With a small but showy recurring role on HBO's The Newsroom, this actor/filmmaker is one to keep your eye on.
The second season of "The Newsroom" is underway and up-and-coming actor/filmmaker Joel Johnstone caught our eye. Playing the leader of the Advanced team for Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, Johnstone goes toe-to-toe with left-winger ACN's Jim (played by John Gallagher Jr.), making every effort to thwart Jim's ability to cover the Romney campaign.
We got the opportunity to speak to Johnstone about working with Aaron Sorkin, his award-winning short film The Pilgrim & the Private Eye starring Tom Noonan, and the advice he'd give to young filmmakers wanting to shoot in NYC.
Tribeca: I just caught up on "The Newsroom" last night and I love where the show is headed this season. How familiar with the show were you before you auditioned?
Joel Johnstone: Before I ever auditioned, "The Newsroom" was my favorite show on TV. I probably watched every episode twice, at least. I never thought that I was going to get the part because I was such a huge fan. I just cared too much. As an actor, you want to go in to every audition and have fun and be carefree and not care too much about the job. It's about doing good work. If you focus on the job, you're going to fall on your face more often than not.
Tribeca: You play Cameron, a Romney staffer who Jim first encounters in New Hampshire. Had you followed the race to the 2012 election closely?
JJ: I did. One of my best friends is in politics and worked for one of the national campaigns. I can't say which one but I would get daily updates throughout the process. Before that, I didn't know what an advance team was even though I ended up playing the head of Romney's advance team on the show. My best friend also filled me in on a lot of specialized knowledge that you don't find on the Internet. It's really eye opening and fascinating, but at the same time, is a little disconcerting to learn the ins and outs of how a presidential campaign is run.
You really have to search for that diamond in the rough when media is so easily accessible and relatively painless to make.
Tribeca: You're one of the lucky actors who gets to speak dialogue written by Aaron Sorkin. In fact, you have the most Sorkin-esque moment in the season 2 premiere of the show when you first encounter Jim outside the Romney bus. What was that experience like for you?
Tribeca: I was a huge fan. It's no secret that Aaron Sorkin is a gigantic actor's friend. He makes the set very open and inviting. I remember on my first day on location at 5:30 in the morning in late November the sun wasn't even up yet Aaron came up to me and welcomed me to the show and told me that I was going to be great. That was all I needed; that was it. [laughs]That opened me up and made playing the role very easy. Plus, John Gallagher Jr. is just the nicest person on the planet, and Alan Poul is an incredibly talented, wonderful director.
Tribeca: Were you always a fan of Sorkin?
JJ: I've followed him pretty religiously since I was sixteen years old. When I was a teenager, I just kind of fell in love with his writing. He's got his own stamp. There's a musical quality to his writing a wonderful rhythm that's just masterful. Plus, he's the most enthusiastic person on set. You really get that sense that there's no other place in the world this guy would rather be. He loves the whole process of telling this story, from the writing to the acting to the crew to everything. He's enthusiastic and it's contagious.
Tribeca: You directed, co-wrote and starred in The Pilgrim & the Private Eye, a short film that won the jury prize at the Long Island Film Festival. So, in addition to being an actor, you're also a filmmaker. Is it hard to juggle both professions? Do you ever feel like you're neglecting one for the other?
JJ: I felt that making this film helped me to become a stronger actor. The actors that I've always admired the most were the ones who also have created films themselves. I grew up watching guys like Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Warren Beatty and Kevin Costner. I feel like it's an intertwined relationship, and one only makes the other stronger. If you know how to tell a story as an actor, you will be a better director and vice versa. To have your eye on the bigger picture and not just be focused in one area benefits all sides of storytelling.
So I never felt like I was juggling or sacrificing one for the other at all. I will say that as doing the film festival circuit as a filmmaker requires a giant time commitment that I didn't anticipate. It's a fulltime job to be on the festival circuit. Submitting the film is just the beginning. You also have to prepare to go and talk at events and promote your film, and that is an education all by itself.
Tribeca: Set in Coney Island, The Pilgrim & the Private Eye is a modern twist on old-fashioned noir that is filled with some unexpected laughs. Did you ever consider turning to kickstarter or indiegogo to raise funds?
JJ: I beat myself up every day for not using Kickstarter, I didn't know about Kickstarter or Indiegogo when I started all this. My writing and producing partner Matt [Kubacki] and I got to the point where if we didn't make the short right then, it wasn't going to happen. We'd always talked about it, but we really began aggressively writing it when we realized that everywhere we wanted to shoot in Coney Island was closing down.
Tom Noonan was filming "Hell on Wheels" at the time, but he had one weekend free in New York, so we had to rush to get things into action. It was 100% self-financed on an ultra, ultra shoestring budget. And if I could do it all over again, I would absolutely do Kickstarter because that w
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
With a small but showy recurring role on HBO's The Newsroom, this actor/filmmaker is one to keep your eye on. 
