Richter graduated from
Dartmouth College and attended
USC Film School. He began script writing for Hollywood in the 1970s. He wrote the comedy
Slither (1973), followed by two similarly styled comedies,
Peeper (1975) and
Nickelodeon (1976). He branched into other genres starting with the 1970s remake of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He wrote scripts throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 1980s, Richter formed his own production company (with producer
Neil Canton), Canton/Richter, and directed
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. The film did poorly at the box office, and the company ended. In 1981, he wrote a screenplay based on
Eric Van Lustbader's novel
The Ninja for
Irvin Kershner to direct with
Richard Zanuck and
David Brown and
20th Century Fox to produce, which ultimately never got made. Richter continued to write screenplays however, and has since written
Home for the Holidays and
Stealth. ==Filmography==