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John Fusco
John Fusco is an American screenwriter, producer, and television series creator born in Prospect, Connecticut. His screenplays include Crossroads, Young Guns, Young Guns II, Thunderheart, Hidalgo, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and The Highwaymen. He is also the creator of the Netflix series Marco Polo. Fusco is also a blues musician and a prose fiction author.
John Fusco was raised in the small town of Prospect, Connecticut, leaving home and high school early to travel the American south as a blues musician and blue collar laborer. He later attended and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where his writing mentors were Waldo Salt, Ring Lardner, Jr., and Lorenzo Semple. He won back-to-back honors in national screenwriting competitions his junior and senior year, twice winning the top prize of a Nissan Sentra and a contract with the William Morris Agency. His bachelor's thesis became the Columbia Pictures Delta blues movie Crossroads (1986), directed by Walter Hill, and went into production while he was still a student at NYU.
Fusco has gone on to write numerous motion-pictures, an ABC mini-series, a long-form TV series, and two novels. He created the Netflix original series Marco Polo, which ran for two seasons from 2014 to 2016. Fusco also wrote the screenplay for the Lionsgate film The Shack which premiered on March 3, 2017. The film was a modest hit, grossing nearly $100 million worldwide against a $20 million budget. It was panned by critics but it earned favorable audience reviews.
In 2011 it was announced that Fusco was adapting the acclaimed Peter Guralnick biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis, for Fox 2000.
Fusco wrote a draft for the feature adaptation of the novel The Alchemist which as of 2016 was being developed by TriStar Pictures.
According to Variety in 2025, Fusco's spec screenplay 'The Rescue' has been purchased by Skydance. The modern-day Western will be directed by Potsy ('Old Henry') Ponciroli and starring Brandon Sklenar of Yellowstone: 1923.
After traveling in the southeast United States in search of obscure blues artists in the late 1970s, Fusco returned home to New England to co-found the Travis McComb Band, a southern rock ensemble that was popular in the New Haven, Connecticut music scene. Fusco played Hammond B3 organ, blues harmonica, was the lead vocalist, and wrote or co-wrote the band's originals. For a short time in 1979, he joined and toured with the Dixie Road Ducks from Northern Virginia, but soon left both bands to return to school and his pursuit of a screenwriting career.
His first movie, Crossroads, was inspired by his love for the Delta blues and his travels in the south. The movie would have him collaborating with Ry Cooder, Steve Vai, Frank Frost, and blues harp legend Sonny Terry. He also collaborated with Jackson Browne on the music video "Rockin' the Rez" which was a companion to Fusco's 1992 movie Thunderheart.
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John Fusco
John Fusco is an American screenwriter, producer, and television series creator born in Prospect, Connecticut. His screenplays include Crossroads, Young Guns, Young Guns II, Thunderheart, Hidalgo, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and The Highwaymen. He is also the creator of the Netflix series Marco Polo. Fusco is also a blues musician and a prose fiction author.
John Fusco was raised in the small town of Prospect, Connecticut, leaving home and high school early to travel the American south as a blues musician and blue collar laborer. He later attended and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where his writing mentors were Waldo Salt, Ring Lardner, Jr., and Lorenzo Semple. He won back-to-back honors in national screenwriting competitions his junior and senior year, twice winning the top prize of a Nissan Sentra and a contract with the William Morris Agency. His bachelor's thesis became the Columbia Pictures Delta blues movie Crossroads (1986), directed by Walter Hill, and went into production while he was still a student at NYU.
Fusco has gone on to write numerous motion-pictures, an ABC mini-series, a long-form TV series, and two novels. He created the Netflix original series Marco Polo, which ran for two seasons from 2014 to 2016. Fusco also wrote the screenplay for the Lionsgate film The Shack which premiered on March 3, 2017. The film was a modest hit, grossing nearly $100 million worldwide against a $20 million budget. It was panned by critics but it earned favorable audience reviews.
In 2011 it was announced that Fusco was adapting the acclaimed Peter Guralnick biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis, for Fox 2000.
Fusco wrote a draft for the feature adaptation of the novel The Alchemist which as of 2016 was being developed by TriStar Pictures.
According to Variety in 2025, Fusco's spec screenplay 'The Rescue' has been purchased by Skydance. The modern-day Western will be directed by Potsy ('Old Henry') Ponciroli and starring Brandon Sklenar of Yellowstone: 1923.
After traveling in the southeast United States in search of obscure blues artists in the late 1970s, Fusco returned home to New England to co-found the Travis McComb Band, a southern rock ensemble that was popular in the New Haven, Connecticut music scene. Fusco played Hammond B3 organ, blues harmonica, was the lead vocalist, and wrote or co-wrote the band's originals. For a short time in 1979, he joined and toured with the Dixie Road Ducks from Northern Virginia, but soon left both bands to return to school and his pursuit of a screenwriting career.
His first movie, Crossroads, was inspired by his love for the Delta blues and his travels in the south. The movie would have him collaborating with Ry Cooder, Steve Vai, Frank Frost, and blues harp legend Sonny Terry. He also collaborated with Jackson Browne on the music video "Rockin' the Rez" which was a companion to Fusco's 1992 movie Thunderheart.