[1] A film adaptation of 1906, based on both the novel and Dalessandro's screenplay, has been in development at Warner Bros. and Pixar Animation Studios, in association with Walt Disney Pictures.
[4] As the nation's largest annual literary festival at the time, it brought Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and musicians like Anthony Braxton and Charles Lloyd to the seaside town of Santa Cruz, CA, which set attendance records (over 2,000 people per night) at the Civic Auditorium.
[1] In 1997, his 38-page outline and six finished chapters for a new novel, "1906", a re-telling of the great San Francisco Earthquake and fire, became the subject of a Hollywood bidding war.
[citation needed] Dalessandro's documentary on the 1906 Earthquake "The Damnedest, Finest Ruins" won numerous film festival awards and was broadcast on San Francisco's KQED/PBS Station.
He also wrote the pilot for a series based on Citizen Jane, which is under active development with producer Larry Jacobson and Entertainment One.
He is the writer, director and producer of the documentary film, The Damnedest, Finest Ruins, narrated by actor Peter Coyote, which looked at the San Francisco earthquake and fire.