We recently connected with Rickey Larke and have shared our conversation below.
Rickey, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
In 2023 I made my most ambitious independent project to date, a $50k budgeted short film with a crew of over 80 professionals. I felt blessed because the short was almost derailed by both the writers strike and later, actors strikes halting production for all guilded film professionals. At every turn as a black filmmaker, I heard “no” or “wait” but my small group of independent producers persisted and were one of the first projects to shoot with waivers from both unions and create paying jobs for young actors, crew and businesses while still supporting in the strike. I was honored to receive the help from all the hard working cast, crew, and producers, but was reminded that this was the culmination of many years of hard work and doing the same for others. I started my career ten years ago PA’ing for any short film I could find. I spent ten years moving up the chain to this moment. Many of the people on set knew me from other walks of life and showed up to help me out not because I was paying but because we built real professional and personal relationships and that was something that I was most proud of. After the last day of filming, on an overnight shoot, we took a picture as a crew and to see the majority POC crew who worked so hard at the finish line still makes me want to cry tears of joy. Making art by us and for us is still important. The most meaningful moment of the production for me came after everything was packed up and the parking lot cleared out. A young woman who worked as a gaffer on the project came to me a bit upset and told me that unfortunately her check had her named misspelled. She didn’t know what to do. For me, paying everyone one time as quickly as possible was important and so I wired her fund from my personal account right there so she could enjoy her holiday weekend. With a week of shooting, 5 locations and many choices made… that was my proudest moment.
Rickey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m just a young black Writer & Director from Chicago, IL who’s a creative professional based in television development and production, but I also provide creative consulting services and independently produce short form content. I got into the business after making music videos in Chicago and a documentary student film at Bowdoin Univ. which led to an internship at HBO Miniseries in 2013. I worked in the Programming department of HBO until 2019 on shows like Game of Thrones S6, Veep S6 & Insecure S3. Additionally, I also worked on Black-ish (ABC) as a Show-runner Asst. and on Kenan (NBC) as a Story Editor. Currently, I’m in my third season as a Writer/Co-Producer for Free-Form’s Grown-ish. In addition to these shows, I have been an award winning writer/director/producer with my works showing at Austin Comedy Shorts Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival, Detroit Black Film Festival, Kino London Short Film Festival and many others.
Mostly, I’ve been a full time writer crafting television shows and writing full producible scripts but what sets me apart from others in my field is my motor. My mother was an Avon employee and my father never finished high school. I don’t come from privilege, I come from work. I see myself as a very talented writer and director but my greatest skill is my ability to go to work and work hard when I am there. In my industry, everyone surviving has done it with a bit of luck and I am no exception but I believe luck is the byproduct of hard work. In addition, I took pride in not being the best or most anything but being a reliable teammate and coworker who valued others humanity more than their work output. I think I come to work to work, but also not valuing it over the people I’m with. I believe we will be remembered more favorably through the people we work and live with than the actual work we do in television, so I try to be good to others. The things I am most proud of are the friends I passed resumes along for, produced projects for, worked for free for, stopped traffic for their shots (haha), pushed and supported along their journeys and the memories we shared as young folks trying to make movies in LA. I’m proud of the days I stayed later than anyone at HBO and the Disney lot. I’m also very proud of the jokes that I told that made the entire writers room laugh. When people watch something with my name on it, or that comes from me, I want people to feel good and have a good time and I want my content to make people talk and connect with others even if they may disagree. I want my work to be conversation starters not conversation enders. I hope that the exploration in my work brings value to people’s lives and gets them closer to what’s truly important with their time here.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I was fired three times from three different jobs, in three months. I think I could’ve quit then and I still would’ve been deemed successful and nobody would have blamed me, but I didn’t give up. More importantly, I didn’t blame my former employers for my mistakes. I took a good look in the mirror, I got serious about what I wanted, and committed to working harder and smarter than I ever worked before.
It was an important moment in my career, but more importantly for my life. I had to ask myself what type of person I was going to be and I showed myself I had more fight in me than I thought. I basically channeled my inner Nipsey Hussle and decided I cannot give up, and with a bit of luck I found the right opportunities to shine.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I grew up in Chicago, IL then moved to Bolingbrook, IL when I was about 7 years old. My family didn’t have a lot of money but something we could afford to do was go to the movies a couple times a month. I loved that, and I still cherish the memory of going with my mom to the movies. We’d sneak candy in but buy popcorn and always went to AMC SHOWPLACE 12 down the street. My goal in my career is to have a movie come out in that SHOWPLACE 12 for a couple weeks and take my mom to my movie there. It is my ultimate dream. I don’t need any awards or even a good Rotten Tomatoes review, but I want my movie to open at the SHOWPLACE 12.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Directedbylarke
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickey-larke-5288a957
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10955561/
Image Credits
PHOTO CREDIT ON DIGITAL BY: Julian Park PHOTO COLOR ON FILM: Davi de Azevedo