Amy Lin Johnson and Lisa Anderson, Standouts in TV Production, Killed in Auto Accident in Costa Rica

Amy Lin Johnson and Lisa Anderson, two respected behind-the-scenes players who specialized in live events and awards shows for television, died Friday in an automobile accident while on vacation in Costa Rica. Johnson was 49. Anderson was 45.

The pair died after the tourist minibus in which they were riding struck a tractor trailer while attempting to make a pass on a two-lane road, according to a local report.

Their vacation companion, Leslie Wilson, 54, a TV producer and director who also works in the live-event space, survived the crash and was released from a hospital. The fourth passenger in their minibus, as well as its driver, were killed.

Diana Barton, a producer who has collaborated with Johnson, Anderson and Wilson, told The Hollywood Reporter that the three friends were on their way to get tested for COVID-19 so they could return home the next day.

Johnson and Wilson recently served as co-executive producers on ABC’s Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade. They and Anderson forged careers as dependable freelancers who found work with many companies over the years.

The deaths of Johnson and Anderson have “shaken my production community to its core,” Michael Levitt, producer and president of unscripted content producer Michael Levitt Productions, wrote on Facebook. “When they say the ‘good die young,’ there is no better example than Amy Johnson and Lisa Anderson. Both extremely talented, kind and beautiful souls. Always with smiles on their faces. True professionals and stellar human beings.”

A graduate of the University of South Florida, Johnson compiled a producing résumé that included work on TV specials surrounding the CMT Music Awards, the Kids’ Choice Awards and the iHeartRadio Music Festival.

Anderson, from Springfield, Illinois, served as a production manager, associate director, script supervisor and producer for such live events as the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, The Kennedy Center Honors — she just finished work on the 2021 edition — Golden Globes, Grammys and live Oscar red carpet specials.

Johnson’s survivors include her parents; her sister, Cammie; her brother, Matthew; and her son, Harper. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help her son. Anderson’s survivors include her parents; she was not married and had no children.

“Amy and Lisa’s passing has set off a reverberation of loss that is being felt deeply within our production family of variety television,” Barton and Wilson said in a statement to THR. “Nothing about our work exists very long except the bonds and friendship we form over the years, with those we work with. In many cases, these relationships transcend into family. Amy and Lisa positively touched everything they ever did and everyone they ever worked with, and we were family.

“This was not just the result of their decades-long endless talent, determination, hard work and most importantly their willingness to be part of, if not the heart of, a television show. It was the result of who they truly were as human beings.

“As well as being beloved daughters and Amy a devoted mother, they were our colleagues, our dear friends, our ‘sister from another mister,’ a shoulder to lean on and the first call you made when you needed a glass of wine and to talk.

“We are a collective of friends numbering in the hundreds that will miss their laughter, wit, intelligence and overall wonderful spirit. They will be sorely missed by all and will certainly never be replaced.”