Rick Pamplin was born April 29, 1954, in Flint, Michigan to Raymond and Garnett Pamplin. His father was a postman and his mother a public school teacher. In his senior year Rick went to Cranbrook prep school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This introduced him to the world of politics where he became very active in the George McGovern campaign. At the age of 18, 6' 4", 180 lbs. Rick became Senator McGovern's driver/bodyguard. Working on this campaign he met several celebrities, Candice Bergen, Warren Beatty, and Shirley MacLaine to name a few.Being out of work and not knowing what he was going to do with his life Rick bought a movie ticket, saw the picture and went home and typed up a review of the movie and sent it to the local paper. One day he got a call from one of his friends telling him they read a review of The Heartbreak Kid by Rick Pamplin. Rick immediately called the editor and he went to speak with her. The editor hired him on the spot to write reviews for television and films. Later, she told him that the star writer just got transferred and he was wanted to cover the front-page news features. The manager of a new television station WEYI, TV in Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan had been reading Rick's front-page coverage stories and hired him as a news correspondent. He covered everything from murders to presidential visits, winning several major awards in journalism for the newspaper.Rick decided he wanted to be an actor because actors got all the girls. He went to the Lee Strasberg Institute took acting classes and also studied with Stella Adler. He enrolled in Antioch College where he got his masters degree in creative writing. He got to do his internship on movies and read about 500 motion picture scripts. After graduation and out of work he found himself homeless living out of his car trying to figure out how can make a career in film. He went to the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College at the Coronet Theater in LA and at the screenwriting class he was persuaded to stand in for the absent teacher. He bluffed his way through the classes, gradually learning the job and later taught screenwriting at Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles and also at the University of Southern California. He then began working in film production, becoming so successful that he rented an office in La Cienega Boulevard on the edge of Beverly Hills. His first shot at directing came with a women's wrestling show for television called "GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling" (1986), in Las Vegas. He did 26 one-hour episodes. Now convinced he could direct he put together a low-budget film called Provoked (1989). This was his first film he produced, co-wrote and directed. The film was shot in eight days. And his wife played the lead. While shooting the movie, there is a scene where an actress dressed as a police officer is chasing another women in an alley in Glendale. While filming this scene a S.W.A.T. team helicopter overhead saw this saw this and reported an officer in trouble. Immediately, several police cars and news reporters responded and they kept filming all this for their scene. The LA Times wrote an article and put it on the front page. First time filmmaker, Rick Pamplin, arrested while making his movie. The LA Times syndicate picked the story up and ran it in 300 newspapers. Rick got calls from all over the US for copies of the film. Blockbuster called and bought the film. The film got 11 Drive-in Academy Award nominations and Rick became a member of the Directors Guild of America. In 1994 he moved to Florida and he and his friend, Bob Fisher, opened the Pamplin-Fisher Company with an office at Universal Studios. They immediately came up with three projects, Michael Winslow Live (1999) (V), _Hoover (1997)_ and Magic 4 Morons. Michael Winslow Live received the award for "Outstanding Cinematic Achievement" by the Academy of Family Films and Television. Hoover, a feature film, starring Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine as the late FBI director was listed on the Oscar and DGA ballots for Best Director. Magic 4 Morons, a video teaching magic with Michael Winslow and magician Lyndel received the "President's Award of Excellence" from the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 170. Rick is currently working on three films. Crimebusters is an action comedy about kids helping the police to stop a crime wave. City of God is a dramatic modern adaptation of St. Augustine's classic book. A third film, A Beautiful Life, is an original story about a young mother's encounter with her baby's guardian angel at an abortion clinic. When not working Rick watches movies, reads, goes to the arts and loves to spend a lot of time with his son, Ryan, who is now 14. On Valentine's Day Rick proposed to artist Maggie Phipps, she said "yes" and a June wedding is planned.
Passion, persistence and performance. Those three words describe Rick Pamplin and his 30-year career in the motion picture industry. Beginning in his native Michigan as a news reporter for WEYI TV, CBS for Flint, Saginaw, Bay City and Midland, Rick learned how to tell a story with a camera, write copy, edit, apply sound and music, make deadlines, produce on a budget and communicate with a mass audience.After attending Culver Military Academy and graduating from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, he continued his education at the University of Michigan-Flint while working in television. He later edited the award-winning student newspaper, The University News, and worked with friend and contributor Michael Moore (Roger & Me, Fahrenheit 9-11).Moving to Hollywood in 1976, Rick continued his education at Antioch University and had the good fortune to become neighbors with Sylvester Stallone, a little-known actor at the time. After seeing Rocky, Rick wrote articles about Stallone for national magazines to pay for his college, studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute, worked as an extra in movies, did crew jobs and received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Communications and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Antioch.Homeless and broke, more than once, after graduation, Rick worked as a magazine editor, freelance writer, radio talk show host and screenwriter. By accident he fell into teaching screenwriter and, later, low-budget filmmaking. He became a popular Los Angeles teacher with sold-out classes, was profiled in newspapers and magazines, and sold projects to studios such as Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. He also sold to Guber-Peters, an independent production company, and partnered with producer Robert Kosberg (Commando, 12 Monkeys, The Hardy Men) for several years pitching and selling movies developed in Rick's screenwriter classes.In 1994 Rick became an independent filmmaker and set up his company at Universal Studios Florida, the largest working movie studio outside of Hollywood. He has produced, written and directed several award-winning projects including Michael Winslow Live, Magic 4 Morons and Hoover starring Academy Award® winner Ernest Borgnine.The Pamplin Film Company has successfully developed and invested over $1 million in three independent feature films to be produced in 2007 and 2008; Crimebusters, City of God and A Beautiful Life. Pamplin will produce the films with William L. Whitacre, Esq. (The Blair Witch Project) and Borgnine, who will star and executive produce. Pamplin will direct the films from his own screenplays.Passion, persistence and performance have served Pamplin well as he embarks on the biggest challenges and opportunities in his three decade-old career.
