John’s list of clients includes many significant members of the international film and television community. These include Universal Studios, Lucas Film, Disney/Marvel, HBO, Lionsgate, CBS, 20th Century Fox, ABC, Fox Searchlight, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Paramount, MGM, Working Title, Lionsgate TV, Blueprint Pictures, as well as a variety of other independent producers.
During his career, John has been involved in advising on hundreds of films and television shows, including more recently, Star Wars, Deadpool 3, The Power of the Ring, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Little Mermaid, Fast & Furious 10, No Time to Die, Spiderman, Loki, Secret Invasion, Finding Michael.
Away from the cut and thrust of the commercial world, John has been a mainstay of film policy in the UK for a number of years, advising both the UK government and key strategic film agencies.
In 2006, John was a key member of an industry group that, over several months, advised the UK government on the creation of the Film Tax Relief (FTR) and was also part of the TV coalition that worked on the introduction of the TV Tax Relief. More recently, John was instrumental in the consultation on the new film and TV incentive in the UK, the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit.
John has also provided expert advice to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. This has included seminal work on the Cultural Test (a key qualification criterion for the FTR) on how films should be evaluated. In addition, John has been involved in various discussions surrounding government incentives outside of the UK.
John joined Saffery Champness in 2012, having been a partner at RSM Tenon previously, where he headed up the firm’s London Film & TV unit. In November 2006, John was awarded the UK Production Guild External Merit Award for outstanding contribution to the British film industry.
John has lectured regularly on film incentive in the UK and abroad. He has spoken at seminars in London, Cannes, Beijing, Berlin, Los Angeles and New York.