John grew up in Los Angeles and has a BA from UCLA and JD from Loyola Law School. He has had a career as a marketing executive and is founder of GreatHouse Stories, a script and story consulting firm. John is a media and cultural critic as well as a novelist, screenwriter, photographer, filmmaker, musician and dioramist.
A former Board Member and Marketing Director for the Palm Springs Writers Guild, he is Founder of the Desert Screenwriting Group, one of the largest screenwriting groups in California. He is the author of four books and many published essays, articles and short stories. His book Battle of Symbols was published by Daimon Verlag (Zurich) and his book Spirit Catcher: The Life & Art of John Coltrane received the Best Biography Award from the Small Press Association. His most recent book is Londonderry Farewell co-authored with Tom McKeown.
He has had a long-term interest in symbolism and is considered a leading authority in this area. His major writings on symbolism are published on Symbolism.Org site. He was a consultant on symbolism for the film DaVinci Code and wrote a popular column titled "Script Symbology" for Script Magazine, the world's leading screenplay magazine. He is a former board member of the Upper Arlington Arts Commision and is presently, he is a board member of LettuceWork, an organization that provides work for adults with autism.
His interest in model-making started in the 1960s building cars, ships, pane and tanks. He helped his father build his HO train layout and began reading Model Railroader magazine at this time. One of his modeling heros is John Allen and his Gorre & Daphetid railroad in Monterey, California. Another hero is box dioramists Shep Paine and Ray Anderson. He is a member of the American Craft Council and the Columbus Chapter of the International Plastic Modelers Society.