Barry J. Brock finishes Shakespeare comedy Killing Juliet

Screenwriter Barry J. Brock has completed Killing Juliet, a feature comedy set in Elizabethan London that imagines Shakespeare battling Queen Elizabeth I and his own characters over the ending of Romeo and Juliet. The script has already won comedy screenplay awards in Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Why it matters: - Killing Juliet uses one of literature’s best-known tragedies to explore who controls a story’s ending. - The screenplay ties creative freedom to pressure from authority, a theme that gives the comedy broader appeal beyond Shakespeare fans. - The project has already drawn awards recognition, which may help position it for production interest.

What happened: - Screenwriter Barry J. Brock completed Killing Juliet, a feature comedy set in Elizabethan London. - The story is set in 1595 and centers on Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, Romeo and Juliet. - In the screenplay, Shakespeare first stages Romeo and Juliet as a comedy with a happy ending. - Queen Elizabeth I rejects that version and orders Shakespeare to kill both lovers. - Juliet then appears in Shakespeare’s study and challenges the rewrite. - Romeo also enters the story, forcing Shakespeare to confront the characters’ demands.

The details: - Juliet is portrayed as intelligent and outspoken. - Juliet objects to being reduced to a symbol and argues that any tragic ending must preserve her dignity and emotional meaning. - Romeo looks for ways to escape the fate written for him. - The screenplay includes Richard Burbage and comic actor Kempe among Shakespeare’s frustrated company. - Those characters press Shakespeare for a final version they can perform. - The plot moves between backstage disorder, arguments in Shakespeare’s study and encounters with the Queen. - Alternate endings include a wedding and a bakery. - The screenplay uses those shifts to turn the search for a convincing ending into a series of theatrical experiments. - The story also examines artistic ambition, the pressure to satisfy authority and the responsibility of a writer to fictional characters. - The central question is what makes a story endure through an audience’s recognition of love and loss. - Killing Juliet won Best Comedy Screenplay from the Tokyo Film Awards and the Los Angeles Movie & Music Video Awards. - Brock’s other screenplay, After the Bitter Winter, won Best Drama Screenplay at the LA Film & Documentary Award and Best War Screenplay at Best Script Award London.

Between the lines: - The premise lets Brock turn a familiar literary ending into a meta-comedy about authorship and control. - Juliet’s resistance gives the story a modern edge by making the female lead challenge the narrative limits imposed on her. - The awards suggest the screenplay is being recognized as both a concept piece and a craft-driven comedy.

What's next: - Brock is continuing to build a screenwriting portfolio that spans historical stories, drama, comedy and horror. - His broader body of work includes Unfathomable, a historical feature based on Civil War hero Robert Smalls. - Brock also brings a long professional background in education and military service to his creative work. - Brock is a screenwriter, educator and retired U.S. Navy officer with more than 25 years in higher education. - He directed medical-service operations in Kuwait and Afghanistan and taught Business, Public Administration and Health Sciences at Barry University.

The bottom line: - Killing Juliet turns Shakespeare’s most famous romance into a battle over authorship, agency and the meaning of a lasting ending.