Daily Inspiration: Meet Ron Placone

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ron Placone

Hi Ron, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The short of it is, starting in about 2021 I started making the transition from “comedian podcaster guy” to “comedian sometimes podcaster guy, but doing more in film production.” Not a complete 180 by any means, but a significant pivot. I ended my old podcast and started a new one. I also began work on my first feature film. That’s the short of it, here’s the longer version:

Ron Placone is a comedian, writer, and filmmaker. A joke-slinging vagabond, he’s toured nearly everywhere in the US, Australia, Canada, and his solo-show, “Balding is Punk Rock”, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023 (****). His co-headlining tour with Graham Elwood sold out venues in Melbourne, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Miami. Ron’s been seen on the Discovery Channel, CrossTalk, Redacted Tonight, and he’s a regular contributor to Status Coup News. His debut album, “Agnostic Holiday”, is in rotation on SiriusXM.

In 2022, Ron took the dive into production. Since then, he’s released the webisode/pilot, Loner, his vertical series, Frank Azurri, premiered in Rome and then was later released on Status Coup News, and his debut feature, Left At Wall, enjoyed sold out screenings in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, an international screening in London, and is available on Apple TV, YouTube Movies, Google Play, XBox, DVD, and more NOW!

Bit by the bug, he’s got a documentary in the works and is working on his next feature, Termination Fee, which will simultaneously be launched as a stage play. He also continues the co-production of the web-comic, Lucy & Ron, with a book series forthcoming.

His podcast is 1000 w/ Ron Placone, where he goes on a quest to interview 1000 different people who have inspired or piqued his interest in some way.

He lives in the LA neighborhood of San Pedro where he enjoys having the beach and punk shows within walking distance. Loves: Cats, Unions, Cannoli, Music, Hockey, Soccer. Loathes: War, Capitalism, Corruption.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Making my feature film, Left At Wall, was not necessarily a smooth road but I didn’t expect it to be. It was my first feature. Basically, I’d never made a movie before. I’d been on other peoples’ sets, had bit parts here and there, sure, but I’ve never been in charge of a full production. It was a rush. While the good outweighed the bad, it definitely had its hardships and stressful moments. The particulars are way too insider baseball to get into, mainly administrative stuff, necessary steps to get to distribution, that sort of thing. That’s stuff I’ve never had any exposure to, and I now see why big production houses have entire teams dedicated to this stuff. I didn’t have an entire dedicated team when that time came. I had a team to make the film, but the administrative end of post-production, that was all on me. Not my wheel-house. Never will be. But, we got through.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Today I’d like to talk about my movie, Left At Wall. It’s a quirky indie comedy about a sibling rivalry. It’s inspired by the Gamestop incident that happened in 2021. To be clear though, our story’s completely fictional. I got the idea shortly after the Reddit thing happened. I started writing the script almost immediately. Our first trailer was up by August of 2021 and we used that to obtain the funding for the film.

My favorite review so far: Somebody referred to it as “Clerks for Gen Z.” As a fan of Kevin Smith, not just of the work itself but the way he does things, I really appreciated that one. Oddly enough though I am not a member of Gen Z. I don’t think anyone on our cast or crew was except for our makeup artist, Amanda. Heh. But, I still see the nod. Basically, we call out the Wall Street machine through a heartfelt story about family and romance. Imagine if High Fidelity and The Big Short had a baby and then that baby joined a Union. That’s Left At Wall.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I wrote Left At Wall with the pandemic in mind. It is also referenced throughout the film. Keep in mind, this was 2021. We had no idea what the world had in store for us yet. So, I wrote Left At Wall accordingly…All of the scenes only involve a few characters, a ton of the scenes are outdoors, that was all deliberate.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ronplacone.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/RonPlacone
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RonPlaconeComedy
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonPlacone
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/RonPlacone
• Other: https://www.ronplacone.com/left-at-wall

Image Credits
Photos by Big Click Energy