Original scripts by Linda Manning
SCREENPLAYS
Learning to Drive - screenplay - feature
Grand Prize Winner - StoryPros Awards Screenplay Contest
Quarter Finalist - PAGE Int'l. Screenwriting Awards
An introverted teenage girl tries to escape her abusive home when she lies about her age and gets a summer job at a local golf course where she falls into a secret love affair with a thirty year old disgraced golf pro.
"Breathtaking, poignant, and lovely, LEARNING TO DRIVE should be a strong contender for the industry's attention and interest... A spiritual and chronological successor to nostalgic feature masterpieces like THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and ALMOST FAMOUS, LEARNING TO DRIVE is an accomplished, market-ready script .... There is a growing awareness of the fact that women comprise the majority of filmgoers; a script such as LEARNING TO DRIVE reflects so many facets of the female experiences of innocence, abuse, sexuality, and self-discovery that it would make a savvy pick for any studio looking to court this important audience."
The Black List
Poster designed by The Black List
for Featured Script May 2015
Grand Prize Winner - StoryPros Awards Screenplay Contest
Quarter Finalist - PAGE Int'l. Screenwriting Awards
An introverted teenage girl tries to escape her abusive home when she lies about her age and gets a summer job at a local golf course where she falls into a secret love affair with a thirty year old disgraced golf pro.
"Breathtaking, poignant, and lovely, LEARNING TO DRIVE should be a strong contender for the industry's attention and interest... A spiritual and chronological successor to nostalgic feature masterpieces like THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and ALMOST FAMOUS, LEARNING TO DRIVE is an accomplished, market-ready script .... There is a growing awareness of the fact that women comprise the majority of filmgoers; a script such as LEARNING TO DRIVE reflects so many facets of the female experiences of innocence, abuse, sexuality, and self-discovery that it would make a savvy pick for any studio looking to court this important audience."
The Black List
Poster designed by The Black List
for Featured Script May 2015
Divine Food - screenplay - feature
A forty year old former rock singer, having buried her artistic life to devote herself to her husband and children, falls in love with the alcoholic butcher at her grocery store who was once a great musician and risks everything in order to regain her voice.
"The sexual frankness and sense of female gaze in this script is a really strong and refreshing element. In a way, this script feels like a much darker take on a musical romance like Once. The use of limited locations in this New York-set script is a smart choice in terms of making the budget manageable. This script brings a fresh perspective to some familiar story beats"
The Black List
"Divine Food is a taunt and erotic drama about Helen, a train-wreck of a person, grasping for a better life. Helen is a great character. Damaged, lonely, and striving to feel anything after her life doesn't feel fulfilling. She's definitely an antihero because we're certainly not rooting for her but we empathize with her choices and that's because the screenwriter puts so much time and attention into crafting her. She'll definitely be attractive for actresses who want a strong female with a wide range of emotions."
The Black List
A forty year old former rock singer, having buried her artistic life to devote herself to her husband and children, falls in love with the alcoholic butcher at her grocery store who was once a great musician and risks everything in order to regain her voice.
"The sexual frankness and sense of female gaze in this script is a really strong and refreshing element. In a way, this script feels like a much darker take on a musical romance like Once. The use of limited locations in this New York-set script is a smart choice in terms of making the budget manageable. This script brings a fresh perspective to some familiar story beats"
The Black List
"Divine Food is a taunt and erotic drama about Helen, a train-wreck of a person, grasping for a better life. Helen is a great character. Damaged, lonely, and striving to feel anything after her life doesn't feel fulfilling. She's definitely an antihero because we're certainly not rooting for her but we empathize with her choices and that's because the screenwriter puts so much time and attention into crafting her. She'll definitely be attractive for actresses who want a strong female with a wide range of emotions."
The Black List
Ghost Ride - screenplay - short
co-writer and starred in
Official Selection - Manhattan Film Festival - April 2017
Official Selection - New York Short Film Festival - Nov. 2016
GhostRidetheFilm.com
Produced 2015
An alienated New York City cab driver picks up a desperate fare who takes him on a ride of reawakening.
co-writer and starred in
Official Selection - Manhattan Film Festival - April 2017
Official Selection - New York Short Film Festival - Nov. 2016
GhostRidetheFilm.com
Produced 2015
An alienated New York City cab driver picks up a desperate fare who takes him on a ride of reawakening.
Charlotte - screenplay - feature
Second Round of Competition for the 2016 Sundance Screenwriters Lab
Charlotte Bronte, brilliant, shy, and desperate to break away from her restricted, provincial life publishes her writing under a male pseudonym and then must fight to claim her identity on her own terms.
