Herz This is GBH’s Morning Edition. A high school teaching assistant in Dartmouth is having a bit of a surreal moment after a short story he posted to Reddit five years ago was recently picked up to become a Hollywood movie with actress Sydney Sweeney attached.

 

Youtuber, pre-recorded Mikayla Murray went missing 12 years ago on the eve of her 18th birthday. She didn’t have any big plans or anything, but her friends described her as having been in a particularly good mood for what was an otherwise perfectly normal Friday...

 

Herz That’s a YouTuber reading Malden native Joe Cote’s story called I Pretended to be a Missing Girl. And he joins us now, good morning, Joe.

 

Cote Good morning, how we doing?

 

Herz Good, I hope you are too. I would imagine you are, because this is quite -- your story is quite a story.

 

Cote Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind, but I’m enjoying every bit of it.

 

Herz Well you know, this story was written almost five years ago. Of course you don’t want to give away the ending, but tell us more about the story.

 

Cote So a drifter, we’ll call her Sydney, sees a photo of a long missing teenage girl. And the girl looks a lot like her. So she does her research and sees that the family has a lot of money, and the girl is still missing. So she thinks, 'hey, I could be that girl.’ So she plans to go back to the house simply to rob them. And things do not go as planned.

 

Herz And I mean, what’s your history as a writer?

 

Cote Oh, well, when I’d written this... I had almost never written anything, really. I’d posted a few short stories on Reddit, but nothing seriously. My focus used to be music.

 

Herz Well, I don’t mean to make this sound judgmental, but it sounds like you’re sort of plucked from obscurity.

 

Cote No, you’re you’re a hundred percent correct. And in fact, when I received the message from my now manager on reddit, I thought it was a scam. I ignored him. And then he messaged me again, and I told him no, I said 'I don’t need any sort of writing representation or anything I’m just a public school teacher,' and he said 'trust me you’re going to want to get on the phone with me.’ And I did.

 

Herz Wow. Let’s talk about the genre that you’re writing in. True crime and cold cases are both huge, especially here in New England, like with cases like Maura Murray comes to mind. Tell us about how you got interested in this and how that inspired you to actually write your own.

 

Cote I’ve always been fascinated by missing person stories. I remember reading Gillian Flynn’s books, Gone Girl was the first one that I’d read and I was blown away and I thought, 'wow, the way that I feel right now, I want to make other people feel that way.’ I’m a huge true crime podcast guy. I used to live in Malden and work in Haverhill at Nettle Middle School, and it was a long drive so I’d throw on a true crime podcast, and yeah, just general fascination with crime stories. And, like I said, particularly missing person stories. I do try to layer in some real personal emotional stuff, too. It’s not just about the thrills, and obviously it doesn’t have to always be deep. If you’re simply entertained, that’s perfectly fine with me. But I do trying to layer some of that personal emotional stuff too that I hope people can connect with.

 

Herz Well, we’ve mentioned and you’ve mentioned that you are a high school teacher by day. What’s it like going into work after this has happened with your colleagues and your students?

 

Cote It’s absurdly comedic. I heard a group of kids the other day whispering, "that’s him, that’s the guy." I’m a pretty friendly dude, you guys can just talk to me, I’ll tell you all about it. I am actually very excited to talk about it now that it’s out there. So I will very happily share this with everyone.

 

Herz Joe Cote, a teaching assistant at Dartmouth High School, and the author of a short story that will become a movie. It’s called, I Pretended to be a Missing Girl. Joe, thanks for coming in and big congrats to our native son here.

 

Cote Thank you so much. Yeah, this was awesome. Appreciate it.

 

Herz This is GBH.

 

A high school teaching assistant in Dartmouth is having a surreal moment after a short story he posted to Reddit was recently picked up by a Hollywood film studio.

Joe Cote’s story, “I Pretended to be a Missing Girl,” tells the tale of a young drifter who sees a photo of a long-missing teenage girl who looks exactly like her. She discovers the girl’s family is wealthy and pretends to be their missing daughter, unaware of what she’s walking into.
 
Cote posted the story to a Reddit thread in 2020. He also said he had never written stories seriously before, focusing on music instead.

But his foray into fiction received hundreds of upvotes and comments on the site, and eventually a talent manager reached out.

“I thought [the message] was a scam — I ignored him,” Cote said. “And then he messaged me again, and I told him no, I said 'I don’t need any sort of writing representation or anything I’m just a public school teacher,' and he said 'trust me you’re going to want to get on the phone with me.’ And I did.”

Cote says several months later, he got a call telling him that a production company was interested.

“It’s been a whirlwind, but I’m enjoying every bit of it,” Cote said.

Warner Bros. secured the rights to the film, and it is set be produced by actress Sydney Sweeney’s production company, Fifty-Fifty Films. Sweeney has also agreed to star in the project. The script will be written by Eric Roth, who is known for his work on films like Forrest Gump, the recent Dune movie, and others..

Cote, who will serve as an executive producer, says he’s “always been fascinated by missing person stories.”

“‘Gone Girl’ was the first one that I’d read, and I was blown away and I thought, 'Wow, the way that I feel right now, I want to make other people feel that way,’” he said. ”I’m a huge true crime podcast guy. I used to live in Malden and work in Haverhill at Nettle Middle School, and it was a long drive, so I’d throw on a true crime podcast.“

Cote said returning to his day job as an assistant teacher at Dartmouth High School has been ”absurdly comedic.“

”I heard a group of kids the other day whispering, “That’s him, that’s the guy,” he said. “I’m a pretty friendly dude ... I’ll tell you all about it. I am actually very excited to talk about it now that it’s out there.”

Cote said he’s working on new stories to further his writing career, but he says he’s not planning on leaving his job at Dartmouth High anytime soon.