John Pierson (born April 10, 1954) is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known for helping to produce the first works by filmmakers

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

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Rose Troche Rose Troche (; ; born 1964) is an American film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter. Early life and education Troche was born to Puerto Rican parents and grew up on the north side of Chicago. In an interview she stated ...

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, and

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

, which he wrote about in his 1995 book '' Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes'' (reissued in 2004 as ''Spike, Mike Reloaded'').Glenn Kenny
"A Brief History of American Independent Film: 'Split Screen' on FilmStruck,"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', January 11, 2018.

Career

After the publication of ''Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes'', Pierson began producing and hosting the TV show ''

Split Screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split screen, a focusing screen in a ...

'', which premiered on IFC in 1997 and had an initial run of 60 episodes containing interviews and video essays covering topics related to American indie film. Season 10 premiered on January 13, 2018, on the Criterion Channel on FilmStruck. Pierson is founder and president of Grainy Pictures, Inc., a film and television production company.

Personal life

Pierson lives in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, and teaches in the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

Radio-Television-Film department.RTF Master Class

His wife, Janet Pierson, is the chief programmer of the film section of

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Books

* '' Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema''. New York:

Miramax Books Miramax Books was an American publishing company started by Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films to publish movie tie-ins. Between 2000 and 2005, while Jonathan Burnham was its president and editor-in-chief, the imprint published the memoir ...

/Hyperion, 1995. * ''Spike, Mike Reloaded: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema''. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion, 2003.

References

External links

*
John Pierson: Short Bio
1954 births Living people Film producers from Texas Writers from Austin, Texas University of Texas at Austin faculty {{US-film-bio-stub