John Deery is an award-winning film and television drama director. Like many other directors, he 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

Conspiracy of silence

Conspiracy of silence can refer to:* Conspiracy of silence , an expression * Conspiracy of Silence , a term used by Pope Pius XI referring to Church persecutions...

, which he wrote and directed, won the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures

National Board of Review of Motion Pictures

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...

 Freedom of Expression

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...

 Award in 2004. The award was shared with Michael Moore

Michael Moore

Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

 for Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...

and Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

 for The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

. 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

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 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

Sarah Parish

Sarah Parish is an English actress.Parish is known for her work on such TV series as: Peak Practice, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin and the new ITV medical drama Monroe....

 and Paul McGann

Paul McGann

Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...

 which was screened in 2006.

Deery's other passion in life is politics. He worked extensively with the film and commercials director, Hugh Hudson

Hugh Hudson

Hugh Hudson is an English film director. His best-known international success is the 1981 multiple Academy Award-winning film, Chariots of Fire.- Early life :...

, during the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 General Election campaign of 1992. After graduating from the NFTS in 1996, Deery was commissioned by Peter Mandelson

Peter Mandelson

Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...

 to write and direct a film for Labour called The Road to the Manifesto which launched Labour’s 1997 General Election

United Kingdom general election, 1997

The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

 campaign. The film was a success, not only for its political message, but also for its theme song

Theme music

Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...

, "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.

Joella Productions

Joella Productions was set up by John Deery and Sid Rainey in 2006 to produce new high quality drama productions. After much planning , They're first production was called 'Underground Ernie'a children's show based around a fictional Underground service called 'International Underground' and a supervisor called Ernie played by Gary Linekar. It first aired on BBC'S Cbeebies on 5 June 2006.