Rick Famuyiwa (Writer, Director, Executive Producer) made his feature debut as writer/director on The Wood (Paramount). The sleeper hit grew out of Famuyiwa’s original screenplay which was developed and workshopped at Sundance’s Writers and Directors Lab. Next he directed and co-wrote the popular film, Brown Sugar (Fox Searchlight). In 2007, Rick received an NAACP Image Award for his screenplay of the critically lauded film Talk to Me (Focus Features). In 2010 he co-wrote and directed Our Family Wedding (Fox Searchlight). He then wrote and directed Dope, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize for Editing. In 2016, he directed Confirmation for HBO, a biopic about Clarence Thomas’ Senate Hearings to become a Supreme Court Judge. The film was nominated in 2016 for an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie. He directed the pilot for Showtime’s The Chi and also serves as an executive producer on the series. Famuyiwa joined the Emmy-award winning series The Mandalorian in 2019, directing multiple episodes across all 3 seasons of the series. He now serves as an Executive Producer on the hit series as well. Rick also serves on the USC School of Cinematic Art Alumni Leadership Council as well as the Sundance Institute Episodic Advisory Board. Rick began his relationship with Safe Place for Youth as a mentor in 2018.
A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Famuyiwa double-majored in Cinema/ Television Production and Critical Studies. During his senior year, he wrote and directed a thesis film, Blacktop Lingo. The short brought him acclaim and industry attention, and was one of 29 films selected to screen at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, making Famuyiwa the first undergraduate from USC to have a film shown at the festival.