Deep in the bowels of the Melvin Municipal Office Building, Joshua Johnson sits in one of the quietest rooms in the building. There, surrounded by computer monitors, he punches buttons on a mixing board that sprawls out in front of him.

This editing bay – which resembles a science station that Mr. Spock would love to get his Vulcan hands on – is an important space for the longtime Greensboro Television Network (GTN) senior producer. In fact, if he’s not out collecting stories about Greensboro, he’s more than likely here.

When it comes to the job, Johnson and the folks in GTN do a number of things – from producing Greensboro City Council meetings to working with City departments to promote programs – but it’s editing that Johnson enjoys the most. According to him, editing is where the magic really happens.

“My favorite part is editing, surprisingly,” Johnson said. “For example, several years ago, when they asked me to do a promo for the loose-leaf program, which is gone now, I had nothing to go off of. So I went to the internet archive and pulled a bunch of black and white horror movie stuff, and put together a horror trailer. That was absolutely fantastic from start to finish – I giggled the whole time.”

That spark of imagination and its execution ended up winning Johnson a Telly Award for his hard work, and was just another accomplishment in the life of a man whose life has come full circle since discovering a love for production many years ago.

BEHIND THE CAMERA

If you’ve ever met Johnson, you know he’s the type of guy that loves to put on a show, so it shouldn’t be shocking to find out that originally his dream was to be in front of a camera.

Growing up down the road in Burlington, Johnson caught the acting bug early on in high school where he went into drama. He even worked at the Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre for a few years. Then he got a free ride to the School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

It was there that Johnson came to the conclusion that it was going to take way more than just being able to be comfortable in front of a crowd.

“I very quickly realized you had to work and it was a discipline – it was the real deal,” Johnson said. “I questioned myself considerably while I was in the program, and then all the theatre arts program students got a free opportunity to audition for Drama 1… I didn’t make it, most of us didn’t make it, but by the time I got there I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work.’”

What Johnson did know is that he wanted to stay in the world of show business, so he looked at opportunities behind the scenes. That’s when he met a man named Mark Hall, who was a producer at Cablevision in Burlington in the early ‘90s.

Hall was running a one-man show at that point and took the help he could get, so Johnson began learning the ropes – going in four days a week to help run programming and shooting promos for clients. When you combine his nightly work at the studio alongside having a day job and taking classes at Alamance Community College before transferring to UNC-Greensboro to finish his degree in 1998, Johnson was a bit busy.

“I had no social life, but it was great,” Johnson said with a laugh. “That’s what led me to production; that, and I didn’t think I had the chops for acting – or, not that I didn’t have the chops, but there is no money in it and I enjoy eating regularly.”

After graduation Johnson moved down to Wilmington to try and utilize his acting-related talents doing part-time work on the weekends for Screen Gems being an extra in different productions – including making an appearance in Dawson’s Creek – to go along with his various daytime odd jobs.

Johnson escaped back to the realm of news broadcasting with WECT there in Wilmington, where he was matched up with Dave Bondy – an investigative reporter. There Johnson recalls the fun of working with a man who was out of his mind (in the most fun of ways).

“There was a huge thing that happened where people were finding documents behind banks that hadn’t been shredded,” Johnson said. “Dave picked up on this, and we were driving around Wilmington and this guy was jumping into dumpsters to find documents – he got arrested, I almost got arrested… but it was fun.”

After his work (and fun) ran out in Wilmington, Johnson took a job in Durham in 2000 with Time Warner after his old pal Hall had given them his information. He’d stay in that job for nine years, doing programming with the City and County of Durham. That job eventually was lost thanks to the recession, and Johnson once again found himself doing a number of jobs.

Then, Greensboro came calling.

BACK TO THE TRIAD

After sending out application after application, Johnson got a call from GTN Station Manager David Brown in 2013 for an interview. Next thing Johnson knew, he had a job.

“That was one of the best days of my life,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think I’d ever work in production again – I thought my life was going to be computers, which I was OK with, but it’s not the same at all. So I came here in 2013 and I am, thank God, still here.”

It’s now been 13 years since Johnson first joined the City, and in that time a lot has changed – especially the technology and the way media is consumed by the general public.

With the rise of social media, people are taking in shorter forms of content, which is a far cry from how things were, Johnson said.

“One of my first big projects here was for Water Resources and it was a 30-minute video – people in the department have told me since then that it is the longest, most boring thing they’ve had to sit through,” Johnson said with a laugh. “It’s like anything, it changes – the technology changes, the people that use it change, and it’s a good thing. The gatekeepers aren’t around anymore.”

Even though the rules have changed dramatically over the years, there’s still things to know if you’re wanting to break into the production business, Johnson said.

“Learn how to tell a story; an engaging, quick story,” Johnson said. “All of the things that were made important to me back when I started aren’t as important anymore – the gear doesn’t matter, composition is kind of out the window, and so on. Also, make editing your first primary strength, because it will save your butt.”