John Gray (director)

John Gray
Born	Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York
Alma mater	Bishop Ford High
Occupation	Director, Writer, Producer
Years active	1989 - Present
Known for	Ghost Whisperer, White Irish Drinkers
Spouse(s)	Melissa Jo Peltier

John Thomas Gray (born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York) is an American writer, director, and producer based in New York. He is most known for being the creator, writing showrunner and director of Ghost Whisperer. He has also written and directed many movies for television, including the remake of the 1976 telefilm Helter Skelter, Martin and Lewis, The Hunley and The Day Lincoln Was Shot. Gray has written and directed feature movies as well.

He was also the producer, writer and director of the 2010 coming of age drama movie, White Irish Drinkers, which is partially based on his childhood in Brooklyn.

Career

The son of an iron worker, Gray began making movies on the streets as a boy in working class Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Despite lack of money and resources, he was the youngest recipient ever of an AFI grant at the time. In 1989, Gray co-wrote and directed his first television movie, When He's Not a Stranger produced by Ian Sander. Gray later wrote and directed several TV movies and miniseries including The Day Lincoln was Shot, The Hunley and Martin and Lewis. In 2001, he wrote and directed the movie, The Seventh Stream.^[1]

In 2004, CBS executives learned about a woman who could talk to spirits of the dead people and the network wanted to make a show about it. They chose Gray to develop a concept, from which he created the show Ghost Whisperer and produced it with Ian Sander and Kim Moses.^[2][3] In 2005, he directed the ABC original series Empire in Rome which starred Santiago Cabrera.^[4]

Gray started working on White Irish Drinkers, a coming-of-age drama movie in 2009.^[5] He had written the script of the movie a decade before, however, he could not find financing for the movie. After working in the television industry for several years, Gray had enough money to independently make the movie with his wife Melissa Jo Peltier and longtime AD, Paul Bernard producing. The movie was shot on location in 17 days on a budget of $650,000 and starred Nick Thurston, Karen Allen, Peter Riegert and Stephen Lang^[6][7] The story of the movie is loosely based on his tough, working-class Brooklyn childhood in the '70s and was an award-winner in several festivals.^[1] The film premiered in Toronoto Film Festival, where it was bought for theatrical distribution by Screen Media.^[8]

After Ghost Whisperer's successful five-year run, Gray moved into the executive "producing director's" role on network series - first, for CBS's Reckless (also produced by Sander-Moses) and currently, for ABC's The Family, created by Jenna Bans. During breaks between series he has directed episodic television and completed writing and directing the short film produced by Marriott Studios, "French Kiss", set in Paris and starring Tyler Ritter. Gray acquired the rights to Bryan Gruley's mystery thriller The Hanging Tree in 2011, and planned on writing a script to direct a movie based on the novel.^[9]

Movies

Awards and honors

• Christopher Award for A Place for Annie - 1994
• Humanitas Award for A Place for Annie - 1994
• Humanitas Award for Haven - 2002

References

External links

• John Gray at the Internet Movie Database
• John Gray at Rotten Tomatoes
• "Going Really Indie, With His Own Cash" The New York Times, January 22, 2010
• French Kiss Film