Jon Bryant Crawford

Jon is a Guyanese American who grew up in the American South. While in college he made a feature documentary for $400 about two gay men in rural Arkansas putting on the first pride parade in their town. The film won multiple awards and was broadcasted on National Public Television. He graduated with a degree in English Literature from Hendrix College and became an NBC affiliate news cameraperson covering stories like hurricane Katrina and local police investigations. He moved to San Francisco in his mid-twenties to attend SFAI where he promptly dropped out and concentrated on being a full-time homosexual. After a brief career with the circus and some additional time working in advertising and branding, he moved to Los Angeles to earn his MFA from UCLA, TFT.

While in California he directed several notable short films. He worked with artists like George Kuchar, Ernie Gehr, Doug Hall, as well as with Hollywood producers such as Bobby Moresco and Beau Marks. After a few years paying the bills as a freelance writer, an assist to notable producers, and the occasional directing job, Jon decided to take on show-running a National Public Television Show.

He then went onto work for Google as a Sr. Media Producer, where he produced content with the Global Learning and Design team. He took a hiatus from Google to launch his personal project, Tell Me A Memory, where he interviews and shares the stories of the Queer community. He also founded a creative collective, Saltfish Co, which uses profits from commercial projects to supports micro-budget filmmakers in rural communities.

Be it hand developing 16mm film in his bathtub, to creating a homemade telecine from an old camcorder, he enjoys the creative process more than the souvenir it leaves behind. When not making his own personal art films, he Executive Produces projects like Adam McKay’s Invisible Pilot on HBO & Southern Fried Lies on the Oxygen Network available on Peacock. He currently serves as the Creative Director for ITVS, the iconic film incubator and presenter of the award winning series Independent Lens. 

He has received a Stonewall Society Pride in the Arts Award and has been awarded residencies and fellowships at Film Independent, Crosstown Arts, Kopkind Colony, NALIP, PBS, and the Smithsonian. He has also received the Four Sisters Scholarship, Edie and Lew Wasserman Grant, and Carl David Memorial Fellowship. He has also gone to Burning Man one time, and now remarks, “it’s not the same as it used to be.”