John Deery

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An award-winning film and television drama director, John Deery, like many other directors started out as an actor. In between acting jobs he was a runner on commercials with some of the UK’s top commercial directors. He then became a third and first assistant director before going to the National Film & Television School’s Short Course Unit for Directors in 1996. His first feature film, Conspiracy of Silence, which he wrote and directed, won the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Freedom of Expression Award in 2004. The award was shared with Michael Moore for Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mel Gibson for The Passion of the Christ. Deery was also nominated for Best Film Director for Conspiracy of Silence at the Irish Film Awards in 2003. The screenplay was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab after it won the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Award presented to him at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. He has also directed several big dramas for television including If I Had You, a 2-hour single film for ITV1, starring Sarah Parish and Paul McGann which was screened in 2006.

Deery's other passion in life is politics. He worked extensively with the film and commercials director, Hugh Hudson, during the Labour Party General Election campaign of 1992. After graduating from the NFTS in 1996, Deery was commissioned by Peter Mandelson to write and direct a film for Labour called The Road to the Manifesto which launched Labour’s 1997 General Election campaign. The film was a success, not only for its political message, but also for its theme song, "Things Can Only Get Better", which went on to become Labour’s Election anthem. Since then Deery has made many other films for the Labour Party as well as several films for trade unions in the UK.