Chris Galletta (born 1981) is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is best known for writing the 2013

coming-of-age film In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or interna ...

The Kings of Summer ''The Kings of Summer'' is a 2013 American independent coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and starring Nick Robinson, Moisés Arias, Gabriel Basso, and Nick Offerman. The film premiered under its original title ''To ...

'', and the 2025

video game film A video game adaptation is primarily a film, television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of t ...

''A Minecraft Movie''.

Early life

Galletta, who comes from an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

background, grew up in

Tottenville, Staten Island Tottenville is a neighborhood on the South Shore, Staten Island, South Shore of Staten Island, New York City. It is the southernmost neighborhood and settlement in both New York City and New York (state), New York State, as well as the westernm ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where he attended

Tottenville High School Tottenville High School is located at 100 Luten Avenue, in Huguenot, Staten Island, New York. Tottenville H.S. is in Administrative District 31, and is operated by the New York City Department of Education. The school's principal is Gina Batti ...

. He graduated from the St. John's University College of Professional Studies; his major was in television and film studies. He later attended the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

School of the Arts and graduated with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in 2010.

Career

Galletta first worked in the entertainment industry on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'' where he was an intern. He worked on ''Letterman'' as a contributing writer for several years before he left to pursue writing film screenplays full-time. Galletta's first screenplay, ''Toy's House'', was written as the thesis of his degree at Columbia University. In 2009, the script made the

Black List Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

, a survey of the best unproduced film screenplays, and was purchased by Big Beach Films the same week that the list was published, before Galletta had graduated from Columbia. The film was directed by

Jordan Vogt-Roberts Jordan Charles Vogt-Roberts (born September 22, 1984) is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, and television director. His feature directorial debut, '' The Kings of Summer'', screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The fil ...

and renamed ''

''. It premiered at the

2013 Sundance Film Festival The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival had 1,830 volunteers. Films A r ...

to positive reviews. Elements of the screenplay are based on Galetta's experiences as a youth living on Staten Island, but the producers of the film changed the location to

Chagrin Falls, Ohio Chagrin Falls is a village in eastern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,188 as of the 2020 census. The village was established around the eponymous Chagrin Falls on the Chagrin River. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part ...

, a move that Galetta endorsed for giving the story "an 'any town' type of feel". Galletta has also managed to sell a pitch for a screenplay to

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

, which he described as "an action comedy set in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

". The story was co-written with Todd Strauss-Schulson, who is also slated to direct the film, although Galletta was hired to write the script individually.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galletta, Chris 1981 births Living people American male screenwriters Screenwriters from New York City American writers of Italian descent St. John's University (New York City) alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni People from Tottenville, Staten Island