Marilyn R. Atlas, Talent & Literary Manager & Award-Winning Producer

Marilyn R. Atlas is a talent & literary manager, award-winning producer, and co-author of Dating Your Character. Her clients have appeared in shows such as Star Trek, Fringe, Pretty Little Liars, How to Get Away with Murder, 90210, Revenge, Hart of Dixie, NCIS:LA, True Blood, Dexter, Chuck, Castle, and Criminal Minds. She was film producer on Real Women Have Curves for HBO, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival; A Certain Desire, starring Sam Waterston; and Echoes, which won the Gold Award at the Texas International Film Festival.

In addition to producing a variety of programming for the cable/ pay TV market. In live theater, Marilyn co-produced the West Coast premiere of the musical God Bless You Mr. Rosewater by Ashman and Menken (the writers of Enchanted and Tangled). Real Women Have Curves – The Musical is opening on Broadway April 2025. She also co-produced the award-winning play “To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,” co-produced a play in San Antonio called “Detained in the Desert,” and produced a movie for Lifetime based on a book called “The Choking Game.”

Marilyn herself has been in development on pilots for Showtime and ABC Family. In addition to Marilyn’s film/TV credits, she has sold (first time) novels Chasing the Jaguar to HarperCollinsto Hachette Book Ave Maria Bed & Breakfast to Grand Central Publishing, and the Hungry Woman in Paris, Group, and the Last Ride of Caleb O’Toole to Sourcebooks Her Lifetime movie The Choking Game based on the YA book by Diana Lopez aired in summer 2014. She is also featured in the book Write Now! from Penguin/Tarcher. She is the co-author of a relationship-based, screenwriting guide called Dating Your Character, about an organic approach to character creation for Stairway Press’s Summer 2016 catalog.

Member Reviews of Marilyn

Marilyn Atlas was a warm, insightful talent manager who quickly enhanced my understanding of my work and offered great suggestions for ensuring potential agents grasped the applicability of my historical fiction for today’s readers.

Sandra Elliot

Marilyn Atlas, 10 min. Zoom meeting was great. She told me pointers of exactly what was needed. I learned so much. Every writer could benefit from her advice and critique. Truly a fantastic person, easy to talk with and expert in her field.

David Jones

Direction was what I was looking for and direction was what I received.

What a great session I had with Marilyn Atlas! Her thoughts on my writing were insightful and helpful. In particular, she gave me some guidance on having my book turned into a screenplay and shared her knowledge of the business with me. Direction was what I was looking for and direction was what I received. Thanks Marilyn!

Janice Clements

Supportive and Approachable Consultation

Marilyn gave me wonderful encouraging feedback and she was more than willing to answer all my questions. She was kind and very approachable. I highly recommend meeting with her if given the opportunity.

Maria Costanzo Palmer

I’ve had several log line consultations with different folks – all beneficial – but the most helpful has been Marilyn. She gets to the point with a positive exchange of ideas. Her ideas needed to marinate overnight but the next day I honed in on my log line/theme. Thank you, Marilyn!

Denise M Testa

Encourages and Uplifts Writers

Marilyn was positive, upbeat and extremely helpful in her critique of my first page. The Zoom session was a truly delightful experience. Marilyn’s background is impressive, which added weight to her suggestions and recommendations. I’m so grateful that The Manuscript Academy offered this service.

Rick Outzen

Work with Marilyn

LIVE Meetings: Meet face-to-face, from home. Choose Zoom, Google Meet, or phone, and speak for the appointed time about your query, first page, and/or first ten pages (for longer meetings). Does not include written notes, but is a chance to have an honest discussion about your work, and to ask follow-up questions. International meetings welcomed.

HYBRID is a live meeting at the appointment time, with written notes.

WRITTEN Critiques: Get detailed, thoughtful notes on your work. Comes with large-scale edits (character, world, plot, tension, concept, conflict, and similar as needed) in an editorial letter and small-scale, line-by-line notes as needed (for longer critiques, an average of three per page). Work arrives in your inbox within 24 hours of thedate on the calendar.