JOHN TRAVERS/BIOGRAPHY

   Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, John Travers is the son of novelist Robert Travers and half-brother of Mary Travers (of legendary folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary). Raised in Westport, Connecticut, John began making animated films at the age of eleven. His professional career began during high school, working as a production assistant for "Friday the 13th" director Sean S. Cunningham, then later as 2nd assistant cameraman for 20th Century Fox and producer Martin Ransohoff on the Anthony Hopkins/Shirley MacClaine/Bo Derek comedy, "A Change of Seasons."

   As a cinema major at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, John became one of three national finalists for the American Cinema Editors' Student "Eddie" award. Flown to Los Angeles, he was awarded the First Place trophy, beating out such highly regarded film schools as U.S.C. He later went on to win the highly coveted national first-place Student Academy Award for his 45-minute thesis film, "Jenny." Relocating to Los Angeles, John began his editing career at Cannon Films and Roger Corman's New Horizons Pictures Corp., where he assisted future Academy Award-winning editor Zach Staenberg ("The Matrix").

   With co-writer Alice Horrigan, John became a Nicholl Fellowhips in Screenwriting finalist for his first feature screenplay, "Conversations in Public Places" -- one of eight scripts selected from nearly 3000 submitted. He later directed "Conversations" -- released on Cinemax and the Playboy Channel as "Deep Down" -- starring George Segal, Tanya Roberts and James Farentino.

       Though having worked in both production and post-production fields, John focuses primarily on film editing, specializing in re-cuts and film finishing (his re-cuts for Sasha Stallone and John Coven have received awards and film festival recognition). He has also worked on motion pictures such as Renny Harlin's "A Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master," Sam Raimi's "Army of Darkness," Jeff Burr's "Straight Into Darkness," as well as film and television projects featuring such stars as Burt Reynolds, Robert Forster, Charles Durning, Kate Winslet, John Travolta, Jan-Michael Vincent, Karen Black, Robert Loggia, Shirley Jones, George Kennedy, Timothy Bottoms, Paul Le Mat, Ray Winstone, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Tilly, Martin Mull, Raquel Welch, Phyllis Diller, John Abbott, Sally Kellerman, and Danielle Fishel, among others; producers and directors including Robert Downey Sr., John Milius, Randall Kleiser, Steve Miner, Tony Palmer, Gerald Wenner, Wayne Nelson Page, Herbert L. Strock, Gerald Shepard, Robert Levy, Michael Tolkin, Bill Buckley, Tracy Sugarman, and William Jersey; and musical performers such as Madonna, Peter, Paul & Mary, Pete Seeger, Bill Haley's Comets, Eric Burdon, Donovan, Dieter Meier, Happy Chichester, the Spencer Davis Group, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

       Recent projects include the Lions Gate science fiction/thriller, "GameBox 1.0," reality TV pilots for producer Jonathan Krane ("Turning 21") and American Television Distribution ("Billionaires Car Club," hosted by Andrew Firestone), short films for the Women's Directing Workshop at the American Film Institute, commercials for the E! Channel and Style Networks, an independent documentary on Latin America's New Song movement "The Power of Their Song"), a feature documentary on the Beatles ("Beatles Stories"), and a 10-part series for Time Warner: "Singing and Dancing: The History of the Hollywood Movie Musical."