About

Ron Falzone is an award-winning screenwriter and Associate Professor Emeritus in Cinema and Television Arts at Columbia College Chicago and an Instructor at Second City Film School at Chicago’s legendary Second City. His short script, Typing, was produced by Zaxie Films in 2010, and his feature screenplay, Close Quarters, was produced by Nefarious Productions in 2011, both directed by Jack C Newell.  The latter was nominated for six 2012 Midwest Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Screenplay. Falzone co-produced (with Julian Grant) and wrote the animated feature film Coriander and a Penny’s Worth of Lonesome and is in development at Montrose Pictures with his screenplay Unity in Love.  In 2020, “History of Her Future,” his graphic novel (illustrated by Julian Grant), was published and is available on Amazon.  Most recently, his screenplay, The Virgin Knot, won Best Unproduced Screenplay at the the 2021 LA Sun Film Fest and Best Comedy Feature Screenplay at Houston Comedy Film Festival.  It was nominated for the same award at Montreal Independent Film Festival as well as a nominee for Best Comedy Feature Screenplay at the Austin Comedy Film Festival, and the Georgia Comedy Film Festival, a Semi-Finalist in the Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards, and was selected as a Monthly Pick at the Rome Prisma Film Awards.

 

Falzone has been an Artist in Residence at Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois and Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi, Italy. He is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship in Screenwriting as well as IAC Finalist Awards for his screenplays Hope’s Dash and Unity in Love.  Films he has written and/or co-produced have been screened at festivals around the world including the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner, Sensei Filmfest (Tokyo), the Friars Club Comedy Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Big Bear Lake Film Festival, Kansas City Film Festival, Santa Monica International Film Festival, and Montreal World Film Festival as well as at the Global Lift-Off Festivals in Los Angeles, London, Sydney and Melbourne.  

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Beyond screenwriting, Falzone’s writing credits include monographs on filmmakers Harold Ramis, Margarethe von Trotta, Patrice Chereau and Todd Solondz, fiction (“Sitting on a Corn Flake,” “Home Delivery”), performance adaptations (Hart Hanson Nips Demon Rum and Other Stories, a joint production of City Lit Theater Company and WBEZ Radio and The Freebooters of Skull Island, a joint production of Goodman Theatre and Urban Gateways), playwriting (Nightmare Alley, The History of Her Future, Loop'd), opera (Coriander and a Penny’s Worth of Lonesome), and criticism (two years as film and theatre critic for the Banner News syndicate, two years as on-air film critic for WAOR Radio, Niles MI, three years as specialty film critic for Static Multimedia, and currently, for Talk Cinema).

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Prior to entering film, Falzone worked as a producer, writer and director in professional theatre from 1972 until 1991.  During this time, he was responsible for over seventy mainstage productions at theatres from Boston to New York City to Chicago.  Two of these, Tartuffe (director) at Pegasus Players and Awakenings (producer) at City Lit Theater Company, were recommended for Joseph Jefferson citations.  As director, his productions include Moliere's The Learned Ladies at Pegasus Players, Becket, A Man for All Seasons and Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus at Chancel Players and Uncommon Women and Others at Court Theatre at the University of Chicago.  In May, 1999, Falzone staged a concert of Philip Seward’s musical comedy High Fidelity at New York City's Merkin Hall.  His most unique production to date has been Outta' Joint, an original musical created in collaboration with maximum security prisoners at Illinois' Stateville Correctional Center.

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During this time, Falzone also worked as an arts administrator and consultant.  From 1980 to 1982 he served as artistic director of Chancel Players and filled the same position for the next two years at Open Circle Theatre Company.  In 1985, he was appointed artistic coordinator for Chicago's famed Organic Theater Company.  In this position, Falzone founded and coordinated The Greenhouse, a nationally recognized incubator for smaller theatre companies and emerging artists.  During his tenure at The Greenhouse, Falzone co-produced The All Chicago Play Festival (a three week "reading marathon" of over 100 plays by Chicago area playwrights) and the Organic Summer Performance Series (to that time the largest festival of performance art pieces in the Midwest).  In 1987, Falzone became producing director for City Lit Theater Company where he guided the ten year-old company through its first announced season.  He has since advised numerous cultural and arts organizations on financial development and artistic management.  Among past arts- and culture-oriented clients are Child's Play Touring Theatre, The Museum of Broadcast Communications, The Chicago Baroque Ensemble, Rendition Theatre, Garfield Park Conservatory, and Cinema Dementia.

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Falzone has been a frequent contributor on film and film history to various media outlets including WBBM News, WFLD News, WGN Radio and WBEZ Radio and has been a guest lecturer on film for the Chicago International Film Festival, Asian Pop-Up Cinema, Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, The Field Museum of Natural History, The Shooting Gallery Film Series, Northwestern University’s OLLI Adult Learning Program, the Wilmette and Evanston Public Libraries, and the City of Chicago's Office of Cultural Affairs.  Falzone is a recurring host of Talk Cinema and spent twelve years as the referee and co-producer of the popular screening series Cinema Slapdown. 

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Falzone holds a B.A. in Film from Columbia College Chicago and an M.F.A. in Directing from Northwestern University.