User:John P. Ondo/sandbox

John P. Ondo (June 4, 1967-) is an American Filmmaker and Television producer from Columbus, Ohio. He is known for his documentary films which tell the stories of schools and small towns which he claims, are still the backbone of America. John began working in television as a teenager in Christian Broadcasting at a local television station in Lima, Ohio. He would go on to produce and direct for several Christian telvision networks and programs including TVU Music Television, Breakthrough with Rod Parsley, and Fixing the Money Thing with Gary Keesee. In 2009 he founded Ondo Media and in 2011 began working fulltime as a media consultant and filmmaker. In addiation to his documentary work, his short films and testimonial commercials have brought him recognition of over five Telly Awards and 3 Ohio Valley Emmy Awards.

Early Life John was born on June 4, 1967 in Lima, Ohio to Almeda and John Ondo who encouraged him in the pursuit of broadcasting in his teenage years. John grew up with a love of broadcasting. He began volunteering at WTLW TV44, a independent Christian TV station in Lima on June 13, 1982. Later he began directing live television programs by the age of seventeen. John moved from shooting and editing to producing nationally syndicated programs and pushing them in the early 90’s to be interactive using the Internet as a way to connect with the audience. John served as Coordinating Producer of "Turning Point" which later became "44 Magazine". During his time he worked with the show's presence at the Allen County Fair from 1996-2000. John served as director and later producer of "Straight Talk from Teens" which received 2 NATAS Regional Emmy nominations in 1998 & 1999.

John married his wife Rebecca in October of 1996. He moved to Columbus, Ohio to build and launch TVU Music Television, a music video network which programed alternative and hip hop Christian music. John left TVU in 2005 to work part time at WTVN AM as well as served as a senior producer for Breakthrough with Rod Parsley. John work on creating a more interactive program bringing a live "wrap around" audience to the program, as well as produced many of Breakthrough's political action based programs.

Between 2002 and 2008 John and Rebecca had 3 children, Elaine Julia and Alex.

In 2009, John became Media Director of Faith Life Now, where he began to produce "Fixing the Money Thing with Gary Keesee", meanwhile John also founded Ondo Media LLC, which would begin to produce it's first film called "Reflections of Elida"

In 2011, John left Faith Life Now to work full time as President and Creative Director of Ondo Media. John's marriage to his wife Rebecca also came to an end that year.

Reflections of Elida, Ondo Media's first film, a documentary on the Elida School system received 3 Telly Awards. John also began producing short films with the 48 Hour Film Project, which also received several awards including the film "Able" and "Grand Undertakings" which received audience choice awards in 2013 & 2014 respectively.

In 2014 John produced and directed the documentary "Echoes of Gomer School" which won a NATAS Emmy for achievement in photography. Read featured article from The Lima News Interview of John Ondo on WTLW TV