Rick Pamplin Movie Making Podcast

From a Home Ridden Boy to an Accomplished Director, Writer and Producer, Rick Pamplin Shares his Inspirational Story on the Ranelle Golden Podcast.

Written by Melissa Salinas

The premier of the 2023 documentary Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview received a tremendous response and has given indie filmmaking a voice to be heard and recognized globally. Directed by none other than Rick Pamplin, it takes viewers on a trip to one of the most celebrated American pop culture actors and directors' personal life and career, from the revelation of riveting details, uncut and uncensored, from the man himself to interviews with Academy Award winner Quentin Tarantino and close associates, revealing the final act of his life before he passed away in 2018, the hour and thirty-nine-minute long documentary covers it all.

On popular demand from viewers, Rick recently was a special guest at the Movie Making with Ranelle Golden podcast brought to audiences by Samera Entertainment, committed to providing a platform to indie filmmakers. He spoke of his career and rise to prominence as an otherwise low-key contributor to creating a well-deserved space for indie cinema. The special guest was grateful for the opportunity and praised the efforts of the host and partners who made it possible.

The senior filmmaker revealed some details of his career that he had never spoken of before. Throughout his career, he saw Smokey and the Bandit, the icon of the 1970s, as a source of great inspiration. Rick recalled his disappointment over failing to meet him early in his career, but he finally managed to crack a meet-up. Also mentioning Burt's last movie that he wrote and directed, the filmmaker added that he had to preserve the legendary's legacy, and he turned Burt's last interview into a documentary for the masses to watch and explore a side of him unknown to many.

'The new Movie is all about Burt and the uncut, uncensored, unedited hour interview that Bert and I did together, which is pretty fascinating, so I was very blessed, and I wanted to preserve his legacy,' the filmmaker said on the podcast.

On his journey to becoming a critically acclaimed filmmaker, Rick openly spoke about the differences between the times of the 80s and 90s in the entertainment industry and today. He did not shy away from pointing out Hollywood's closed-gate policy for outsiders. He distinguished his way of working from others in his approach: 'I created an indie film with a woman and a black police officer as lead roles,' Rick added. Since then, a lot of progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go, as the star admitted.

Quite contrary to what many may think of him as an old-school filmmaker, Rick shared that he dramatically admires new-age filmmaking. Not only does he enjoy working with the tech-savvy members of the new generation, but he also sees it as an exciting avenue for personal growth and discovery. Juxtaposing the obstacles he faced as a newbie in the industry with the sources available now, he believes it is an excellent opportunity for content creators to just keep going. Particularly fond of YouTube, Rick sees it as a medium where even micro-budget films can make a mark based on quality content.

'This is the greatest time ever when, when I was in Hollywood, there were like small independent films; there were no theaters that would take them; there was no distribution; it was tough, yeah,' the filmmaker said.

Falling sick more often than not as a child, he did not enjoy much of his time outside, which provided him with much time to spare. He started writing reviews for the movies, which were picked up by a newspaper. After working for CBS News for a year and a half, where he learned a great deal about filmmaking and camera operation, and serving as editor of the newspaper at the University of Michigan, Rick's first breakthrough came with Rocky, on which he worked with the team and also played an extra. There was no looking back for Rick then, who went on to explore every direction of filmmaking and feels exceptionally lucky for the opportunities that came his way.

Watch the entire episode at Rick Pamplin on his Successful Career in Film and his latest, "Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview". It is also available to listen to for free for Spotify, iHeart, and Amazon subscribers.

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