Alessio Franko was born in Santa Cruz, CA, raised in New York, NY, and is currently based in Austin, TX, where he earned his MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s thrilled to be a runner-up this year, having previously placed as an Academy Nicholl Semfinalist, a Screencraft Sci-Fi Finalist, a Coverfly Pitch Week Official Selection, an Austin Film Festival Second Rounder, and more. He grew up studying acting at HB Studios and with The Wooster Group in New York, performing at theaters such La Mama and the Ontological-Hysteric, and worked on educational and transmedia games as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago and as a fellow at the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab. Alessio’s interests in drama and media collided when he took his first screenwriting class and realized how influential movies and TV shows have been on him. He immediately knew he wanted to influence them back.
Alessio specializes in thrillers and dark comedies and writes to reveal worlds that are hidden– from secret underground societies to the silent, often insidious systems that shape daily life without us knowing. He frequently returns to themes of bureaucracy, debt, paranoia, games and gamification, and the fight against unjust authority. Alessio’s path has been shaped by the modern day Jewish saints Franz Kafka, Jacques Derrida, David Graeber, and the Marx Brothers.
The bi-annual 2025 Script Pipeline Pitch Contest is searching for original feature film and TV series ideas to be developed into screenplays and pilots.
The 14th Annual First Look Project searches for higher-concept material across MULTIPLE categories for film and TV, introducing select writers to reps and producers.
The 24th Annual Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest is searching for extraordinary writers with feature screenplays across all genres.
The 19th Annual Script Pipeline TV Writing Contest is searching for extraordinary writers with original television pilots or unproduced indie series scripts.
Script Pipeline finalist Nick Grant has signed with Zack Zucker (Bellevue) after introductions by Pipeline. The Pipeline team helped develop Nick's top-5 script POV before circulation to Bellevue and other managers. He signed with Zack only a few weeks after. Nick was also a finalist this year with a pilot (Cul-De-Sac), marking only the second […]
After an introduction by Script Pipeline execs, First Look Project winner Stacy Adelman signed with manager Ryan Goldblum at Ghostwriter. "I always can rely on Script Pipeline to elevate new and exciting voices," Ryan said. "This led to signing Stacy (winner of the pilot competition), and I could not be more excited to work with […]
This one is best-expressed through a timeline ... A totally easy process spanning a breezy … nine years. From Laura: "The Pipeline team has been amazingly helpful since The Mother was a finalist in the Script Pipeline TV competition years ago. It's a story that has stayed close to my heart so I ended up adapting it […]