Biography
Robert Manganelli is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. He is currently in pre-production on a film titled "Man in the Maze," executive produced by Alexander Payne (Academy Award winner for "Sideways" and "The Descendants"). His production company is also adapting TM Wright’s novel "Strange Seed" into a screenplay written by Tony Schillaci. Recently, Relativity Studios in Los Angeles optioned Robert's reality-based television series, "Miss Mobile Home," which exposes trailer park culture across America.
Robert owned his first darkroom at age seven. By thirteen, his photographs had toured over thirty countries through the Photographic Society of America.
In 1983, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photographic Illustration. Among numerous exhibits both domestically and internationally, he was selected for the group show "Pennsylvania Photographers," curated by Weson Naef, curator of photographic prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
From 1983 to 1985, Robert worked as a photojournalist in Washington, DC. His notable clients included Washingtonian Magazine, The Washington Weekly, and Senator Ted Kennedy, for whom he served as the "inside the beltway" personal photographer. During this period, he transitioned into filmmaking by creating his first film, "3.23.85," a self-portrait composed of phone messages collected over two years.
He later earned a Master’s Degree from UCLA Film School. As a graduate student, he wrote and directed the award-winning short film "Listen Carefully," which was selected for numerous film festivals including Sundance, AFI, Haifa (Israel), Porto (Portugal), Cork (Ireland), CINE Golden Eagle, Critics Choice/People’s Choice in Tokyo, The Columbus Award, and the Spotlight Award from UCLA Alumni.
Robert was chosen to participate in the Writers and Directors Labs at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute (one of six selected from over 3,000 applicants), where he fully developed his screenplay "Seeing in the Dark" (released as "After Image" in 2001). The film starred John Mellencamp, Louise Fletcher (Academy Award winner for "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"), and Terrylene. It screened at Sundance and was acquired by Miramax for domestic distribution and Intermedia for international release.
Excerpts of Robert’s writing appear in Lew Hunter’s bestselling book "Screenwriting 434." Hunter described Robert’s work as not "Lawrence of Arabia in scope but Tennessee Williams in depth." Currently, Robert has returned to his hometown and is leading efforts to establish a motion picture, television, and imaging science studio in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. The studio’s technology blueprint is based on his patent-pending "Media Management System.
