The man who co-created the 1990s hit sitcom “Home Improvement” will receive the 2017 Imago Film Festival’s highest honor in April.

Judson University has announced that David McFadzean will be the recipient of the Imago Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor given to an individual whose work in film has significantly shaped the discourse on faith and ethics in the arts.

McFadzean will accept the honor in person during the 13^th annual Imago Film Festival, set for April 4 to April 8 on the Judson campus (1151 N. State St., Elgin). He will be the special guest speaker during the Imago chapel event at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 5, at Herrick Chapel. He will receive the Imago Lifetime Achievement Award honor during a ceremony that starts at 7 p.m. in Herrick Chapel.

The Imago Film Festival showcases independent films and filmmakers who use image and story to explore faith and ethics and the journey from brokenness to hope.

McFadzean has had an illustrious film career. He began his career as a playwright in Chicago, and he earned a master’s degree at Illinois State University. In 1989, McFadzean formed Wind Dancer Films with Carmen Finestra and Matt Williams.

He has served as the executive story editor on the pilot and during the premiere season of the hit TV show “Roseanne” and was part of the Wind Dancer Films production team that brought to the TV screen such shows as “Carol & Company,” starring Carol Burnett, “Buddies,” with Dave Chappelle, “Thunder Alley,” with Ed Asner, “Soul Man,” with Dan Aykroyd, “Saint George,” with George Lopez, and “Home Improvement,”one of the most successful half hours of the ’90s.

Several of the shows received Emmy nominations and “Home Improvement,” starring Tim Allen, won multiple People’s Choice Awards.

McFadzean’s film producer credits include:

• “Bernie,” starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Shirley MacLaine
• “What Women Want,” starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt
• “Where The Heart Is,” starring Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd
• “Firelight,” starring Sophie Marceau
• “Walker Payne,” with Jason Patric and Sam Shepherd
• “As Cool as I Am,” with Claire Danes and James Marsden
• “The Keeping Room,” starring Brit Marling, Sam Worthington and Hailee Steinfeld

With Daryl Roth Productions, McFadzean and his Wind Dancer partners co-produced the Off Broadway premiere of Mark St. Germain’s “Camping with Henry and Tom” at New York City’s Lucille Lortel Theatre. And at Playwrights Horizons, they co-produced the premiere of Kirsten Child’s “The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin.”

McFadzean is a graduate of the University of Evansville and has a master’s degree in theater from Illinois State University. He is a founding board member of the New Harmony Writers’ Conference, is on the board of directors of Act One: Writing for Hollywood and sits on advisory boards of several arts organizations. He has spoken on producing and writing for film and television at many colleges, universities and conferences across the U.S.

He lives outside Los Angeles, CA, with his wife, Liz. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

SOURCE: Judson University news release

About Judson University

Judson University is a fully accredited, private Christian institution. Nestled along the beautiful Fox River in Elgin, just 40 miles northwest of Chicago, Judson is home to more than 1,200 students from 33 states and 20 countries. Judson offers degrees in more than 65 majors and minors for traditional, graduate and adult students and ranks consistently among the Best Regional Universities in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report. Judson has also been recognized as a “Christian College of Distinction.” With an academically challenging environment and encouraging spiritual community, Judson shapes lives that shape the world.