In 1991, Luedtke was hired to write the screenplay for The Bridges of Madison County (1995) which Sydney Pollack was originally attached to direct. But his draft was turned down by Warner Bros. and several other writers took turns adapting Robert James Waller's novel.
Was a former reporter.
In 1967, he was assistant city editor at the Detroit Free Press, and oversaw the paper's coverage of the civil unrest in the city that summer. The news staff won the Pulitzer prize for local general or spot news reporting.
He graduated from Brown University, then worked for a newspaper and TV station before attending a summer law school program at the University of Michigan. He left law school for graduate studies in journalism at Northwestern University. A summer internship at the Miami Herald turned into a full-time job in 1963.
His wife was an author and was a vice president of the University of Detroit.