Matty Rich (b. 1971)
Born:
November 6, 1971
Born and raised in the Red Hook housing projects in Brooklyn, NY, Matty Rich, became highly regarded as the pioneer of Black Filmmakers. Rich made his way onto the Hollywood scene in the early 90's. He gained major recognition as, 19 year-old acclaimed writer/director/producer with his award winning film, "Straight out of Brooklyn". After winning the Sundance Film Festival Award, Samuel Goldwyn Films distributed the movie. The film would go on to sweep the award season winning the prestigious Independent Spirit Award, the NAACP Image Award, The CEBA Award, The Big Apple Award, The Producer's Guild's "Most Promising Film Producer" award and the Nova Award. The movie, which was made for a mere $77,000, and became a worldwide box office success and a favorite that continues to play on television to this day! Matty then landed a three-picture movie deal with Tri Star studios under the helm of studio chief Mike Medavoy. While at Tri Star, Matty developed the First Black Organize Crime family film "Forty Theives" and "Sunset Park" with stars such as Danny and others. Next, Matty was headed for Disney studios where he was given a three picture deal from studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg. Matty soon directed the summer splash movie, The Inkwell! for Touchstone Pictures. The star studded cast members of the Inkwell included Jada Pinkett-Smith, Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, Morris Chestnut and many other notable names. The Inkwell was made for on a modest $4 million budget and became a summer splash hit in the U.S box office. After The Inkwell's success, Matty developed/produced and directed and developed several television and film projects, "Red Hook" as creator/producer/director of the drama series for Warner Brothers TV/Fox Network, the Tupac Shakur bio picture project for HBO, "Subway Scholar" with Whitney Houston as producer for Showtime Networks. "Tommy Morris vs Ray Mercer" Matty produced, directed the boxing documentary pieces for HBO pay per view, "Free At Last" feature film screenplay for the Weinstein Company and Edmonds Entertainment, "The Kool Moe Dee" Variety Show" for Buena Vista/Disney television. Matty soon headed for Paris, France where he served as Creative Director and Artistic director for the video game, 187 Ride or Die. Matty lead a team of over 100 artists, game designers and programmers. Matty also wrote/directed the 187 Ride or Die 3D animation game cinematics overseeing an animation team in Hong Kong, China. After the release of 187 Ride or Die, Matty formed Matty Rich Games, a Los Angeles based gaming development company that creates games for Apple and Android mobile phones and tablets. Matty hasn't forgotten his filmmaking roots, he is now developing film and television properties that will also feature games under his Matty Rich Games brand. Matty has been a featured speaker in Hollywood's most prominent Video Games conferences; The Ayzenberg A-List Gaming Summit (2011-13).Variety Magazine's 3D Entertainment Summit (2011-2013) Variety Magazine's 3D Gaming Summit (2010-2013). Matty was also the official host for the AT &T gaming & technology exhibition during the 2014 BET Awards Fan Fest weekend in Los Angeles.