Starting in the 1950s, Fante made a living primarily as a screenwriter, building a lucrative career writing mostly unproduced screenplays. Fante's screenwriting credits include the comedy-drama "Full of Life" (1957), based on his 1952 novel of the same name, which starred Judy Holliday and Richard Conte, and was nominated for Best Written American Comedy at the 1957 WGA Awards. He also co-wrote "Walk on the Wild Side" (1962), which stars Jane Fonda in her second credited film role, based on the novel by Nelson Algren. His other screenplay credits include "Dinky", "Jeanne Eagels", "My Man and I", "The Reluctant Saint", "Something for a Lonely Man", and "Six Loves". As Fante himself often admitted, most of what he wrote for the screen was simply hackwork intended to bring in a paycheck.