Second Round of Competition for the 2016 Sundance Screenwriters Lab
Charlotte Bronte, brilliant, shy, and desperate to break away from her restricted, provincial life publishes her writing under a male pseudonym and then must fight to claim her identity on her own terms.
STAGE PLAYS
There is No You and Me - stage play - full length
2017 Finalist - New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest, NYC
Table Reading - April 2017 at The Drawing Board NYC
Staged Reading of 10 Minute Version - October 2015 produced by The Drawing Board NYC
originally developed at the Bronx Playwrights Workshop
After five years Inez walks into Raymond's bar to get the answers to the questions she hasn't been able to put to rest, and then her husband follows her in.
2017 Finalist - New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest, NYC
Table Reading - April 2017 at The Drawing Board NYC
Staged Reading of 10 Minute Version - October 2015 produced by The Drawing Board NYC
originally developed at the Bronx Playwrights Workshop
After five years Inez walks into Raymond's bar to get the answers to the questions she hasn't been able to put to rest, and then her husband follows her in.
Bite the Apple - stage play - full length
Revised version - staged reading Theater Lab NYC 2016
Produced as part of the NY Int'l Fringe Festival 2012
"The ensemble of actresses are remarkable, particularly the evocative and nuanced performance by Manning. Bite the Apple is a smart script with intricate dialogue and beautiful language...."
Joseph Samuel Wright
Theatre Is Easy, New York, NY
Revised version - staged reading Theater Lab NYC 2016
Produced as part of the NY Int'l Fringe Festival 2012
"The ensemble of actresses are remarkable, particularly the evocative and nuanced performance by Manning. Bite the Apple is a smart script with intricate dialogue and beautiful language...."
Joseph Samuel Wright
Theatre Is Easy, New York, NY
GUY - stage play - full length
Workshop reading June 2015 at The Drawing Board NYC
Finalist for the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
originally developed through a Ledig House International Writer's Colony Fellowship
Guy, a successful truck salesman in his mid-sixties, is dying. When his estranged, middle-aged daughter shows up at his door full of self doubt having followed in his footsteps and become a wandering, rootless Cowboy herself, Guy must face the real world consequences of his actions. Will he be able to save her before it’s too late?
Workshop reading June 2015 at The Drawing Board NYC
Finalist for the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
originally developed through a Ledig House International Writer's Colony Fellowship
Guy, a successful truck salesman in his mid-sixties, is dying. When his estranged, middle-aged daughter shows up at his door full of self doubt having followed in his footsteps and become a wandering, rootless Cowboy herself, Guy must face the real world consequences of his actions. Will he be able to save her before it’s too late?
DO SOMETHING WITH YOURSELF! The Life of Charlotte Brontë - stage play
Produced by The Invisible Theatre in NYC
"Writer-performer Linda Manning gives us a fiercely intelligent and sexual Charlotte Brontë.... The writing delicately renders the conflict between family responsibility and the artist's calling, between romantic yearning and the realities of married love."
The Village Voice. New York, NY
Purchase a copy from
Smith & Kraus Publishers
Produced by The Invisible Theatre in NYC
"Writer-performer Linda Manning gives us a fiercely intelligent and sexual Charlotte Brontë.... The writing delicately renders the conflict between family responsibility and the artist's calling, between romantic yearning and the realities of married love."
The Village Voice. New York, NY
Purchase a copy from
Smith & Kraus Publishers
The Fall of the House of Usher - stage play
Produced by The Invisible Theatre in NYC
"The Invisible Theatre Company’s adaptation of the classic tale is strikingly fresh, thanks to playwright Linda Manning’s bold vision.... Manning had a dynamic presence .... Deftly handling the madness that lies at the heart of Poe’s tale, Manning oscillated from a petulant little girl, to a proper young lady, to a disturbing sexual force.... The amount of humor that Manning has incorporated into the script, without compromising its horror, is one of its greatest accomplishments.”
The Off-Off-Broadway Review, New York, NY
Produced by The Invisible Theatre in NYC
"The Invisible Theatre Company’s adaptation of the classic tale is strikingly fresh, thanks to playwright Linda Manning’s bold vision.... Manning had a dynamic presence .... Deftly handling the madness that lies at the heart of Poe’s tale, Manning oscillated from a petulant little girl, to a proper young lady, to a disturbing sexual force.... The amount of humor that Manning has incorporated into the script, without compromising its horror, is one of its greatest accomplishments.”
The Off-Off-Broadway Review, New York, NY
