He began his career in 1991 co-writing the film Condominio by Felice Farina. Since 1994 he has collaborated on the screenplays of the films of director Paolo Virzì (La bella vita, Ferie d’agosto, Ovosodo, Baci e abbracci, My Name Is Tanino, Caterina va in città, N (Io e Napoleone), Tutta la vita davanti, La prima cosa bella, Tutti i santi giorni e Il capitale umano and, from 1995 to 2003, also those of the films of director Mimmo Calopreste (La seconda volta, La parola amore esiste, Preferisco il rumore del mare, La felicità non costa niente).
He has also worked with Franco Bernini (subject and screenplay of the film Sotto la luna), David Riondino (Cuba libre – Velocipedi ai tropici), Francesca Comencini (Le parole di mio padre) and with the comedians Ficarra and Picone (Nati stanchi, Il 7 and 8, La matassa). He collaborated on the screenplays of Roberto Faenza’s The Viceroys, based on the novel of the same name by Federico De Roberto, and the film, released in 2008, Miracle at St. Anna, by Spike Lee. He also contributed to the subject of the feature film in four episodes 4-4-2 – Il gioco più bello del mondo, produced by Paolo Virzì
For television he adapted the short stories and novels by Andrea Camilleri for the Inspector Montalbano series and those by Carlo Lucarelli for the Il commissario De Luca series. He also wrote the TV film Il tunnel della libertà, directed by Enzo Monteleone.
As an actor he starred in a small part in the film La guerra degli Antò by Riccardo Milani (1999).
He teaches screenwriting at the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome.
In 2011 he made his directorial debut with Scialla! (Stai sereno) presented at the 2011 Venice Film Festival where it won the Controcampo Award for narrative feature films. For this film, which turned out to be the most awarded of 2011, he won the David di Donatello 2012 for Best New Director and the Silver Ribbon 2012 for Best New Director.
In September 2012 he was appointed president of the jury of the Perspectives Italy section of the 2012 edition of the Rome International Film Festival.
In March 2013 he was elected president of the 100 Authors, the main Italian association of authors in the audiovisual sector.
