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I'm Mike Falcone, nice to meet you.
I have been writing for quite a long time, but recently decided that I take this writing "thang" a little more seriously. I love words and stringing sentences together. Nothing pleases me more than scribbling up a blank page with my thoughts, ideas and my sometimes witty remarks.
I graduated from university with a history degree. Back then I secretly wanted to become a writer and chose what I thought was the next best thing. I spent years doing tons of research and writing a slew of essays per semester. I took courses in anthropology, geology, classical civilization and, my favourite, intellectual history.
After graduation I walked the streets of Ottawa until I was forced to gain employment in the most boring office job that nearly threatened to destroy my sanity if were not for my innate ability to titillate myself with the little stories that went boom boom in me head. At work I started scribbling notes that became sentences and finally paragraphs. I found myself writing many hours a day and loving it.
During this time, I rediscovered other long lost treasures, most notably, my love for the visual arts. I found myself craving colour, form and design. I fed this hunger through films, television and graphic novels - a place where storytelling and art gave birth to those bigger than life experiences that managed to peer ever so deeply into the hearts and minds of all men, women and children.
Meanwhile, cosmic wheels were turning and behold, another treasure was found.
I saw an ad for the Scriptwriting Program at Algonquin College and seriously considered pouring the boring office job money into the grand adventure of screenwriting. After much thought and grossly miscalculating the actual cost of the program, I enrolled for the next eight months in what I called "work therapy".
Eight months and a few thousand bucks later, I called myself a writer and, well... went back to old boring office job. During that time I decided to make life a little more lively by hanging around Ottawa's arts community where I met a producer who decided to film my first short screenplay.
A taste of the "biz" spoiled me instantly and I left the boring office job for good. I wandered through the arts community doing odd jobs until I answered the call for the first ever Academic Coach position in the Scriptwriting Program.
From there, I became "the coach" and helped students rediscover their own lost treasures within themselves and their writing. I preached the good word of storytelling while basking in the steady stream of new talent in the program. During this time, I took upon myself to recruit new writers through another tutoring job and found that teaching students how to write was just as easy as writing itself!
Where am I now? Writing like crazy, day in and day out. My love for the visual arts has spilled into countless hours of watching animation, some photography and even a little graphic design. Looking back, I realized that taking risks cured my boredom, so I took another one and applied for my first filmmaking grant. I got the grant and started my first ever short film paying homage to the beauty of nature and city life.