John Vourlis has 20+ years experience working in the entertainment industry. He is currently an Adjunct Instructor in Film and Digital Media at Cleveland State University. Previously he was a VP/General Manager at the Academy Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning motion picture specialty lighting company, Luminys Systems Corp.

John is a published author of short stories, including “A Case of Insomnia” in the Sherlock Holmes anthology Shadows Over Baker Street. John has also been writing screenplays for 20 years. He was a semi-finalist for the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting and has written nine scripts for the children’s’ educational DVD series Rainbow Valley Police Department, as well as the text for several video games.

John was recently nominated for Best Ohio Director at the Indie Gathering International Film Festival for his short film, “Rocket from the Grave”. The film also received 2nd Prize for Best Short-Comedy Drama at the festival. His company, Hometown Media Productions, is publishing his new non-fiction literary travel book, Yoga For Freedom, and producing a new sci-fi adventure comic book series called Time Spanners.

John has an M.F.A. in Film Production from the highly acclaimed USC school of Cinema-Television, as well as an M.A. in English and a B.S. in Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. He worked in Space Propulsion Technology at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland before embarking on his career in writing and film.