Biography
Mark Valenti is an American writer who has written extensively for television and has authored several books.
Valenti wrote the television movies Menno's Mind, starring Billy Campbell, which debuted on Showtime, Like Father, Like Santa, starring Harry Hamlin, which aired on the ABC Family Channel and The Christmas Pageant, starring Melissa Gilbert, for the Hallmark Channel. He wrote My Wife's Secret Life and The Santa Squad for the Lifetime Channel, and his screenplay for the romantic comedy Under A Lover's Moon will be released on Lifetime in 2021. Valenti also wrote the high school fantasy comedy, The Devil and Danny Webster for The Disney Channel.
He scripted the annual holiday special, Mannheim Steamroller's The Christmas Angel, for NBC and received a gold record for the CD release of that project. His family/action feature film script Planet Fred was acquired by Dreamworks, and his family action comedy Bob the House was picked up by Paramount Studios. An action drama, Pursuit, was developed by Twentieth-Century Fox Studios.
Valenti was Creative Director for a team tasked with re-imagining Disney's California Adventures theme park in California, and also served as Creative Manager for Disney Interactive. Prior to his writing career, Valenti was Vice President of Development for John Hughes Entertainment, during the production period of Home Alone, Uncle Buck, Christmas Vacation, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He has written pilot scripts and bibles for numerous global entertainment properties, and was the network Story Editor for Nickelodeon. He has also written for Back to the Future, Olivia, Gaspard and Lisa, Totally Spies, Kid Fitness, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and many others.
He has authored several books; The Wolf and the Warlander, a YA coming of age trilogy, The Hannibal Twist: A Tom and Huck Mystery, and Last Night at the Monarch Motel.
Valenti began his career with a two-year stint as a Production Associate at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, followed by several years as Script Analyst for Ron Howard, Oprah Winfrey and Sydney Pollack's production companies.
