Meet the team – John Lanyon

In our latest Meet the Team, learn what makes our Creative Director, John Lanyon, tick…

Name: John Lanyon

Job role: Creative Director

What did you do before joining Team Hurricane?

I was a freelance graphic designer, animator and art director, and before that Producer Endemol UK/West  where I worked on a range of television programmes, including live broadcast.

What does your role at Hurricane involve?

Creative direction of all Hurricane’s video marketing output, which includes everything from writing the scripts, working up creative ideas into storyboards, attending shoots, winning pitches through to managing the output from our studio. I’m always on the hunt for original ideas and inspiration to bring to our clients’ work to life.

The best thing about working at Hurricane is…

The team are a bunch of absolutely amazing, dedicated and talented people. And I love living and working in Bristol, it’s a great city.

What would be included in a montage of your best bits so far?  

Probably… being on a roof in the centre of Bristol at 3am watching graffiti artists paint huge murals at See No Evil Nelson Street. Working my way around the eating (and drinking) capitals of Europe with four Asian chefs for a six part TV series. (Oh and Fran and Alex’s breakdancing at last year’s Christmas party was rather good too)

Who would play you in the movie of your life?

I’d like to say Brad Pitt, but it’d probably be more like Simon Pegg.

Top of current workday playlist

Tinariwen – Chaghaybou (or the whole Emmaar album).

Which creative type (director, filmmaker, artist, musician…) inspires you most and why?

That’s a tough one, I’ll have to cheat and say it would be a three way tie between Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson and Stevie Wonder.

Gondry is a surreal genius, and I urge all to check out his music videos. Particularly the one for Cibo Matto – Sugar Water.

Anderson needs no introduction. All of his films are great. My all time favourite is ‘Rushmore’ but I was particularly blown away recently by ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. It was visually stunning, every shot was so carefully thought out and planned.

And who doesn’t love a bit of Stevie. He is, and always has been, an innovator and that’s what I love best about him. I saw him at Glastonbury a few years ago and it was emotional!

Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given:

My father in law recently told me the thing he regrets most is ‘working too hard’ and told me to have as much fun as I can while I’m alive. I thought that was pretty sage.