​It’s Flag Day, Everyone!  Lots of things going on.  This issue contains:
Before Noon review & news! 
Me & Michael Cimino & The Black List
The Girl In the Basement and eBooks. 
And more!  Read on!

​Newsletter Schedule
Thank you to all of you who have expressed interest in receiving these newsletters.  I plan to publish them twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays.  The first will pass along any news I have.  The second will feature something creative: either an essay or a blog entry.

Before Noon
Don’t know about Before Noon?  Learn more here:
What is "before noon"? - Richard Rothrock
 
Thanks to each of you who have agreed to read my new script Before Noon and give me some feedback on it.  Award-winning filmmaker Pat Neff read it and had this to say:
“Finished BEFORE NOON last night!! Absolutely Phenomenal… It’s so good, Richard!! It’s practically criminal that this won’t be made… Proud of You!!!  PS - The true love/real love speech Jesse gives is one of the best things you have ever written!!!”
Thank you, Pat!  Looking forward to my other readers’ impressions.
 
Would any of you like to read it and give me your thoughts?  The first ten pages are attached to whet your appetite and peak your interest.  Please contact me if you want to read the whole thing.  Thank you to those who are!
 
Last week, I found a fan fiction contest on Film Freeway to enter Before Noon in: the Fan Fiction Film & Screenplay Festival.  The deadline is next week on June 22.  If you are (or have agreed) to read the complete script, please have your notes back to me by this weekend.  And thank you!

Me & Michael Cimino
Seriously considering sticking my award-winning script up on The Black List to see if I can raise its profile and make some industry noise like the equally popular spec script The Shark Is Not Working about the making of Jaws.  Stay tuned!

The Girl In the Basement
My horror script hangs in there.  Lots of praise but no takers.  I got some reader notes back in March on how to improve it.  Unfortunately, as many of you know, I fell ill at the same time and so am only now able to contemplate them.  I agree with most of the suggestions and am incorporating them now.  Should be done by the end of the week.  What to do after that?
 
The Girl In the Basement & eBooks
Well, I am thinking my future as a writer lies in eBooks.  And from what I have been reading, the shorter the better.  More like a novella length (15K to 30K words).  So once I have finished the changes to Girl In the Basement, I am thinking of turning it into an eBook for a Halloween release.  Currently reading How To Write & Publish a Book in 30 Days (2018) by Jolene Church on how to do this.  It is not too different from the underrated How To Write a Movie In 21 Days (1988) by Viki King.  Stay tuned!

​American Kids
Still working toward my end of the year goal of putting out my novel American Kids as an eBook.  More updates on that soon!
 
Still Reading Screenplays
One of you asked if I am still providing coverage for scripts.  Yes, in fact, this is one of my busiest times of the year.  I still do scripts (TV and features), pitch decks, and participate in table readings.  So far this year I have read a Polish action film that turns into a horror movie, spent time back in World War II (with the Jewish underground in Nazi Germany & Australians fighting the Japanese in Malaysia), William the Conqueror’s 1066 invasion of England, a western about true life gunfighter Johnny Ringo, a comedy about how the group Smash Mouth saved the world, a biography of St. Valentine, a live action reboot of the 90s animated show The Pirates of Dark Water, an action script about a troubled Afghan war vet looking to free her teenaged daughter from criminals, the Spanish Civil War, the American Civil War, and the 2nd American civil war that is supposed to be just around the corner.  Next up is a tale of a blind boxer then back to WWII and the Battle of Arnhem. 
Got a project you’d like feedback on?  Feel free to contact me by replying to this email.
 
A Piece of Writing Advice
Not many people remember Detroit area playwright Milan Stitt (1941-2009).  He is known mostly these days for the award-winning play The Runner Stumbles (which became Stanley Kramer’s last movie in 1979).  In 1980, I attended the writers conference at Oakland University.  I attended a seminar hosted by Stitt only to discover to both he and I’s surprise that I was the only attendee.  What a followed was a delightful one hour one on one session where I got a lot of great advice about a writing.  His one piece of advice that stuck with me was:
“Remember when it comes to dialogue that each time women speak, they tend to speak in two or three sentences.   Each time men speak, they tend to speak in two or three words.”
After that, I started writing my dialogue this way and have been praised for my realistic script conversations ever since.  Consider giving it a try!
 
That’s all for now!
 
Thank you again for reading.  The newsletter will be back on June 28 with “How The CBS Late Movie Expanded My World & Changed My Life”.
(3169) "CBS Late Movie" Intro from 1976 - taped from Dayton, Ohio!! - YouTube
 
Happy Writing!
Richard
 
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If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, just let me know and I will remove you from the list.

Before Noon is a fan fiction sequel script to the award-winning Before series.
 
The Before series is a trio of movies by Richard Linklater chronicling the evolving relationship between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy).  The two first met as college students on the streets of Vienna in Before Sunrise (1995), reunited as thirtysomething adults on the streets of Paris in Before Sunset (2004), and debated whether to continue their relationship while vacationing as 40-year-old parents on a Greek island in Before Midnight (2013).  For me, these films have organically evolved into the best films ever made that realistically chronicle an evolving relationship through the years.

​Since the movies came out 9 years apart, fans like me expected a new film in 2022.  Unfortunately, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy announced last fall that there would not be a new installment to the series this year.  Hawke went even further to say that he thought the series had run its course.
 
I disagreed and I even had an idea of what the subject of the next film should be.  And that is how I came to write Before Noon.  Call it fan fiction but I am very happy with it.  And it keeps the story of Jesse and Celine moving forward in the spirit of the overall series..
 
Before Noon Logline
After dropping their twin daughters off to their first day of college, Jesse and Celine stroll around Greenwich Village and confront the twin notions of aging and the empty nest.  What does a couple do once the children are out the door?
 
What are readers of Before Noon saying?
“Finished BEFORE NOON last night!! Absolutely Phenomenal…It’s so good, Richard!! It’s practically criminal that this won’t be made… Proud of You!!!   PS - The true love/real love speech Jesse gives is one of the best things you have ever written!!!”
 
Interested in reading Before Noon for yourself?  Let me know in the comments below!

DISCLAIMER
I do not own the Before series (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight) or any of the related characters. The Before series is created by Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, and Kim Krizan and owned by Castle Rock Entertainment. All rights to the Before series belong to Castle Rock Entertainment. This story is a work of fan fiction and is meant for entertainment only. I am not making any profit from this story.