Biografia
Rona Edwards, a California Institute of the Arts theatre graduate, served as Vice President of Creative Affairs for Emmy winner John Larroquette (Night Court), Academy Award winner Michael Phillips Productions (The Sting, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Taxi Driver), and Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated producer Fern Field (Monk, Heartsounds) before reluctantly transitioning into independent producing. As a producer, she co-produced and/or executive produced One Special Victory (NBC) starring John Larroquette; The Companion (USA/Sci Fi Channel), directed by Gary Fleder; I Know What You Did (ABC) starring Rosanna Arquette; Out Of Sync (VH1) starring Gail O'Grady; and Der Mörder Meiner Mutter (Sat.1/Studio Hamburg) for German television. She developed Matchmakers, a Warner Bros. feature based on a People magazine article, and sold the movie Blind Trust, which aired on Lifetime in 2007. Edwards also optioned Ellen Byerrum’s "Crimes of Fashion" book series, producing two Lifetime Movie Network films: Killer Hair and Hostile Makeover.
She is currently involved in several documentaries, including one with award-winning documentarian Barbara Multer-Wellin about military nurses, exploring war from their perspective. Edwards produced Unforgettable, written and directed by Eric Williams (Mad City, Out Of Sync), which chronicles his brother’s experience with hyperthymesia—the ability to recall every day of his life—and aired on PBS Wisconsin. She executive produced the award-winning documentary Selling Sex In Heaven, directed by Meredith Ralston, which won the Beyond Borders Award for Documentary Film and the Juror's Award at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival, and aired on CBC.
Edwards has had projects produced or developed with major networks and studios, including script deals and movies at ABC, CBS, NBC, Hearst Entertainment, VH1, HBO, Phoenix Pictures, Edward R. Pressman, Motor City Films, Warner Bros., Alan Landsberg Productions, The David Wolper Organization, Lifetime, Incendo Media, All Girl Productions, and Wilshire Court, among others.
Together with Monika Skerbelis, former VP at Universal Pictures, Edwards co-authored I Liked It, Didn't Love It (Screenplay Development From The Inside Out!), now in its third edition, and The Complete Filmmaker’s Guide to Film Festivals, soon to be in its second edition—both widely used as university textbooks. She contributed to The Beachwood Voice, The Los Feliz Ledger, and wrote the column "Rona's Reel Take" for the New York publication NeoWorld Review, expressing her candid views on the film industry. Additionally, Edwards has written music reviews for FAME (The Folk Acoustic Music Exchange) online, restaurant reviews, feature articles for various publications, and is a contributing writer for Produced By Magazine, the Producers Guild of America’s official magazine, with articles on producing teams behind Roma, as well as features on Stanley Kramer, R.J. Cutler, Marc Platt, and others.
Edwards spent four years teaching film, television, and transmedia producing in Singapore as an Assistant Professor at Chapman University's Singapore campus, instructing courses such as Creative Producing & Development, Screenwriting, Producing for Television, and an Overview of Creative Transmedia Producing. She continues to teach screenwriting, producing, television producing, new media, and the business of screenwriting at Chapman University’s Dodge College, Columbia College Chicago’s Semester in LA, NYU, UCONN, and other institutions.
