Willo Johnston started his career as sole runner-up in BBC young writers competition “Double Exposure”. Since then he has developed his strong sense for structure and an ear for dialogue. He is a versatile, industrious and collaborative writer for TV and film, whether writing on his own or in partnership with another writer, director or producer.
Willo is represented by Steven Russell.
Willo is represented by Steven Russell.
IN DEVELOPMENT
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THE BRIG
(writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
When the inmates seize control of a supermax prison ship and set sail for a non-extradition country, an incarcerated ex-cop joins forces with his cop wife, visiting to serve divorce papers, to stop the ship and save the hostages.
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WALKING WOUNDED
(writer) |
Script available.
TV drama. |
A husband and wife, striving to save their rocky marriage, are forced to make peace when they are both assigned to the same murder case, he as a CID officer and she as an impartial Victim Support worker.
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE DESERT
(writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
In an unnamed Middle East war zone, an AWOL British soldier forms an uneasy alliance with a small-time crook to pull off a big-time robbery with the country's mafia, the British army and a group of out of control mercenaries on their tail. It's the good, the bad and the ugly - but who is who?
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OLD FLAMES
(writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
When best (and more importantly, platonic) friends find themselves still single at 40, they decide to make good on a 20-year-old agreement to marry each other, putting their friendship in jeopardy.
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ANIMAL
(writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
When an active member of a radical animal rights group turns informant on his militant colleagues, he is forced to protect his family from a dangerous new generation of protesters.
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THE UGLY SQUAD
(writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
A closeted policeman in 1950s Liverpool is assigned to a squad tasked with arresting & imprisoning the city’s gay men, but starts to tip off the locals to the police’s efforts as he slowly falls in love for the first time with an enigmatic gay community leader...
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MORENDO
(writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
A widowed pianist battles her growing dementia as she attempts to discover the cause of a series of unexplained events that she struggles to explain away either as the actions of her new carer or as a result of her dementia. As events grow more serious and more violent, she discovers the true cause but can she make anyone believe her…
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RUNAWAY
(co-writer) |
Script available.
Feature. |
An angst-filled GCSE student leaves home to meet his real father, the famed crossword-setter "Nemesis", but when he finds he has recently died he sets about taking over his mantle & unwittingly enters the tribal world of cruciverbalists (cryptic crossword setters and solvers).
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THE SLEEPOVER
(writer) |
Script available.
Comedy feature. |
A found-footage comedy that chronicles the unexpected events that take place over the course of one night, when a father invites his boss's outcast son to his nine year-old's sleepover birthday party in a last ditch effort to save his job...
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HOT FLUSH
(writer) |
Treatment available.
TV drama. |
When debts, bad investments and poor life choices plunge four recently-retired women into dire financial straits, they are left no alternative but to turn to a life of crime in order to keep themselves & their families alive.
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BLACK NOISE
(writer) |
Script available.
Drama feature. |
Having escaped the horrors of war in his own country, a mute soldier tries to build a life as an illegal immigrant in the UK. He finds his life threatened not by the UK authorities but by his out-of-control fellow immigrants.
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CHAIN OF COMMAND
(writer) |
Granada.
TV drama. |
20 years after they trained together at Hendon Police School, a murder case brings up past rivalries between an underachieving DI, the Met's youngest ever Deputy Commissioner and the murder case's prime suspect, the Deputy Commissioner's right hand man.
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EYE OF THE STORM
(writer) |
Cronk Dromgoole.
TV drama. |
A drama following the lives and cases of the volunteers of a Victim Support office.
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CREDITS
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DOCTORS
(writer, five episodes) |
BBC.
Television drama. |
Drama series set in a busy Midlands practice following the turbulent lives and loves of the staff and patients.
Director, various. (2006-11) |
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THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE
(co-writer) |
Impact Film & TV, Piccadilly Pictures, Lex Filmed Entertainment.
Feature. |
As part of a drunken bet with her sister, a happily married woman sends an anonymous Valentine's card to her husband to see if he hides it. When he does, what was a prank leads to a series of events and revelations that puts her marriage at risk & leaves her looking for revenge.
Director John Hay. (2005) |
