RON SCALPELLO

RON SCALPELLO

Ron Scalpello is a director, writer and producer who started his career in music/film and sports  journalism at the tender age of seventeen, working for Sounds, reviewing and hanging out with the likes of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Fall, Public Enemy and The Jesus and Marychain. Ron pursued his passion for film and studied for a BA in Film and Video.

Ron combined his time at university with directing over twenty pop promos, and writing for Dazed and Confused, VOX and “Goal” with one of his first articles being selected for a compendium of the “Best Football Writing”.   A highlight was directing the pop promo for The Prodigy’s “Voodoo People” and working on numerous sports commercials with Pep Guardiola,  Neymar, Pele,  Tevez, Sam Allardyce, Gary Lineker and Raheem Sterling. Commercials have included work for major brands and charities, including The FA,  Children In Need, Barclays,  BM, Sony and Hope For Depression with artists and talent including Michael Fassbender. 

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He went on to work as an in-house director for the BBC. His acclaimed “Radio Five Live 8 Mile’ commercial proved a huge success: co-written by Ron, the film won a BTAA, Creative Circle and Promax, Sony awards and featured in Campaign's 'Top Ten Ads of the Year' as well as a Best Director award UK Promax.  His love of film, music and sport was fully expressed in one of the campaigns of the year. 

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Ron has gone on to make five feature films in the last six years with international stars for global markets. His debut film, “Offender” launched Joe Cole as a major talent in his debut lead role and was highly acclaimed. Receiving 4/5 rating from Heat Magazine "this bloody borstal drama makes quiet political points alongside a powerful revenge storyline" and a 4/5 rating from Sky Movies calling it an "admirably crafted, a compelling drama" and likening it to French prison film A Prophet and Alan Clarke's 1979 film Scum. While Empire said “Social realism meets Tony Scott”. Ron went on to direct “Pressure” with  Danny Huston and Matthew Goode, a sport feature documentary about the legendary Bobby Moore, titled, “Bobby”,  and “My Name Is Lenny” with the late great, Sir John Hurt, Michael Bisping, Chanel Cresswell, Nick Moran  and Josh Helman.

Ron is currently in pre-production with the big screen adaptation of the legendary horse trainer Sir Henry Cecil and his amazing story with the unbeatable thoroughbred, Frankel. Starring Jeremy Irons and produced by Eclipse Films, “Frankel” will shoot late 2019 and will focus on Sir Henry Cecil, who after four decades of training thousands of horses, was at his lowest ebb in 2005. Suffering cancer, a marriage breakdown largely played out in gossip columns, his brother’s recent death and estrangement from his son, it seemed he was about to retire as his business and stables dwindled… until Frankel arrived like a gift from God.  Henry trained Frankel into a legendary champion, forging their names in history.

Ron is also attached to a number of projects in the US, including “The One-Five” written by Jeffrey Deaver (The Bone Collector) with Zach Studin producing and “Buster” with Mark Ciadi (Secretariat/The Long Arm/The Senator) at Mayhem Pictures that are out for casting. Ron also continues to write and develop Film and TV scripts for Scalpel and Mack Films.

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ALAN McKENNA

ALAN McKENNA

Alan has been acting in the TV and Film industry for over 20 years and has appeared in numerous productions, ranging from Hollywood movies to BAFTA winning UK television dramas. He has worked alongside a vast array of talent including: Tom Wilkinson, Lennie James, Julie Delpy, Heather Graham, Timothy Spall, Andy Serkis, Sam Clafin, Julie Walters, Andy Garcia and Kate Winslet.

At some point in the early part of this century Ron asked Alan to appear in a short film and pop video he was directing. It was to be the start of a long-term collaboration and the two of them soon joined forces. Their first project was “Here Comes the Summer” a rites of passage set in Britain during the riots of 1981. The script garnered a huge amount of praise and was quickly optioned by Studio Canal. This in turn led to a significant number of industry doors swinging opening.

In 2011 Alan produced “The Somnambulists” with director Richard Jobson. The film premiered at The London Film Festival where its unique style and bold execution was highly acclaimed.

 In early 2013 Alan wrote and starred in the award winning short film “Here With Me”, directed by Pete Riski. 

And later that same year Ron directed Alan’s script for the feature film, “Pressure”, a tense, claustrophobic underwater thriller. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios and stars Danny Huston, Matthew Goode, Joe Cole and Alan Mckenna. 

In 2014 Alan’s script Slammer appeared on the Brit List. a collection of the best unproduced screenplays in the UK.

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In 2016 Alan played the lead in Lorcan Finnegan’s psychological thriller Without Name which premiered at TIFF and LFF. "The actors all are strong, particularly McKenna, who conveys the terrifying isolation of Eric's paranoia as he retreats further and further from reality" - The Hollywood Reporter

Alan’s work in front of the camera continued with roles in Happy Valley, Save Me, Arthur & George, MacBeth and The Hitman’s Bodyguard.  And most recently Alan completed work on The Spanish Princess for Starz and worked alongside Ron once more, playing ruthless hitman Issac in The Corrupted.

On the script front, Alan’s revenge noir thriller Animals is due to shoot in Scandinavia in Autumn 2019. And On The Line an original script centred around the world of football academies has been optioned by Sixteen Films and is gearing up to shoot in 2019/20.

Alan has also recently sold a TV comedy series in the US and has several TV and film projects at various stages of development.

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