By John Sprecher ROLL CREDITS ARTIST IN RESIDENCE With all filmmaker John Scoular has accomplished this year, you may say 2016 is his time to
To say that Naples filmmaker John Scoular has arrived in 2016 is to state the obvious. Over the past six months, he’s written, directed, filmed, edited and co-produced (with his wife Madeline) two major documentaries that beyond our local markets, will gain him national and even international exposure. But how he’s gotten to where he’s arrived, that’s just as interesting a story to tell — as well as a lesson in the value of believing in yourself, doing whatever it takes, striving to always improve and having someone who loves you share your dreams. “I feel fortunate,” he says. “It took 20 years and a lot of twists and turns. Like in football, sometimes you’re in the zone and sometimes you’re not, and for whatever reason, this year I’m in the zone.”
Football is a good way to begin the story of John Scoular, and the University of Texas El Paso is the place — where he was a scholarship starting quarterback while majoring in drama. When the NFL didn’t come calling, he packed his bags and moved to Manhattan to continue his study and pursuit of acting. But after two years in New York he up and left, landing in Fort Myers where he got a job at South Seas Island Resort (then South Seas Plantation). “Don’t ask me why, I just got fed up,” is how he explains the move. Eventually, though, Scoular got the acting bug again and found his way to Los Angeles — where he performed in small theaters, directed both theater and short film, and began dabbling in writing. But at age 33, another bug bit him — “some kind of infection” — which destroyed all of the cartilage in his knee and damaged his
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