Salvatore DeLucia
Official Site of the Author, Playwright & Screenwriter
Completed Projects
2010 / Escape Route Productions
Awakening from a near fatal overdose, Chris embraces a second chance at life. Required to enroll into a 12-Step Program, and mandated to state psychiatrist appointments, Chris is forced to revisit his chaotic past; a history that revolves around his friend Ande and her autistic brother Frankie. Follow Chris as his past and present converge revealing a deranged cocktail of addiction, mental disorder and hope. Will Chris surrender to the monsters that lurk deep inside us all?
Projects for your Consideration:
All These Things That I've Done
(Novel / Contemporary Literary Fiction / 93,000 words)
A darkly comic, character-driven exploration of addiction, regret, and reluctant redemption — told in a raw, witty first-person voice interwoven with screenplay entries that blur memory, dream, and reality. Fans of Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke and Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook will recognize the razor’s-edge balance of humor and heartbreak, while readers of memoirs like Nic Sheff’s Tweak and David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy will connect with its unflinching confrontation of trauma, family, and forgiveness.
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When news of his father’s death forces Sal DeLucia — a once best-selling novelist turned disgraced screenwriter — onto a red-eye from Los Angeles to Connecticut, he has no choice but to return to the hometown he’s avoided for over a decade. Broke, sober against his will, and on the verge of breaching his contract, Sal finds himself back in his childhood bedroom, face-to-face with the family he abandoned.
There, he collides with his estranged seventeen-year-old daughter, Stella — a sharp, wounded rebel whose struggles echo his own. Their uneasy connection becomes both muse and mirror as Sal enlists her help to finish a long-abandoned manuscript, hoping to salvage not only his career but his fractured sense of fatherhood. But haunted by guilt over his unborn son’s death, tethered to an addiction that refuses to loosen its grip, and afraid Stella is following his path, Sal must decide whether this second chance will be another spectacular failure — or the first step toward redemption.
Knights of Columbus
Stage Play (Drama)
Knights of Columbus unfolds over the course of a single day in Wooster Square, New Haven, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the city prepares to remove its controversial Columbus statue, tensions rise inside the fictional Columbus Pizzeria, a neighborhood institution run by 29-year-old Salvatore “Reno” Durante.
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Reno is faced with a life-changing decision: sell the family business to his fiancée’s powerful father or hold on to a legacy that’s slipping through his flour-dusted fingers. Surrounded by childhood friends, a sharp-tongued mother, an exasperated girlfriend, and a loyal but volatile best friend fresh out of holding, Reno must confront identity, inheritance, and the cost of standing still in a world that demands change.
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Part love letter, part eulogy, Knights of Columbus is a sharply comic, deeply human story about loyalty, legacy, and the messy beauty of growing up without letting go.
Last Night
(Original Screenplay)
Logline:
On New Year’s Eve 1999, three strangers — a grieving hairdresser, a heartbroken nurse, and a drug-addicted bartender — cross paths inside a chaotic nightclub, where one night of bad decisions, old ghosts, and explosive violence forces each to face who they are... and who they want to be before the clock strikes midnight.
Synopsis:
Told in real time during the final hours before the year 2000, LAST NIGHT is a gritty, fast-paced ensemble drama set within the chaotic walls of the Gotham Citi Nightclub. As the world parties through Y2K paranoia, three strangers — Nick, a haunted hairdresser masking grief with charm; Robbie, a heartbroken ICU nurse on the edge of emotional collapse; and Christopher, a self-destructive bartender running from his past — collide over the course of a single transformative night.
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Through interconnected storylines and a visual style echoing the kinetic energy of late-90s indie cinema, the film explores grief, identity, and redemption in the fleeting moments that define us.
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Stylistically raw yet emotionally intimate, LAST NIGHT is a nostalgic, propulsive character piece about the ways people crash into one another — and themselves — in moments of crisis.
Comps:
Go (1999) – For its energetic, overlapping structure and night-in-the-life narrative.
Magnolia (1999) – For its ensemble character work and emotional depth under pressure.
Euphoria (HBO) – In tone, with its mix of emotional realism, drug culture, and visual intensity.
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Target Audience:
Adult (18–45) viewers who gravitate toward bold, emotionally rich, character-driven dramas.
Fans of films with an indie spirit, stylized grit, and layered character arcs.
Bare
Original Screenplay / Drama
Logline: Vincenzo “Vin” Galletta,” an aging, newly-sober, former professional prizefighter, finds his solitary existence turned upside-down when a viral video of an unsanctioned bare-knuckle boxing tournament catapults him back into the spotlight, offering the tortured fighter a shot at redemption, both inside the ring, and out.
Synopsis
BARE — a gritty, character-driven redemption drama in the tradition of The Wrestler, Creed, and Crazy Heart — stories about broken people trying to piece themselves back together in a world that’s more interested in watching them fall apart.
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BARE follows Vincenzo “Vin” Galletta, a washed-up, newly sober former prizefighter living in obscurity — until a viral video of a bare-knuckle brawl thrusts him back into the spotlight. Offered a surprise shot at the heavyweight title, Vin soon discovers his opponent is the son of the man who died fighting him in the ring years ago. Haunted by the past and clinging to the promise of a second chance, Vin must confront the real fight: the one between who he was, who he is, and who he still might become.
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Clocking in at 117 pages, BARE is a grounded, emotionally raw boxing drama that explores legacy, addiction, forgiveness — and what it truly means to fight for something, or someone, worth saving.
Role of a Lifetime
Screenplay / Feature
Genre: Coming-of-Age Dramedy

