About
"I was one of those kids who wrote perfect thank you notes; penned pretty good short stories in English class; churned out dense reports in History without so much as a backward glance. My ability to write was always something I took for granted - until I began to do it professionally. Now, with years of experience under my fingers, my zeal for writing continues unabated - something I'm so grateful for."
Richard Knight, Jr. has had an extensive professional writing career in numerous areas. His 16 years as a human interest journalist began in 1986 and included long term associations with the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Reader, New City, and Skyline newspapers. That was followed by a 12 ½ year stint as the film critic for Windy City Times and film writer and columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Four separate collections of his film reviews were published, including THE BEST OF KNIGHT AT THE MOVIES, a 2014 compendium of his favorite film reviews. These books are part of the LGBT Authors Collection, a component of the Illinois Authors Collection at the Illinois State Library.
HAUNTED HOUSES, PORN STARS & TOY COLLECTORS: MY ENCOUNTERS WITH REMARKABLE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS, an anthology of his human interest pieces was published in 2022. Of that collection Bruce Vilanch noted, “No matter where you are, a little Knight music is all you need.”
Screenplay Stuff
Knight has written award-winning screenplays in a multiple of genres. He was named to the top ten of the prestigious New City Film 50 list for 2019.
In addition to the horror themed CURSE OF THE SOUCOU, Knight's scripts include the LGBTQ themed GIVEN YOUR TRUE NATURE, the holiday themed A COUNTRY STORE CHRISTMAS, and HAUNTED HOMOCIDE, a comedic murder mystery which won second place at the Hollywood Horrorfest festival in the fall of 2020. The script also took first place at both the Portland Comedy Film Festival and the Austin After Dark Film Festival in the summer of 2020 and first in the spring of 2020 Houston Comedy Film Festival.
RAVEN’S NEST, Knight’s horror screenplay (co-written with Ellen Stoneking), won Honorable Mention at the fall 2019 “The Pitch” competition sponsored by the Chicago International Film Festival and IFC. The script was shortlisted for a Sundance 2020 Screenwriters Lab.
BLAME IT ON TOBY (written and directed by Knight), the pilot episode for ROGUES GALLERY, the horror anthology he created, had its hometown debut at Chicago’s Music Box of Horrors in October of 2018 followed by its west coast premiere at Screamfest. Multiple festival screenings continued through the end of 2020 in the US and Canada. TOBY received several nominations during the roll out and won Best Feature at the Dickens Horror Film Fest in late 2018 while Knight won Best Director at the Oregon Scream Week festival in 2020.
In 2012 Knight co-directed, co-wrote and co-produced the indie feature SCROOGE & MARLEY, a modern-day, queer variation on “A Christmas Carol.” He also wrote the film's theme song, "Christmas Eve Is Coming Soon," penned lyrics for the other original songs featured in the film and produced the soundtrack recording. A stage musical is in the works.
Let’s Get That Rent Paid Section
Knight has been a technical scribe and copywriter for Screen magazine, Tag International, At Home America and other clients. In 2007 he ghost wrote the corporate coffee table biography “Innovation & Integrity: The Story of Hub Group” (it paid the rent for a year).
And…
Knight has also contributed essay pieces to various book collections: “The Armchair Reader: The Colossal Reader, Super-Size Stories & Irresistible Information,” (2008), “Out and Proud in Chicago” (2008), and “Dugan’s Bistro and the Legend of the Bearded Lady” (2018).
Multi-hyphenate
Knight has a concurrent history as a musician, bandleader and comedic performer and was the recipient of two Emmy Awards in 1999 and 2001 for his appearances as the character Dick O’Day on the PBS TV show “Wild Chicago.”
Knight has also had a long career as a songwriter and performer. Everything to do with his music can be found here:
