Anthony Flacco's Biography

Writers Guild of America / west -- Mystery Writers of America -- International Thriller Writers

Anthony’s background as a trained stage actor with over 2,000 performances under his Actors Equity membership provides the primary basis for his critically acclaimed ability to empathize with a wide cross-section of personalities. [See his reviews at www.Amazon.com.] His screenwriting experience is also of great use in telling narrative stories that are visually compelling, whether for the “screen” of a reader’s imagination or the screen of a theatre or at home.

He was selected for the prestigious American Film Institute fellowship in Screenwriting, and received his MFA in writing there in 1990 after winning AFI’s Paramount Studios Fellowship Award for his script, The Frog's Legacy. He was then selected out of 2,000 entrants for the Walt Disney Studios Screenwriting Fellowship, and spent a year writing for the Touchstone Pictures division.

In 1995, his first nonfiction book, A Checklist for Murder, was acquired in auction by Dell Books as a mass market paperback and turned in solid sales. Anthony adapted his book as a two-hour television movie script and sold it to NBC Studios for a movie of the week. For the next several years, he worked as a freelance script doctor and story editor.

In 2002, Anthony was hired by the Discovery Channel to write a two-hour documentary entitled Deadly Spree, based on a true story. His true crime writing was also featured on a one-hour episode of The Prosecutors for Court TV.

In 2003, Anthony served as a national Judge for the Illinois Arts Council, writing individual evaluations for over 100 screenplays for their 2003 Writing Awards. He also worked on finishing his longest running project, the historical novel, Tesla's Best Secret. His screenplay adaptation of that novel was a finalist in the Alfred Sloan Fellowship for Sundance in 2003.

Throughout 2004, in addition to his own writing, Anthony served as a freelance editor for books and book proposals that have recently sold to Hay House, Vanderwyck & Burnham, Rodale Press, and Lyons Press. He has also written book proposals for other authors who have gone on to garner publication contracts with Rodale Press, Random House Publications, and St. Martin’s Press.

During 2005, Anthony completed his nonfiction book Tiny Dancer for Thomas Dunne Books at St. Martin’s Press, and the advance copy was selected by Reader’s Digest as their Editor’s Choice for August, 2005 -- their 1,000th Commemorative Issue. The book has been internationally acclaimed, translated and published in Italian and coming out in Portuguese. The Kansas City Star named Tiny Dancer one of the "100 Most Noteworthy Books of 2005."

Anthony also edited the first two manuscripts for a new series of humorous books written by gay and straight couples, called E-Musings, which have sold to Marabout for French translation.

In April, 2006 Anthony sold his first two novels of a historical fictional series to Ballantine/Random House. The first novel, The Last Nightingale, is a June 12, 2007 release, with the second, The Hidden Man, coming in spring of 2008.

An experienced public speaker, Anthony frequently gives seminars on crime writing (brief syllabus available). He was a featured speaker on writing in the spring, ’07 Santa Barbara Writers Conference as well as the San Francisco Writers Conference. For 2008, events include his four-hour seminar as a featured speaker at Media Bistro in Los Angeles on March 8, and on March 25th at the Brandeis University National Women's Committee Annual Spring Book and Author Luncheon, along with authors Carolyn See, Lisa See, and Gayle Brandeis.

In 2009 -- Anthony will be teaching a 12-week Certificate course on Writing Commercial Fiction at the University of Washington in Seattle from February 16th through May 2nd.

Print Media Credits:

Reader’s Digest Magazine

Stars and Stripes Newspaper [military paper sent to all U.S. combat forces]

Events Quarterly Magazine

Books written by Anthony Flacco

A Checklist For Murder Dell Books

Tiny Dancer St. Martin’s Press

The Last Nightingale Mortalis Books at Random House (Spring, 2007)

The Hidden Man Mortalis Books at Random House (Spring, 2008)

Documentaries

Deadly Spree (2-hour) The Discovery Channel

The Prosecutors -- Court TV

L.A. Forensics – Court TV

Recent Editorial Credits -- Published Books

Front of the Class, VanderWyck and BurnhamBut You Knew That Already, Rodale PressThe Postcard Killer, Avalon BooksHe Typed…She Typed, Marabout Publishers, FranceTruth At Last… The True Story of the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Lyons Press

Anthony writing on his philosophy of work:

Whether working in fiction or nonfiction, I focus on stories that make statements about the positive side of human nature, because it seems to me that too much of today’s trend in public writing tends toward nihilistic reportage posing as enlightened realism. Reaching a more deeply considered reality can mean delving long and hard into very dark places in order to understand the story’s conflict, but I can only pursue stories that hold an honest and compelling expression of hope for the reader – not a manufactured sentiment, but an imparted sense of fulfillment.

more at: http://www.anthonyflacco.com/