Before attending Amherst College to study filmmaking, Chris Mason Johnson had a successful career as a dancer with major ballet and modern companies, including the Frankfurt Ballet and the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. After college, Johnson worked as a Script Analyst/Editor for Miramax, Dimension, Fine Line, ABC Family and Disney, and rose to the position of Head of Development at Open City Films in New York (Three Seasons, Chuck and Buck). Johnson made several short films before he wrote, directed and produced his first narrative feature, The New Twenty (2009), which won Best Lead Actress at Outfest, Best Screenwriting at FilmOut San Diego, Best Director/First Feature at Ft. Lauderdale, and was Closing Night Presentation at Montreal’s prestigious image+nation Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. The New Twenty was purchased for broadcast by MTV Logo, for DVD/VOD by Wolfe Video and Warner Home Video, and had a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles where it received glowing reviews: “A sleek and accomplished debut film. He’s got something, this guy. ” – LA Weekly; “An impressive feature debut. Smart and stylish. Fine acting. Excellent cinematography.” – Box Office Magazine.

Johnson recently received a prestigious $35,000 grant from the San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation for development of his comedy Skirt (co-written with Kate Stayman-London). He is nearing pre-production on an independent drama, Test, which he wrote and will direct on location in San Francisco in late 2011, to be shot by DP Jon Shenk (Lost Boys of Sudan). Test is a story of friendship in a dangerous time, set in the dance world of the 1980s as the AIDS panic hit hard. Johnson was a mentor in Film Independent’s Project:Involve, has taught dance at UCLA and teaches screenwriting and film production as a Visiting Lecturer at Amherst College.