Movie Man

During his four years at Swarthmore, Grant Johnson ’14 was too busy to watch movies, let alone make one. 

After graduation, however, the art history major achieved his lifelong dream when he wrote, directed, and produced his feature debut, the subversive dark comedy Frat Star.

“Wearing every hat on set, I learned so much every day about filmmaking and the industry,” he says. “This was my grad school and rite of passage.”

Budgeted at $200,000, Frat Star is available on 20 platforms, including iTunes, GooglePlay, and Amazon Video. Response has been encouraging: Page Six has repeatedly called Johnson a noteworthy up-and-coming filmmaker, and he’s already hard at work on two movies with Tony Award-winning producer John Hart.

“I want to make entertaining films that are challenging and new,” Johnson says. “What excites me is talking to people who are on their fifth movie and how much more they know than I do—I can’t wait to learn all that for myself.”