Bio

Ron Podell

An award-winning professional journalist who has been telling stories since his high school newspaper days, Ron Podell is currently seeking WGA literary representation.

Podell has had early success in screenwriting contests and the festival circuit, winning awards for his two feature-length and seven short screenplays. Podell has been recognized with awards at such notable film festivals as Cinema City, Action on Film, Moondance, The Indie Gathering and Woods Hole, all considered top 25 film festivals by MovieMaker Magazine.

He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Franklin College in Franklin, Ind., and has worked for newspapers in Indiana, Florida and Maryland, and national newsletters in Washington, D.C. He currently is a communications specialist at the University of Wyoming.

Born in Valparaiso, Indiana, Podell’s earliest memory in a movie theater was watching “Sleeping Beauty” with his Dad and remembering the scene when the wicked queen morphed into a giant dragon. Other early childhood influences were the original “King Kong”, “Casablanca”, “The Wizard of Oz”, Saturday night “Creature Features” and too many John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart movies to count.

As a young boy, he eventually graduated to such popcorn films as “Jaws”, “Star Wars”, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Podell counts the first two “Godfather” films, “Rocky” and “Goodfellas” among his all-time favorites. He appreciates today’s special-effects technology that can bring comic book stories to breathtaking life while simultaneously admiring the storytelling of movies during the 1970s.

Favorite recent screenplays include “The Departed”, “Juno” and “No Country for Old Men.”

“However, Billy Wilder remains the master,” Podell said. Podell recently served as a panelist for the “Screenplay Contests – Paths to Recognition and Production” seminar at the 2009 Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles. He will be included in the upcoming book, titled “Top 50 Indie Writers in the World,” that will be released in 2015 through Apple iTunes.

Podell’s ultimate career ambition is to produce a healthy balance of spec screenplays and works for hire for studios and production companies of actors and directors he admires.

“Every story has been told. I just want to find new and unique ways to tell them for large audiences,” Podell said.