John Malone

Hey there! My name is John Malone - storyteller, filmmaker, writer. I hold a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Cinematic Arts (Film and Television Production) from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction & Scriptwriting) from Regis University in Denver, CO. I also earned my BA in English from Regis University with a minor in Creative Writing. 

 

So yeah, I really, really like writing and all things creative. Big dreams for sure, but one life, right? Wait, is that a beer commercial? Anyway, I believe you should pursue what makes you happy and gives you passion. And in this life I'm living, that's anything and everything within the creative world. Movies, TV, heck, even copywriting, and all things video games - the last of which I definitely play too much of.

 

I was born and raised in Colorado, so I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure it's the best state out there. The only thing it's missing is the beach - but thankfully, I currently live in LA, so I have that pretty much in my backyard (and an hour's worth of traffic away, that is). 

 

I have been a storyteller and a writer since I was a little kid really, but I didn't start calling myself one until graduate school. It's a funny thing, finally referring to yourself as a writer, as a creator, but it was a big step in recognizing my accomplishments and telling the world, "Yeah, this is me!" Something I continue to find myself saying daily as I march on down this path called life. 

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I have years of professional experience as a writer and worked on several small and large-scale production sets during my time at USC. I also worked a myriad of roles, including editor, director, lead writer, producer, and, of course, just helping out on set any way I could. One of the roles I'm most proud of was being one of six writers from a pool of over thirty to be selected as a staff writer and producer for a three-episode drama series produced at USC.

 

My first major short film out of USC, entitled Fine, was accepted into several national and international film festivals and received the award for Best Male Student Director for my work on the film from The Tokyo Shorts Festival. 

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My second short film, entitled How Are Ya?, was produced independently and also found success at several film festivals, including taking home the award for Most Creative Storytelling. 

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Both of these short films were made with shoe-string budgets and skeleton crews, and yet they were able to find success. I believe this is a testament to my storytelling ability as well as the talented individuals I had the pleasure of working with. They can be seen in their entirety on the 'Video Work' page of this website. 

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Outside of film, I created and co-wrote an audio series that has over 300k recorded listeners and counting and I've had work published in Barnstorm Journal, The Avalon Literary Review, The Albion Review, and Loophole.

 

I am also happily married to the love of my life, love dogs more than *most* people, and will eat pineapple pizza any day of the week. Pleasure to meet you!