Mark Valenti

was a member at the famed Strasberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles, where his studies included stagecraft, acting and playwriting. As an actor, he appeared in LA stage productions as well as several sitcoms and daytime dramas. Desiring to move into movie and television production, he became a Production Associate at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Following this two-year apprenticeship, he was Vice President of Development for writer/director John Hughes at Hughes Entertainment when “Home Alone,” “Uncle Buck,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “Christmas Vacation” were produced. Having assisted in the birth of nearly ten films in three years, Valenti became a full-time writer. He became a Script Analyst for Ron Howard, Oprah Winfrey and Sydney Pollack, analyzing thousands of scripts and book manuscripts as potential film and television projects.

Valenti wrote the TV movies “Menno’s Mind,” which debuted on Showtime and starred Bruce Campbell and Robert Vaughn. His screenplay for “Like Father, Like Santa,” which aired on the ABC Family Channel starred Harry Hamlin and Star Wars’ William Hootkins. “The Christmas Pageant” is shown annually on the Hallmark Channel and “His Wife’s Secret Life” debuted on the Lifetime Channel in October, 2019.

He scripted “The Christmas Angel” for NBC and was awarded a gold record for the CD release of that holiday special. He wrote the family/action feature film script (Planet Fred) for development at Dreamworks, the action thriller “Pursuit” for 20th Century Fox, and the family comedy “Bob The House” for Paramount Studios.

Valenti was Head Writer and lyricist for seventy-plus episodes of Nick Jr.’s “LazyTown.” He also served as Story Editor for Nickelodeon’s bloc of animated shows including “Rugrats,” “Catdog,” “Hey Arnold,” and “The Wild Thornberrys.” He has created content for numerous Nickelodeon ancillary products, including video games, books and commercials. Mark was Creative Manager for a team tasked with re-imagining Disney’s California Adventures theme park, and served as Creative Manager for Disney Interactive. He has written and edited over 200 hours of television entertainment content shown around the world.

Currently Valenti is writing and Executive Producing Lifetime movies and has published a Young Adult trilogy of books, “The Wolf and the Warlander.”

Valenti’s work has received Emmy nominations and has won a BAFTA for Best International Children’s Show. He is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America and the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Speaking in BREAKOUT SESSION 2B (1:15 - 2:30 PM)