Johnny Fewings Media Consultancy

Johnny Fewings is a record and film industry veteran of over 40 years. Prior to establishing JFMC in 2010 he had been Head of Strategic Initiatives at Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE), the home entertainment arm of Universal Pictures.

His recent films include being executive producer on..
‘Orwell : 2+2=5’ directed by Raoul Peck and produced by Alex Gibney. (2025)
‘Kerouac’s Road : The Beat Of A Nation’ directed by Ebs Burnough and produced by John Battsek (2025)
‘Rose Of Nevada’ directed Mark Jenkin and produced by Denzil Monk (2025)

Starting behind the counter at Virgin Records, Johnny rose to become the first manager of the famed London Megastore in 1979 and subsequently MD of Virgin Retail in 1983, a position he held until 1988, during which time he oversaw the expansion of the chain into Europe and Australia, as well as establishing the Virgin Megastore brand.

Richard Branson, speaking at an awards luncheon in London's Park Lane in the early 1990's said “Without people like Johnny Fewings I wouldn't be where I am today".

Being 23 in 1976, he was slightly too old to be a proper punk but that didn’t stop the police arresting him, when he was running the Marble Arch shop, and charging him under the Vagrancy Act of 1824 for a Sex Pistols ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ window display. Fortunately the manager of the Nottingham shop was also arrested and that case came to court first. The judge found in favour of the album cover and Johnny’s case dismissed.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/1977/nov/10/artsfeatures.popandrock

Shortly before his death in 2004, John Peel, when asked by Music Week what first turned him on to punk said ‘ a very nice man called Johnny’. Peel was a regular in the shop and would often stay for a cup of tea on a Thursday prior to recording his World Service show. Johnny would suggest records to try out and charge him for those he didn’t return.

In 1988 Johnny left retail moving into video publishing holding posts with Parkfield Entertainment and Pearson before becoming deputy MD, and subsequently joint MD, of Vision Video Ltd. (VVL), a video publishing imprint of Polygram Records UK which specialised in non-film entertainment, particularly comedy. VVL was largely responsible for creating the comedy-on-video market for which the UK was the field leader, representing artists such as Billy Connolly, Lee Evans, Peter Kay, Ricky Gervais and Eddie Izzard.

Eddie recently said "Johnny was always someone I could count on to have great input. He was always very wise with his advice and I'm sure he always will be".

Following Polygram's acquisition by Universal, Johnny became Joint MD of Universal Pictures (UK) in 2002, holding this position until 2007 when he became Head of Strategic Initiatives for the International division covering the world outside of North America.

This subsequently led to a role involving productions and film acquisition and since that time he has been involved in over 300 feature films. Production credits include A Fantastic Fear Of Everything starring Simon Pegg and directed by Crispian Mills, The Time Of Their Lives starring Joan Collins and Pauline Collins and the big screen version of Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie.

Stephen McCrum, producer of the D'Movie said “Johnny has a depth of experience second to none, is incredibly generous with his knowledge, and his insight and advice contributed hugely to the success of D'Movie. I can't imagine how it would have been making my first feature without his enthusiastic support, and luckily, I now don't.”

Acquisitions he has been involved in are many and include films such as Apollo 11, Cop Car, Mothers Of The Revolution, Wild Bill, Northern Soul, League Of Gentlemen Apocalypse, ‘Marley’, the Bob Marley film documentary, First Reformed, Three Identical Strangers, Springbreakers, Mandy, Personal Shopper, Five Feet Apart, and the Leonard Cohen documentary Marianne & Leonard.

Johnny has developed a series of talks/lectures. There are currently four these are:

Negotiation - the characters and styles you will come across.
Time - Busy is a State Of Mind, what can you do to achieve more in less time.
Film Financing - where does the money come from and where does it go.
Language - why do we complicate it so much that we degrade its primary purpose.

READ MORE ABOUT THE TALKS... www.jfmc.biz/talk-the-talk/