Director Franco Pinacchio’s journey to filmmaking was far from an easy. Franco grew up in a household of Italian immigrants that only spoke Italian. He didn’t speak proper English until he was in second grade. He struggled in school, repeated the 9th grade and was expelled in 1993 due to poor attendance. He received his GED in September 1995. He then was accepted by the Wintersville Police Department as an Undercover Officer and moved up to a Patrol Officer. He continued working in several departments and left law enforcement in 2003. He knew he needed a change so he started his own Private Detective business. Years passed he decided to pursue his dream of acting.
He grew up watching Chips, Dukes of Hazard, and Three’s Company. He was intrigued early in his life about “how did they do that?” in the shows. His favorite movies include the Breakfast Club, Back to the Future, and Karate Kid. He recalls speaking to Emilio Estevez in the Cincinnati Library on the set of his movie, The Public. “It was surreal, I picked his brain and asked so many questions and this is the guy from the Breakfast Club, that was on the set in a library.”
Franco’s first role was a background role was on WGN America’s Outsiders. He was in the last 3 episodes of Season 2. Since Outsiders, he has worked in many productions and was intrigued by the dynamics of the behind scenes. He asked a lot of questions and took many mental notes. He worked side by side with some of Hollywood’s biggest Stars, Matthey McConaughey, Alec Baldwin, Steve Carell, Emilio Estevez, and Justin Chatwin, just to name a few.
His love for film leads him to write screenplays. His lasted film Litchfield he has written and directed. It will be in festivals by early 2019. Litchfield is about a small town in West Virginia that is plagued by a rash of kidnappings of young women. One woman is tasked with solving her own disappearance. He may play the detective in the film.
Franco is one of Stephen King’s “Dollar Babies.” He has been contracted with King’s office in August of 2018 to Direct a movie out of his short story, Rest Stop. The movie will be filmed on May 26-27 of this year. In addition, he is filming a documentary, The Battle of Addiction. This project follows several families that have been affected by the opioid epidemic.
Franco is known for writing several shorts including Dombrook where a college-age girl is a home alone while her parents are at a party. The house is broken into by 2 men. Brotherhood-A police officer and career criminal cross paths, Roman-A young boy endures a daily life of bullying, abuse, and hunger, and grows up to become a pillar of his community this is still in production.
This is a documentary about the opioid epidemic in my area. I have interviewed a county sheriff, funeral director, a deputy sheriff, and a recovering addict. I am going to tell stories of three families.
His recent project is the documentary, The Battle of Addiction. The project follows several families that have been affected by the opioid epidemic. One family lost 2 sons in 3 months and the other family lost one son and has a daughter serving a life sentence for murder.
All of these tragedies were a direct result of addiction. Franco will continue to do several interviews in the upcoming months, which will include ride-alongs with law enforcement and EMS personnel. The documentary will be pitched to Netflix through an attorney.
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