His senior year, Johnson loaded up on classes so he could graduate
early. He went directly to Illinois State University for a semester, before
packing up in 1980 and moving to Los Angeles with the intention of
going to USC Film School. "I had $200 in my pocket when I left. By the
time I got to L.A., I had about $20 left."
Armed with sketches, drawings, and spaceship models he had created,
Johnson knocked on the door of Brick Price Movie Miniatures and said,
"Hi. I just moved from Illinois and I need a job." Asked if he could drive
in addition to building models, he answered "Yes" and was told to get a
time card. "I started working that day." Starting out as a gofer, he moved
up to model making, and then supervisor on some projects. He remained
there for two years, working on commercials, industrial displays, and
models for NASA and The Smithsonian Institute, all the while writing
screenplays.
One night at a "mid-level Hollywood party," he was introduced to
producer Cassius Weathersby, who was looking for medium-to-low
budget movie projects to develop at 20th Century Fox. An introduction
was made and Johnson was asked to pitch some of his ideas. "I pitched
him this sort of alien on earth story." Weatherby loved the idea and made
an appointment for Johnson to pitch the idea to Richard Berger, then
president of production, and to story editor David Madden. The idea was
so well received that "they sort of yanked me by the shirt collar and
dragged me down the hall to Sherry Lansing and said, `Do that again.'
I basically acted out the movie. I was standing up and moving around
and playing all the parts. I got about five minutes to pitch and she said,
`I don't know what this is, but I like it. Let's do it.'"
At 19, Johnson had landed a deal with a major studio and started to
work on the script for his science fiction film. Three drafts later, the
studio was sold and Johnson was back building models at Brick Price.
"I ate some crow." He later worked for Mark Stetson and ShowScan, pro-
gressing to visual effects supervisor. Along the way he sold a few more
scripts, and the desire to direct grew more intense after directing the
second unit for Dead Heat. After seven years, Johnson had grown weary
of model making and channeled his energies into a project called
Martians!!!, which he co-wrote with friend Scott Lawrence Alexander,
and hoped to direct.
The pair loaded the "wacky" film with special effects and determined
that, using contacts such as FX friends Scott Ressler and John Knoll (then
at ILM working on The Abyss), they could make a film with a $10 million
look for $2 million. Friend and producer Jason Clark (Stuart Little) intro-
duced the pair to a development executive for a Yugoslavian business-
man who agreed to give them $1.75 million. Releasing the film was the
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