Robert Manganelli, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California, is currently in pre-production for his upcoming film "Man in the Maze," executive produced by Academy Award-winning director Alexander Payne. His production company is also adapting the novel "Strange Seed" by TM Wright into a motion picture, with a screenplay by Tony Schillaci. Additionally, Relativity Studios has optioned his reality-based television series "Miss Mobile Home," which explores trailer park culture across America.
Manganelli's fascination with photography began at a young age, and by the time he was 13, his photographs had toured over 30 countries through the Photographic Society of America. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photographic Illustration in 1983. His work has been exhibited globally, including a group show "Pennsylvania Photographers" curated by Weson Naef, curator of photographic prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Before transitioning to filmmaking, Manganelli worked as a photojournalist in Washington DC from 1983 to 1985, working with clients such as Washingtonian Magazine, The Washington Weekly, and serving as Senator Ted Kennedy's personal photographer. During this time, he made his first film, "3.23.85," a self-portrait drawn from a selection of phone messages collected over a two-year span.
Manganelli went on to receive a Master's Degree from UCLA Film School, where he wrote and directed the award-winning short film "Listen Carefully." The film was selected for numerous film festivals, including Sundance, AFI, Haifa Israel, Porto Portugal, Cork Ireland, CINE Golden Eagle, Critics Choice/Peoples Choice - Tokyo, The Columbus Award, and the Spotlight Award - UCLA Alumni.
He was subsequently chosen to participate in the Writers and Directors Labs at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, where he fully developed his screenplay "Seeing in the Dark" ("After Image" 2001). The film starred John Mellencamp, Louise Fletcher (Academy Award winner for "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"),and Terrylene, and screened at Sundance before being picked up by Miramax for domestic distribution and Intermedia for international release.
Excerpts of Manganelli's writing can be found in Lew Hunter's best-selling book "Screenwriting 434," in which Lew wrote that Manganelli's work is not "Lawrence of Arabia in scope but is Tennessee Williams in depth." Currently, Manganelli has returned to his hometown and is spearheading the effort to build a motion picture, television, and imaging science studio located in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, utilizing his patent-pending "Media Management System."
