THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR by Dawn Klehr

Life in the Heights has never been easy for seventeen-year-old Riley Frost, but when she's publicly dumped and outed at the same time, she becomes an immediate social outcast at her high school. So Riley swears off romance and throws herself into solving the shocking murder of her favorite teacher, Ms. Dunn.

Riley turns to her best friend, budding filmmaker Desmond Brandt, for help. What she doesn't know is that Dez has been secretly directing her life, blackmailing her friends, and hoping his manipulations will make her love him. When his schemes go too far, Dez's web of lies threatens to destroy both of their lives.

Help me congratulate friend and fellow Flux author, Dawn Klehr, on the her YA Debut, THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR. Official Pub date it October 8th, but our buddies at Barnes & Noble and Amazon are shipping it now!!!

Crazy excited to have you here! Can you tell me a little about non-author Dawn?

I live in the suburbs of Minneapolis with my husband, young son and dog. We love to travel. I write full time, but have a background in TV and marketing. Although I've been on both sides of the camera, I prefer to lurk behind the lens. Mostly, I just love getting lost in stories –in film, the theater, or on the page – and I'm a sucker for both the sinister and the sappy. I'm currently channeling her dark side as she works on her next book.

Well since you brought it up, can you give us a quick hint as to what your next project will be?

You can put that it's a YA thriller about an unexpected hostage situation currently titled 22 HOURS.

Tell us a little about the CUTTING ROOM FLOOR:

The Cutting Room Floor is about a young woman struggling to find herself in a rundown and corrupt town and a young guy trying to control his life and those around him. The book takes the two on a dangerous journey that tests them at every turn. 

I noticed the book has film theme. Why did choose to highlight that artistic thread as opposed to the more commonly seen ones like dance, or music, or even drawing?

The film theme isn't something that was planned. I'm very much a character-driven writer, and the cinematic element came directly from Dez. Once it was in place, the book almost wrote itself. It's such an important part of the story--almost its own character.

On the theme of film adaptations, any books you would absolutely love to see made into a movie?

As far as adaptations, I may be alone on this, but I love adaptations. Even the bad ones. When I love a book, I want to live in that world as long as I can and I love having that option with film. If I could adapt a literary book in film, I think it would be The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And I believe this is happening, though it may be delayed. First, I love war films so I think this could be an amazing adaptation. The story is also full of interesting characters. There's love, danger, war, high stakes ... I don't think you could ask for more!

If I had to choose my favorites movie adaptations, I'd have to say: The Godfather, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Harry Potter (all of them).

Any adaptations that didn't work for you?

Stephen King's Bag of Bones didn't work for me as a mini-series. It's one of my favorite books, and I love Pierce Brosnan, but it just didn't get there.

Ever envisioned THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR as a movie:

Yes, I've absolutely envisioned The Cutting Room Floor as a movie. And a TV show. I think it could work well as either and be very compelling. We've had some interest, so we'll see

Just curious....what was the last movie you saw?

The last film I watched was Coraline with my son. Another awesome adaptation!

You can learn more about Dawn and her upcoming YA projects on her website: dawnklehrbooks.com


And as for THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR...it is crazy good! I promise, y'all will love it.

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