



Dennis J. Manning is a neo-noir screenwriter and filmmaker crafting psychological thrillers, memory-driven dramas, and elevated character studies built for directors with a strong visual point of view.




CARNIVAL LIGHTS - The Final Screenplay of 2025 - a modern noir about chosen family, moral collapse, and the cost of belonging.
2025 I wrote 14 scripts.
-
3/1/2025 One Less Egg To Fry
-
3/17/2025 Deuce's Wild
-
4/8/2025 Handrptint
-
4/24/2025 Another Rose On The Vine
-
5/9/2025 Chasing Truths
-
5/15/2025 Dreamland Lovers
-
6/8/2025 Dreamland: 2nd Offering
-
7/1/2025 Strings Attached
-
7/11/2025 Refuse to Go Dark
-
9/17/2025 Blank Canvas
-
10/21/2025 Have At It
-
10/23/2025 Honesty 1
-
2/3/2025 Black Diamond
-
12/30/2025 Carnival Lights

The Shaft , Chasing Truths & Handprint — Under Contract with Price Productions — Packaging in Progress.
The Substitute Wife - Under Contract with Voyage Media
"More Going Down" – Awarded Stage 32 Double Recommend (Top 1%)
Redefining LGBTQ+ storytelling through bold, cinematic narratives where love, power, and fate collide in a neo-noir landscape.
I don’t write “gay stories.” I write thrillers where power seduces, love destroys, and fate never blinks. The fact that some of my leads are queer?
That just makes the stakes higher.
I'm not chasing trends. I’m redefining them.
Beautifully unstable narratives that linger long after the credits roll.
9-screenplay slate. 5 completed in 75 days. All killer. No filler.

A Shonda the Musical
Two worlds collide in this musical about two men deeply in love in Memphis, Tennessee. A young Orthodox Jewish man and a down-home country boy struggle to reconcile their relationship as their communities try to keep them apart by using religion and God as a wedge. Will Duvid leave his Orthodox community and his wife behind? Will Clay reject the bigotry that runs deep in his family? This is the first musical ever to explore these two worlds through the lens of a gay relationship. From the creators of the hit musicals Now & Then, Come Out! Come Out!, and One More Yesterday comes the world premiere of a brand-new musical, A Shonda.


.jpeg)













