Rick Brown: The Documentary

Rick Brown is a 72-year-old boxing coach in Walla Walla, Washington. Rick spent over 25 years in and out of federal prisons for numerous incidents of felony robbery and forgery.  He turned to crime to  feed his addictive habits that began at the age of 14, Rick has since devoted his life to helping at risk youth in Walla Walla stay out of the streets and away from a life of crime. 


Rick's wife Mosetta, who stayed with him throughout his turbulent years of incarceration, helps run the boxing club which has become a safe haven for many children. 

In the spring of 2013, a teammate from Whitman and I began training at his boxing club during the off-season for basketball and became very close with Rick and Mosetta. 

The idea for a documentary was inspired by a conversation I had with Rick over lunch in the spring of 2015 as I was getting ready to finish my junior year at Whitman. Rick told me that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would have to undergo a procedure to get a tumor removed in the coming weeks. 

Having spent almost three years getting to know Rick, I was very familiar with his story and aware that he spent a significant portion of his life in prison. I was aware that Rick’s possibilities in life after incarceration were extremely limited due to the stigma that convicted felons have. I also saw first hand the impact Rick had on the youth of Walla Walla through his boxing club and knew at my core that his past mistakes should not limit his present possibilities. 


So, when Rick told me that the one thing he wanted to do before he passed away was give his wife Mosetta the wedding she always deserved, I reached out to a number of people in the Walla Walla community to help. I decided the best way to share Rick’s story and his dream of a wedding was through the art of film making. 

Teaming with Raven’s Eye Studios, a Seattle-based production company who I worked with during summers at home, I combined Rick’s story with a team of professionals who believed in the project and had the experience in documentary film making to help me tell the story correctly. 


 Like most documentaries, this project’s trajectory has taken many turns that we could not have expected at the outset. As we continued to document Rick’s narrative and his work at the gym, we realized that this story was bigger than the original scope of the project, which was to make a short film and try to raise some money from the Walla Walla community for a small wedding ceremony.

 When we told local winery, Basel Cellars, about the project, they not only loved the idea but covered the event fee at their estate.
 
We then received fiscal sponsorship from the Northwest Film Forum, Seattle’s premiere film arts organization, which guaranteed that any money donated towards the project would be 100% tax deductible to the full extent of the law. 

Our target for fund raising is $15,000. This covers all wedding costs and will allow the production team to bring Rick back to Flint, Michigan where he grew up. With the wedding now complete, we have a minimum of 75 hours of footage.


In Flint, we will be interviewing Rick’s children and sister. This trip will bring the story full circle and give a context for the anecdotes Rick describes about his upbringing. 

 So far, we have raised $10,000 through donations from The White Light Fund, The Clara & Art Bald Trust, and The Mary Garner Esary Trust.

By crowdsourcing the last $5,000 for the project, we will be able to cover all outstanding travel and post production costs and have a final cut ready for a screening the first week of September.

All donors will receive a personal invitation to the screening and special thanks in the credits. Donations are 100% tax deductible to the full extent of the law and donors can expect a receipt for tax purposes once the funding is complete. Any additional funding beyond the $5,000 goal will be put towards the boxing gym. 

The completed film will be sent to to film festivals around the country and will be made available to community centers and youth organizations interested in screening the film at their locations. 

Our belief in this project is a belief in change and wanting to share that story with others who may not have faith in their own change. For the children Rick has helped through his boxing, it means staying out of gangs and away from life of crime. For other incarcerated individuals it means that recidivism does not have to be the norm. Rick is an example of what is possible.