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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.
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3/1/2025 One Less Egg To Fry
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3/17/2025 Deuce's Wild
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4/8/2025 Handrptint
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4/24/2025 Another Rose On The Vine
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5/9/2025 Chasing Truths
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5/15/2025 Dreamland Lovers
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6/8/2025 Dreamland: 2nd Offering
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7/1/2025 Strings Attached
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7/11/2025 Refuse to Go Dark
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9/17/2025 Blank Canvas
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10/21/2025 Have At It
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10/23/2025 Honesty 1
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2/3/2025 Black Diamond
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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.
BLACK DIAMOND
A Marine-turned-cop who fell harder than anyone ever expected.
Now he lives on the motel floor… staring at life through a fishbowl.
His only witness is an angelfish named Rocco.
His only weapon is the hope he barely believes in.
His only chance?
BLACK DIAMOND — Almost might just be enough.
A bruised, human neo-noir about rock bottom, redemption,
and the strange angels we meet in the dark.
Feature screenplay now in motion.
BLACK DIAMOND — ONE PAGE OVERVIEW A Modern Miami Noir / Written by Dennis J. Manning LOGLINE
A former Marine-turned-chef, haunted by a past he can’t remember, is dragged back into a lethal conspiracy involving a covert Black Ops organization tied to his own family — forcing him to confront who he really is, what he was built to do, and whether he can ever escape the ghost of the man he once loved.
THE PROJECT
Black Diamond is a prestige Miami-Noir thriller fusing espionage, identity, and emotional trauma through a neo-cinematic lens. The story blends muscular action with psychological depth — a violent redemption narrative grounded in queer identity, memory fracture, and family betrayal. Callaia coverage identifies Black Diamond as a genre-blending, high-concept thriller balancing action (25%), suspense (20%), espionage (15%), and black comedy (10%) with a character-driven emotional engine. The script pushes at the edges of noir and technothriller style with non-linear narrative structure, visual memory devices, and grounded thematic stakes.
THE WORLD & TONE
Fort Lauderdale / Miami criminal underworld colliding with covert government machinery. Visual and emotional DNA: John Wick + Atomic Blonde + Sicario + The Accountant. The tone is violent, stylish, and intimate — heavy atmosphere, neon noir, bruised romance, and lethal family politics.
WHY THIS WORKS
A cinematic antihero: Derrik Diamond is a broken, complex protagonist — ex-Marine, ex-cop, now a chef drowning in grief, substance abuse, and lost identity. His tattoo reads ALMOST: almost sober, almost alive, almost free. Big stakes, big action sequences, and global espionage hooks deliver real cinematic value.