John Kendrick released Noosa’s first feature film in 2007 after writing and directing The Silly Billies Save the Circus and he is now working on another.
John was an electrical engineer who created apps (applications) when he decided he wanted to do something for passion not money.
So he took early retirement and moved to Noosa to do something creative, then fell into kid’s entertainment.
“My partner had a five-year-old daughter. She asked if I could do some music for her,” he said.
John wrote a few songs and put them on an album in an afternoon.
Then a friend asked him to make another one.
“I played it for the childcare centre to a standing ovation,” he said. “Kid’s music took over from there”.
For the next 15 years John produced children’s music DVDs, selling over 100,000.
Then he moved to children’s feature films, writing, directing and producing through his production company Sky Pixelz.
His film The Silly Billies save the Circus features Red Symons, Wilbur Wilde and circus performers from Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge and was shot in Noosa, Yandina and the historical village in Pine Rivers.
The story follows the journey of Australian children’s entertainers, The Silly Billies, who hear that their Circus friends are having trouble with their bank, they decide to help save the circus.
Mayhem follows as The Silly Billies unintentionally create a mass of havoc, which may be almost as disastrous as the threats of the unscrupulous circus bank manager.
The film screened at Cannes Film Festival and on 300 screens around Australia and New Zealand.
John’s latest film Johnny Zonkers saves the World is in development.
He said it follows the journey of a high-energy kid and is in development and explores the relationships between siblings and mates.
John is in discussion with agents on his cast and hopes to begin filming later in the year.
