Rick McFarland (born July 1970) is an American film executive who served as executive producer at Cosmic Pictures and has been owner of fiftyfilms llc since July 2006.

Early life

McFarland was born in the city of Whittier, 12 miles southeast of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He spent his early years in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

and moved to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

at the age of 10. While still in high school, he obtained his commercial pilot's license. McFarland graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in 1996 with a BA in music.

Music career

McFarland was a member of

Vocal Point BYU Vocal Point is a nine-member, male a cappella group at Brigham Young University (BYU). Founded by two students, Bob Ahlander & Dave Boyce, in 1991, Vocal Point is under the direction of Emmy award-winning director and former member, McKay Cro ...

from 1991 to 1994.

Film career

McFarland worked his way through college as a freelance producer, sound designer, and editor, participating on such documentaries as ''Out of the Ashes'', ''Immortal Fortress: A Look Inside Chechnya's Warrior Culture'', and ''Roots & Wings''. During his freelance years he developed a specialty in language replacement pieces for various companies and produced, and also scored ''Truth and Conviction'', a PBS documentary film about a young boy who defied the Nazis during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. As a part of that experience, McFarland was able to interview Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass about his thoughts on Helmut Huebner. ''Truth and Conviction'' has now inspired additional research, books, and even a feature-length screenplay on his life. In 2003 he came to Cosmic Pictures in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

where he produced hundreds of broadcast and noncommercial pieces and '' Stalking Santa'', a feature-length film narrated by

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

. He also wrote a number of commercial scripts and feature screenplays. He founded his own company, Fiftyfilms, in 2006 where he has continued his prodigious commercial work with clients such as

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

, BAE Systems, Purina, Sabick, and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

. McFarland produced and edited '' My Girlfriend's Boyfriend'' starring

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in '' My Name Is Earl'', Sa ...

, Christopher Gorham, and

Michael Landes Michael Christopher Landes (born September 18, 1972) is an American actor of television and film. Personal life Michael Christopher Landes was born to Patricia and Bernard Landes on September 18, 1972 in The Bronx, New York (state), New York. ...

in 2009. Because of his love of flying, McFarland has developed a particular expertise in

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

. He has also enjoyed traveling everywhere from Germany to Australia and Costa Rica to Guam. For his latest screenplay, McFarland took a research trip to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

in 2011. He found a country which was both absolutely foreign and strangely similar to his home state of Utah. Once the script was finished, casting and filming began in 2012. ''

Highway to Dhampus ''Highway To Dhampus'' is a romantic drama movie by producer John de Blas Williams and director Rick McFarland. Actors include Gunner Wright, who had previously worked on the movie ‘Love’ and as the voice of Isaac Clarke in the Dead Space ...

'' was the first independent feature film shot entirely in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

by a foreign director and crew. It is also a deeply personal film for McFarland, drawing much from his own experiences and transposing them into a Nepali setting.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Rick American film producers 1970 births People from Whittier, California Brigham Young University alumni Living people Date of birth missing (living people)