Liza Johnson

Liza Johnson is a prolific writer and director of film and television.  An accomplished visual artist and storyteller, her work has been exhibited at museums, galleries and film festivals and is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Liza’s acclaimed early short films mine gold from real people who are acting as characters similar to themselves, creating intimate, authentic stories In features, Johnson’s Return, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight, tells the harrowing tale of one woman’s reentry into civilian life after deployment in Iraq. Her adaptation of Alice Munro’s novel Hateship, Loveship, the story of a shy caretaker in love, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Johnson’s comedy Elvis and Nixon imagined the odd couple relationship between two well-known figures. In television, Johnson’s keen sense of character and narrative command allows her to move effortlessly between dramatic series like The Last of Us and The Diplomat and more darkly comic material such as What We Do in the Shadows, Silicon Valley, Barry, Dead to Me, A Series of Misfortunate Events, Feud, Physical, and more.  Liza directed and executive produced the upcoming Netflix series The Residence, a mystery set in the White House starring Uzo Aduba.  She wrote and directed the absurdly comedic “Swipe Right” episode for the HBO Max anthology series Room 104.  

Most recently, Johnson directed the wildly creative hybrid live-action/animated Netflix movie Sandy Cheeks Saves Bikini Bottom, based on the popular Nickelodeon hit SpongeBob Squarepants and HBO’s new comedy The Franchise which focuses on the mishaps and tumult on the set of a superhero movie.