Tone Comps: Juno × Election × Lady Bird × Eighth Grade

Format: Feature Screenplay

Writer: Salvatore DeLucia
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Logline: When a struggling high school misfit accidentally goes viral for a heartfelt monologue everyone believes is his trans coming-out story, he leans into the lie — catapulting himself into unexpected fame, fractured friendships, and a crash course in identity, truth, and what it really means to be seen.
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Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Daniel Reyes has always felt invisible — until a filmed monologue for theater class accidentally makes him a viral sensation. The only problem? Everyone thinks the video is Daniel's raw, brave coming-out moment as a transgender teen.
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Caught off guard but desperate to be seen, Daniel rides the wave of attention, becoming an overnight symbol of authenticity in a school (and world) hungry for representation. Suddenly, he's not just another face in the hall — he's headlining school assemblies, winning over cheerleaders, and dodging judgment from his former bullies, especially Brody, a volatile football star.
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As Daniel's persona grows, so do the lies he's forced to maintain — especially with Ava, his former best friend, and Mykeal, a complicated classmate harboring secrets of his own. But fame has a cost, and when the truth unravels, Daniel must confront the fallout of becoming a symbol he never meant to be.
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Set against a backdrop of TikTok culture, hallway politics, and a winter formal full of fireworks, Role of a Lifetime is a sharp, funny, emotionally grounded teen dramedy — Lady Bird meets Eighth Grade by way of Juno — about truth, performance, and the price of being seen before you're ready.
Why This Story, Now?
The Role of a Lifetime taps into a uniquely Gen Z dilemma: the performance of identity in the age of social media, and the blurred line between authenticity and branding. It's a story about how quickly miscommunication becomes myth—and how hard it is to stop performing once the audience starts clapping.
Target Audience: Teens and young adults (13–25), theatre kids, social media natives, and anyone who has ever felt invisible or misunderstood. Perfect for fans of Booksmart, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and early Wes Anderson.
Electric Joey
Original Screenplay / Dramedy / Road-Trip
GENRE:
Character-driven dramatic comedy about trauma, healing, and messy family dynamics, told through a road trip structure.
Other valid genre tags:
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Character-driven Indie Drama
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Family Drama with Humor
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Bittersweet Buddy Comedy
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Dark Comedy / Coming-of-Middle-Age Story
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Think Little Miss Sunshine × Rain Man × This Is Where I Leave You — a bittersweet road-trip traumedy about grief, addiction, and two estranged cousins rediscovering the family they never stopped being.
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For fans of Nebraska, The Skeleton Twins, and Little Miss Sunshine, this is a melancholic buddy story about two broken men, one busted Prius, and the cross-country trip that might finally break the silence between them.
LOGLINE
When a burned-out writer is guilted into dragging his estranged, chaotic cousin cross-country for a family funeral, the mismatched pair must confront the wreckage of their past, their complicated bond, and what it truly means to show up — before one of them fades away for good.
SYNOPSIS
Nate Kessler, a struggling writer stuck in a rut and drifting through his California life, gets a call from his mother that forces him to return home to Connecticut — and bring along his long-estranged cousin Joey. Joey, a once-electric, now-faded former barber with a streak of self-destruction and a mountain of unresolved trauma, hasn’t seen the family in years. The two haven’t spoken in almost as long.
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What starts as a reluctant road trip quickly becomes a messy, funny, and ultimately emotional journey through old wounds, shared memories, and forgotten parts of themselves. From roadside diners and cheap motels to near fistfights and roulette tables, Nate and Joey wrestle with grief, addiction, regret, and brotherhood. Along the way, Nate must reckon with the life he abandoned — including his ex-wife and daughter — while Joey begins to confront the terrifying possibility that something much deeper is wrong with his mind.
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At its heart, Electric Joey is a darkly funny and heartfelt story about two broken men learning to forgive each other — and themselves — before it's too late. With a tone that balances indie charm with emotional catharsis, the film explores memory, masculinity, and the quiet beauty of showing up for someone when it matters most.
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TARGET AUDIENCE
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Fans of indie dramedies with emotional weight and dark humor
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Viewers who connect with character-first narratives about flawed men trying (and often failing) to do the right thing
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A24-style audiences; Sundance programmers and distributors
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Adult viewers (35+) who understand grief, caretaking, and fractured family dynamics
WHY NOW
At a time when mental health is being reevaluated through a generational lens and the stigma around neurodivergence is slowly being peeled back, Electric Joey presents a raw, emotionally honest story of what it means to love — and lose — someone before they’re gone. It doesn’t promise redemption, just recognition. And that may be enough.
The Writer
Salvatore DeLucia is an inner-city high school Theatre/English educator from New Haven, Connecticut. The first-generation Italian-American father of two inspiring teenage daughters has crafted award-winning short stories, as well as written and developed projects for the screen, including the independent feature film, This Wretched Life (2010). The film, in which Salvatore is credited as co-writer and producer, also served as his screen acting debut, portraying the supporting role of “Chip,” the immoral rehab counselor. As a screenwriter, DeLucia has received favorable coverage for his boxing/sports drama screenplay, Bare, from award-winning producer Henri Kessler (Slam), as well as garnering interest in his screenplay, Boys of Wooster, compared to that of Goodwill Hunting and The Brothers McMullen by iconic film producer Mike Medavoy (Phoenix Pictures). DeLucia is currently querying his debut Novel, All These Things That I've Done, as well as his stage play, Knights of Columbus.
Contact
For any inquiries, please contact Salvatore DeLucia:
Tel: 475.256.2243 | Salvatore.S.DeLucia@gmail.com
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