Johnny Otto is an award-winnning, filmmaker, musician, artist and actor with a subversive spirit, living in the Los Anegels area.
You've heard of 24 hour film contests where you only have one day to conceptualize, shoot and edit a short film. Now imagine doing that not once, but 7 times, once a week for 7 weeks in a row!! Well, that's exactly what Johnny Otto did!!
Now he showcases those 7 films in something he calls
SLIMDUNCE.
"In a world where cookie-cutter presentations overwhelm mainstream moviemaking, Otto has reminded us that movies are extensions of the moviemaker, not the other way around." - Michael Walsh - MovieMaker Magazine
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In 1992, just two years after having arrived in Hollywood, he optioned his first script "Havoc", to Joel Silver's company Silver Pictures. Otto spent the next few years writing numerous screenplays. In 1997, as he continued to write feature films, Otto met an animator named Micahel Morrison who would become his partner in the formation of Celblock Entertainment. As a production team they created
the award-winning animation short
"The Blender" (WACFEST 2000). In the same year Otto also won an award from Klasky-Csupo for his short script "Chromomosomes".
Two years later, in 2002, Johnny wrote and directed his first feature film
"Bruised".
During this time period Johnny Otto was also very active as an outsider artist in the Hollywood area, having several solo exhibits at underground galleries. In 1999, during the planning stages of his feature film, Otto somehow found
the time to take over an abandoned apartment in the Fairfax district and turn it into a gallery. This new space, called ARTSQUAT, lasted two years before the owner of the building caught on to the fact that it was being occupied by a group of artists. Otto went on to
make one more feature film, a mocumentary called
"Bring Me The Head of Walt Disney", 7 short films, collectively called
"Slimdunce",
and worked as a Director of Photography, After Effects artist and
Music Video director.
