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From Blank Page to Silver Screen
Member of The Dramatists Guild & The Authors Guild
My Projects
My Projects
Current, Past, and Development Projects
Lured (2025)
Lured (2025)
Short Film - Released
Directed by Angel Ramirez
Lured is thriller about a young woman who, after trusting a charming stranger, wakes up trapped in a deadly organ trafficking scheme.
Neocortex
Neocortex
Feature Film - Development
Director : Rayen Hediji
Neocortex is a sci-fi thriller about a rogue memory cleaner who uncovers a secret experiment that could unravel her past and the future of humanity.
The perfect job
The perfect job
Feature Film - Development
Director : Rayen Hediji
The Perfect Job is a crime comedy about a down and out taxi driver with a perfect memory who’s lured to Paris by an old friend only to realize he’s been pulled into a string of hotel robberies.
Black Sam
Black Sam
TV/Series - Development
Black Sam is a historical fantasy series about a modern day physicist who, after a tragic accident, is thrust back to 1716 and must find the legendary pirate Black Sam Bellamy to find a mythical treasure that could return him to his time.
Marooned
Marooned
Feature Film - Development
Marooned is a horror-thriller about a newlywed couple who survive a plane crash on a remote island, only to discover it’s home to mutated, cannibalistic scientists from a forgotten experiment.
Le Scribe
Le Scribe
Play - November 2023
CO-writer/Director : Remi Jouffroy
Le Scribe is a psychological thriller about a mysterious businessman who lures a young woman to his hotel, where nothing is as it seems.
Who Am I ?
Who Am I ?
My name is Mateo Merlino, I’m a French screenwriter originally from Marseille, now living in Los Angeles. I started writing scripts when I was 15, driven by storytelling and cinema. Over time, I began to structure my craft more seriously, especially after learning from one of my porfessors, a writer on Breaking Bad who taught me how to build strong, emotionally grounded stories.
In 2023, my short play Le Scribe was staged at the Santa Monica College Theatre. I also wrote and produced LURED (2025), a short thriller starring Ryker Baloun, about a young woman who wakes up in a bathtub full of ice, realizing too late she’s been caught in a deadly organ trafficking scheme.
Right now, I’m developing NEOCORTEX, a futuristic feature thriller co written with director Rayen Hediji. The story centers on memory manipulation and a buried experiment.
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