Wantagh screenwriters return to their roots

You might not know it, but two best friends who grew up in “The Gateway to Jones Beach” have used their upbringings in Wantagh to influence many sci-fi movies that they have written that have been on networks such as Lifetime, ABC Family and SYFY. They take pride in writing movies that combine humor with positive life lessons.

Richard Gnolfo and Michael Ciminera, who are 37 and both went to MacArthur High School in Levittown, became best friends when they were in the second grade. The next project that they would like to work on is the UFO phenomenon because the alleged landing in the 1980s piqued their interest.

Ciminera and Gnolfo are two Wantagh natives who successfully made it big as writers in Hollywood and decided to return to their roots to raise their children.

They regularly went to the beach from when they were 14 until they were 28. They lived 10 minutes from Jones Beach, which gave them easy access to have many memorable experiences at one of Long Island’s most popular destinations.

“We drew from our experiences hanging out at Jones Beach,” Ciminera said. “It was our meeting ground. It was where we met our friends and had our experiences.” They spent a lot of time walking the boardwalk near the concession stands in the busy Field 6.

One movie that they wrote that was influenced by their upbringing near the beach was “Jersey Shore Shark Attack.” The idea was to have five natives of the Jersey Shore save the area from being attacked by albino sharks.

This was about the same time that the reality show “The Jersey Shore” was popular and ARO Entertainment wanted to do a sci-fi spin on it. “You would think that you would want to see the ‘Jersey Shore’ characters eaten,” Ciminera said.

However, the script was flipped as the ‘Jersey Shore’ natives won in the end. They drew upon their experiences growing up on the beach when molding the characters.

According to Gnolfo, they also have fond memories of spending time at Adventureland. This amusement park in Farmingdale on Route 110 is Long Island’s answer to Great Adventure in New Jersey. “We had a lot of fun there,” Gnolfo said. “Living on Long Island, that was what we had. It was not as elaborate, but had its charm.”