award for Best Western Television Movie of the year at The Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Before his directing debut, ‘JKH’ was Assistant Professor of film studies at Concordia University in Montreal, taught screenwriting at UCLA (Extension) and more recently, advanced film production at the Graduate School of Cinema at the University of Southern California.
In his spare time JKH writes fiction (his short story, Drugstore Cowboy, was anthologized by Oxford University Press) and enjoys giving professional workshops in advanced filmmaking.
John Kent Harrison is a Canadian and American citizen. He was educated at Columbia University in New York and presently lives in Portland, OR.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT
After graduating from college, 22 year-old JKH and a friend paddled an eighteen foot canoe from their home town in Ontario, through the Canadian river systems to Lake Erie, across the lake to Toledo, up the Maumee river to Fort Wayne, down the Wabash to the Ohio, along the Ohio to Cairo, took a left turn on the Mississippi and paddled all the way to New Orleans where the Mayor gave them the key of the city, Honorary Citizenship and a free dinner at the Playboy Club.