HI! My name's John Skipp. I'm a New York Times bestselling novelist-turned-filmmaker, entering my 66th year of life on Earth with a fierce determination to make at least three feature films I'm proud of before I go. (Actually, I flat-out REFUSE TO DIE until at least that many happen.)

Right now, I'm engaged with a fascinating project that springs from my Thursday morning acting class at The Actor's Lab in Portland, OR. To be clear, I'm a student, not the teacher. I took the class because I wanted to be a better director of actors, and also because I wrote myself a role in another feature, and didn't wanna stink up the joint.

But a funny thing happened. I fell in love with the class, my amazing fellow students and our magnificent teacher, Kristina Haddad. And the more I worked with them, the more I realized that we had a phenomenal ensemble here. Twenty actors, ranging in age from 23 to 67. All unique. All gifted. All incredibly sweet and open, with a palpable chemistry through all our improvs and scenes. 

So I decided I needed to write a feature for the full ensemble, giving every single actor a role built entirely to their strengths, with at least one scene they could totally own, and put on their showcase reel. And it needed to be a well-made, professional film, so that people could actually find it, and watch it, and love it.

So I spent six weeks with them, coming up with and collaborating on their characters, while the story took shape. Then I spent another two weeks writing the script, which totally accomplished its mission.

The result is THE GREAT DIVIDE, a black comedy/social satire on wealth inequality, our nation's robber baron history, familial dysfunction, and other jolly topics that we hope you will enjoy. 

Getting the chance to produce and direct this film, working with these people, and writing all the music, is just about the best thing that’s ever happened to me. “Labor of love” doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yer pal in the trenches,
Skipp