AMANDA
VALENTIN
PRODUCER|WRITER|HUMAN
PRODUCTION
Born in Maryland, raised in Arizona, Amanda has spent the entirety of her career in film and television. She majored in Film and Media Studies at Arizona State with a minor in Religious Studies, where she intended to study Journalism.
She is currently on location in New Zealand.
STUDIO PRODUCTION & POST PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
WON’T BACK DOWN, dir. Daniel Barnz
PARENTAL GUIDANCE, dir. Andy Fickman
CHASING MAVERICKS, dir. Curtis Hanson / Michael Apted
RETURN TO NIM'S ISLAND, dir. Brendan Maher
WATSON'S GO TO BURMINGHAM, dir. Kenny Leon
DEAR DUMB DIARY, dir. Kristin Hanggi
THE GIVER, dir. Phillip Noyce
EVEREST, dir. Baltasar Kormakur
A DOG’S PURPOSE, dir. Lasse Hallström
WONDER, dir. Stephen Chbosky
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
SONIC HIGHWAYS, dir. Dave Grohl
WRITER
Amanda is a Puerto Rican author and screenwriter of character-driven stories focused on the intricacies of human emotion—exploring how we heal from loss, dismantle and redefine belief systems, and where we place our loyalties.
NOVELS
LIVING THINGS
Elena, a young widow, refuses to live as if her husband, Lethe, ever died. Until she meets Wiatt—a man with grief of his own and aiming to reconcile his past—who threatens Lethe’s hold on the living.
"We are watching two people take big steps in their lives, when they haven't done much but shuffle in the past 10 years. We don't know why these two people are so attracted to each other but we are cheering them on. I care enough about these two individuals to keep right on reading."
--2021 KWLS Emerging Writer Awards
Amanda is currently editing her next two novels
THEO & ETTIE and UNTITLED NEGRON PROJECT.
SCREENPLAYS
TEN TWENTY FOUR
With their marriage in shambles, a once happy couple decides on one last-ditch effort by going through all their previous homes to relive their memories and find answers. But the trip down memory lane soon reveals the all-too-current strains on their relationship.
"Impactful and powerfully written..."
--Blacklist 2017
"IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND [grounded] in reality."
--Blacklist 2018
"Voices are polished and gritty, and their personalities are multidimensional..."
--Blacklist 2018
2018 CREATIVE WORLD AWARDS, Comedy
Finalist
YA’ABURNEE
Determined to maintain their Chaldean culture, Samir and Zara Haza, are forced to navigate old-world expectations against modern American romance to give their arranged marriage a fighting chance.
Amanda is currently working on her next project
PAPER AIRPLANES.
IN HER OWN WORDS
Ah, yes. So this is the part where I talk about my Self.
I'll do my best. It’s probably not much different than yours.
I spent the first eighteen years of my life on the border of Arizona and Mexico in a town called Yuma.
3:10 To Yuma?
Yes, that Yuma.
So, it’s no wonder I headed for Los Angeles as soon as an internship on Days Of Our Lives came along. I've spent the whole of my career in this industry—showing up to every job for seven-year-old me.
The little Puerto Rican girl staring out her bedroom window at a vast, sandy desert, begging me to show her as much of this world as humanly possible.
While I call Los Angeles home now, I’m currently on location in New Zealand.
It was a risky move, most of them are, but that little girl in the desert is worth every one of them.
It’s all for her, anyway.
I don’t expect to change the world, or the landscape of literature, or the nature of existence. I’m just looking to understand life as I live it—to show up as my whole self, the work in progress, as often as possible. If someone connects with that, great. Better yet, tell me how you understand it. I will take every single "hot take" on living you’ve got.
Everyone has their ways of being brave. This is mine. Telling my story through various characters like some spooky puppet master. Everyone's eyes are on the marionettes and I get to sit behind the curtain.
So, is it that brave? I guess we get to decide that.
More mundanely, here are some things I adore:
POETRY I DIDN'T WRITE
how hearts break just like mine, how love fills every part of a person,
how passion isn’t one size fits all
THE SKY
watching clouds shift against one another
THE WAY TREES GROW
both downward and upward all at once
WALKING BAREFOOT ON GRASS
I was raised in the desert, grass is rarer than you think
SAYING WHAT YOU MEAN
which makes writing dialogue a major pain in the ass
THINKING BEFORE YOU SPEAK
so you actually do say what you mean
COOKING
creating stories with food, give me the ingredients and let me figure it out
GROWTH
I’ll get there one day, or I won’t, we’re all here to change
CLASSIC FILM
Sabrina, West Side Story, the Apartment
I’m your gal.
LISTENING TO ALBUMS IN ORDER
making TV for career musicians, you learn a thing or two about how albums are like novels. Read them from start to finish
TEXTURED CONVERSATION
small talk makes me anxious, I don’t just want to hear about the weather, I want to hear about how you feel about the weather.
Why do you love that today is hot? Cold? A childhood memory? Just because? Show your work
COFFEE
more specifically, espresso, every way you make it.
Phew. Okay. Can we all just take a minute to acknowledge writing a bio is the worst?
I did my best, though.
That’s all we can really hope to do.