I connect with so many different types of narratives and am open to hearing about them all, but some that particularly gauge my interest include:
Whodunnits in the vein of Agatha Christie or KNIVES OUT
Queer/Trans Narratives, especially coming of age.
Anything in the slasher genre ala SCREAM
Disaster Films ala THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, 2012, etc
90s nostalgia stories
Marco Amato is a Long Island born and bred, first generation Italian creative, as committed to diverse storytelling as he is to retaining his accent. He left the east coast for the scorching streets of L.A. to work in William Morris Endeavor’s Independent Film Sales Department and pursue his dream of being a storyteller for the underdogs. His time at the agency coupled with his bachelor's degree in Screenwriting from Brooklyn College have served him well as he navigates the complex pipelines of the entertainment industry – though not as well as his minor in Psychology.
Marco has been a script consultant for six years working for several different screenwriting competitions and film festivals including the Golden Script Competition, Wildsound Film Festival and most recently, the ISA. He enjoys working with writers from all different walks of life, and with varying levels of screenwriting experience to help bring their stories alive on the page in the most cinematic way possible.
He views critical feedback as an opportunity for creatives to learn from each other and believes he gets just as much out of helping writers craft their narratives as they hopefully do from him. He measures the success of his consultation work by a writer's level of excitement going into the revision process after a notes session. Notes should inspire, not discourage.
In 2024, Marco was invited to join renowned producer Nicholas Weinstock’s global writing community Craft Services thanks to his queer teen slasher SIXTEEN SLASHES. He remains inexhaustibly committed to saying something meaningful by seeing the written word come alive on screen. He is currently working on his first short film as well as developing his thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth feature scripts.
Some Testimonials from writers Marco has worked with in the past:
"I would just like to thank Marco Amato for all his helpful and actionable feedback about my screenplay, Treasure in Heaven. I was given the privilege of a consultation with Marco about my screenplay and received some very useful advice, written feedback and tips about character and plot
development, as well as assistance with dialogue for film and genre conventions. I was also given some great ideas and suggestions to further improve the formatting, structure and storyline! I would not hesitate to recommend his obvious expertise and skilful knowledge about the film industry and screenplay writing techniques, to others seeking assistance with their writing."
"Marco is great to work with. He makes you feel comfortable right away and most importantly - he actually reads your script! So many "feedback" services hire people who skim through your screenplay and come back to you with empty advice. Marco reads every word and offers a truthful, helpful and honest professional opinion. The goal is simple - he's here to help make your story better and increase it's chances of success. I look forward to working with him again, his advice is worth every penny!"
"Working with Marco was invaluable on two levels. First, he provided me with honest, thoughtful and helpful feedback on the script itself; I loved that he didn't pull any punches, but was always supportive, positive and encouraging. Second -- and to my surprise -- I learned so much about the industry: not only did we talk about the challenges that novice screenwriters face, but also had great ideas about how to position my script and and to expand my network. I would strongly encourage people to work with Marco!"
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**Please note half-hour pilot consultation material is limited to 37 pages maximum.
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Questions? Email terra@roadmapwriters.com!
MARKETING BONUS! If you receive a rating of Excellent or Virtually Flawless in at least four out of five categories (Logline and Formatting/Ease of Reading are excluded) on your consultation feedback report, we'll do one round of personalized marketing to execs (up to 5) for this screenplay for free!
Cancellation Policy: You may cancel your registration for a refund or Roadmap gift card if you have not yet submitted your material for review. However, once your material has been received by Roadmap, your registration cannot be canceled. Having revised material or a desire to retroactively apply a discount or gift card code are not grounds for cancellation, refunds, or gift card credit. Once your material has been submitted, the only acceptable grounds for cancellation and a refund or gift card credit is an unforeseen, ongoing emergency on the part of either the writer or the exec resulting in more than 6 weeks without any scheduling update from the exec via direct contact or Roadmap, or a sudden change in the exec's ongoing availability. In the instance of an irreconcilable scheduling issue, the writer may still receive a written feedback report from the exec. In this case, the writer is not entitled to a refund or gift card credit as the exec has read the submitted material and provided written feedback in lieu of the call.