Ryan M. Nanni
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Welcome.

I am a writer/director living in Los Angeles, California.

My short films have been shown at film festivals around the world, including Sundance Film Festival.

I'm especially interested in dramatic material that has the power to expose both the best and worst of the human condition. A lot of my work has political or satirical overtones. Sometimes my work is darkly comic. Sometimes it's just dark. But I always strive to be entertaining.

Feel free to read about and view my films below. And if you'd like to work together, I encourage you to reach out.

 

Available Feature and Pilot Screenplays


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Mania

Feature - Dark Comedy

Logline: A severely bipolar salesman at rock bottom has his life transformed after he discovers the self-help guru of his dreams.

Synopsis

We follow Freddie, a down-on-his-luck (and mentally ill) salesman, who has tried every get-rich-quick scheme in the book, all to no avail. When his brother is finally pushed over the edge by Freddie’s antics, Freddie spirals into near oblivion. That is, until he meets Chet – A life coach and business guru who promises to make all of Freddie’s dreams come true.
 
Think of it as a scathing satire of the booming 'Career Coach' and self-help industry, which seems to occupy the intersection of declining living standards for the American middle class, the 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' American dream, and the crisis of alienation and mental illness in our society due to the absence of accessible mental health care.


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The Black Jacobins & The Haitian Revolution

Mini-Series Pilot - Historical Drama

Logline:

The epic true story of the Haitian revolution, in which half a million African slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose up against their white masters, fought a decade-long civil war, defeated three different European invasions, and finally won their freedom by declaring themselves the independent nation of Haiti, thus marking the world’s first and only successful slave revolt in history.

Series Synopsis:

In 1788, Haiti was the most profitable slave colony on the planet. Half a million African captives were worked to death to enrich the empire of France and a small colonial ruling class of twenty thousand whites.

But in 1789, the French Revolution broke out, and cries of liberty, equality and fraternity sent shockwaves throughout the world -- even in the fields of France’s Caribbean colonies. While the peasants in Europe took aim at their King, Haiti’s slaves took up arms against their colonial masters.

What followed was a decade-long civil war in which the Africans of Haiti rose up, organized armies, forged generals, crafted treaties and broke them when necessary, beat back three different European invasions -- and finally destroyed their masters, declared their independence as a nation, and decisively secured their freedom.

Thus marking the epic saga as the first and only successful slave revolt in world history.


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Resistant

Feature - Contained Action Horror

Logline:

Two nurses in a public hospital unearth a conspiracy to hide the ongoing spread of a deadly, flesh eating, antibiotic resistant infection. When the disease takes over the hospital, they discover it does more than kill its victims — It turns them into walking nightmares.

This script is riveting from the word go. Giving us two compelling female protagonists, Resistant becomes a metaphor for female empowerment in a world that certainly needs stories about that very subject right now.

It’s simply too marketable, relevant, and well executed to be glossed over in the pack of other horror specs out there. It’s got modern #metoo related themes, a compelling pair of female protagonists, and a well-paced piece of writing that could hook performers anywhere to become creatively involved.

- The Black List


 
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Directing Reel

 
 

Selected Short Films

 

Ketchup and Blood

Four black students sit down at a 'whites only' lunch counter in 1963, Jackson, Mississippi, and face the wrath of a white mob.


Bob Contemplates Ending It All

A visually-striking TV comedy pilot about a comic desperate for laughs in a cruel and unfunny world.

Synopsis:

An aspiring stand up-comic from a small town moves to the big and heartless city to try and make it. After failing miserably at his first open mic, Bob reaches out to an old friend, Trendon, who has achieved fame and success with comedy's elite. When Trendon makes Bob the laughing stock of his party, Bob finds an unlikely comedic partner in Katrina, a revolutionary by day who moonlights open mic nights to rattle the cages of white collar slaves.


Break

Two workers get to know each other intimately while on a smoke break at their shipping facility.

 

Contact

Want to request a script? Or talk about another project idea? Please, reach out and let's chat!

 

Please complete the form below

 
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