Michael A. Rich (born 1959) is an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

best known for his writing on sports-related films.

Early life

Rich was born in

Enterprise, Oregon Enterprise is a city in and the county seat of Wallowa County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,940 in the 2010 census.

. He attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

and was a member of

Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...

fraternity. While in college at Oregon State University he worked as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

and

newsman A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

at the radio stations

KFLY KFLY (101.5 FM) is an American commercial country music radio station in Eugene, Oregon (licensed to Corvallis) that serves the Eugene– Springfield, Corvallis– Albany–Lebanon, and Salem areas of the Willamette Valley. History KFLY b ...

and

KEJO KEJO (1240 AM, "1240 Joe Radio") is a radio station licensed to serve Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The station, which began broadcasting in August 1955, is currently owned by Bicoastal Media and the broadcast license is held by Bicoastal ...

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

. At that time, KFLY was on the

AM broadcasting AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmis ...

frequency of 1240 kHz, and KEJO was on the

FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

frequency of 101.5 MHz; both stations were licensed to serve Corvallis, were located in the same building, and owned by Madgekal Broadcasting, Inc., which was controlled by Corvallis businessman

Mario Pastega Mario Pastega (1916–2012) was an American businessman. A soft-drink bottler in the state of Oregon for nearly six decades, Pastega was elected to the Beverage World Hall of Fame in 2002. Pastega is best remembered as a patron of education and as ...

. A graduate of

's College of Business, Rich began his media career as a news reporter for

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

radio station

KINK Kink or KINK may refer to: Common uses * Kink (sexuality), a colloquial term for non-normative sexual behavior * Kink, a curvature, bend, or twist Geography * Kink, Iran, a village in Iran * The Kink, a man-made geographic feature in remote east ...

. He transitioned in 2001 from full time at KINK to morning updates while pursuing a screenwriter career. In 1998, he was awarded a

Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting The Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting is a fellowship program founded in 1986 to aid screenwriters. It is administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. History Gee Nicholl, widow of producer Don Nicholl, worked w ...

by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

for his first film script ''

Finding Forrester ''Finding Forrester'' is a 2000 American drama film written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant. In the film, a black teenager, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown (actor), Rob Brown), is invited to attend a prestigious private high school. By chance ...

''. This film was named after his high school English teacher, Mrs. Forster, from Enterprise High School in

Enterprise, Oregon Enterprise is a city in and the county seat of Wallowa County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,940 in the 2010 census.

. He was awarded an honorary dFA by OSU on June 17, 2007, for his acclaim earned by his first two movies.

Filmography

* ''

'' (2000) * '' The Rookie'' (2002) * ''

Radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

'' (2003) * ''

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

'' (uncredited) (2004) * ''

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...

'' (uncredited) (2006) * ''

The Nativity Story ''The Nativity Story'' is a 2006 American biblical drama film based on the nativity of Jesus and directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Hiam Abbass, Shaun Toub, Alexander Siddig, Ciarán Hinds, and Shoh ...

'' (2006) * ''

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

'' (2010) * ''

Cars 3 ''Cars 3'' is a 2017 American computer-animated sports comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The sequel to ''Cars 2'' (2011) and the third installment of the ''Cars'' film series, the ...

'' (2017)

References

External links

*
Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting
1959 births American male screenwriters Living people Oregon State University alumni People from Enterprise, Oregon Screenwriters from Oregon {{Oregon-bio-stub