:: Started writing, drawing, and painting at an early age and carried this talent through his college years and beyond. He credits his parents with the foresight to enroll him in art lessons as a kid.

:: Attended Midlothian High School and graduated in 1993.

:: Accepted an art scholarship to the University of Southern California, but quickly changed his major to film after getting bored staring at slides of sculptures and the like.

:: Graduated USC in 1997 with a film degree, and worked at a few low paying jobs in the industry while he toiled away at writing during his free time.

:: Wrote Donnie Darko in only a few intense weeks, but spent years fighting to get it made.

:: Signed with top talent agency CAA after they read the Donnie Darko script. He calls this the turning point in his career since it opened all sorts of doors around town.

:: Was offered the chance to direct the slasher flick Valentine during a time when the money would have been extremely useful. Promptly turned it down because he wanted his first movie to be something he’d be proud of (“You only get once chance to make your first film…”).

:: Adapted a screenplay based on the Louis Sachar book “Holes ,” but the studio in charge of the project decided to go in a different direction. Sachar ended up writing the final screenplay, and the movie did well in the theaters. Richard’s version of the script was far more dark and ominous, not the kid movie the studio eventually made. The script Richard wrote is currently available on this site.

:: Worked with producer and friend Sean McKittrick on a TV pilot called “The Left Coast”, but it never made it to production.

:: Currently lives in the Los Angeles area and is not married.

:: Is a big fan of films (of course), The Simpsons, and writers such as Stephen King (a few King books made appearances in Donnie Darko). Sorry, but we couldn’t find out his favorite color, food, or Pat Boone heavy metal cover song.

:: Started a production company with producer and friend Sean McKittrick called Darko Entertainment.

:: Spent more than two years working on a rewrite of the script Knowing, only to find a lack of sufficient financial support for the project. Currently, the project appears to have found new life with Alex Proyas directing.

:: Oversaw the release of a director's cut of Donnie Darko in 2004. A host of deleted scenes and other new material were added back in. The Director's Cut received a theatrical release across numerous cities, and earned more in domestic box office than the original cut of the film did.

:: Wrote the script for the Tony Scott directed film Domino based on the life of bounty hunter Domino Harvey. The movie stars Keira Knightley and began filming in the fall of 2004 with Richard heavily involved on the set. It was released on October 16, 2005, a few months after the death of the real Domino Harvey. The box office returns were fairly low. A DVD set is scheduled to appear February 14, 2006.

:: Production started on Richard's second directorial feature film Southland Tales in July 2004, with principal photography for the project completed over August/September 2005. The ambitious film has a crazy cast, headlined by The Rock, Seann William Scott, and Sarah Michele Gellar. It's anticipated that Southland Tales will hit theaters in the late summer/fall of 2006.

:: Spent time adapting the novel "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut (with the script titled Ice Nine). It appears that script will likely not be produced.

:: Plans on also adapting the book "The Contortionist's Handbook" by Craig Clevenger.

:: Wrote an adaptation of the book "In Harm's Way" by Doug Stanton for Warner Brothers. Current plans are for it to be a big budget WWII film.

:: Has written a script called The House at the End of the Street for Jonathan Mostow. It is undecided if Mostow will direct or simply produce the project with Richard directing it. The goal of the collaboration is to make "the scariest movie ever."

:: Is working on a joint project with Cabin Fever director Eli Roth called The Box. It is a story based on the Twilight Zone episode Button, Button written by Richard Matheson.

:: Has written other unproduced scripts such as Into the Great Wide Open and Bessie. The former has been tied to actress Kate Hudson, and could possibly be Richard's next directorial project after Southland Tales.

:: Richard is represented by both Creative Arts Agency (CAA) - John Campisi as well as The Firm ( 9465 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212) - Jennifer Davisson.