R.J. O'Sullivan

After living the first year-and-a-half of his life in historic Cowpens, South Carolina (best known as the site of a pivotal battle during the American Revolutionary War), Richard O'Sullivan moved to Forest City, North Carolina in 1970 following the tumultuous breakup of his parents' marriage. His dad, Ronald, a volatile ex-Green Beret who volunteered for two tours of duty in Vietnam, later remarried and fathered a second son, Terry. His mother, Barbara, raised Richard alone until he was ten years old, at which point she remarried as well, this time to a former police officer. Known for his sardonic wit even as a child, O'Sullivan rejected the Disney fare he was force-fed and embraced such films as Take the Money and Run (1969), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). It was his love for those movies that inspired him to beg his mother for a Super-8 millimeter camera. Growing up, O'Sullivan's mother was friends with the then-wife of filmmaker Earl Owensby, a producer best known for converting an abandoned nuclear power plant into a giant underwater set for the Oscar-winning James Cameron film, The Abyss (1989). In 1978, while still a fourth-grader, O'Sullivan wrote a feature-length screenplay called 'Hot Water' and passed it along to Owensby. The producer was amused but opted against buying the script. Undaunted, O'Sullivan continued writing throughout his teen years, finding no shortage of inspiration in Forest City, a town once dubbed "Little Detroit" because of its abundance of used car dealerships. As he approached his twenties, O'Sullivan - buoyed by the works of heroes like author George Orwell, filmmaker Alex Cox and musician Bruce Springsteen - dropped out of college and began a career in radio. Both revered and reviled for his on-air antics, O'Sullivan was fired numerous times due to his behavior during live broadcasts. In 2003, O'Sullivan began his career in television writing scripts for the NBC television network's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning ''The More You Know'' series (crafting PSA's for such stars as David Schwimmer, Goran Visnjic, Sharif Atkins, Christopher Meloni, Brittany Snow, and Donald Trump). O'Sullivan's campaign for ''The More You Know'', which focused on family communication and cultural diversity, garnered NBC numerous honors, including a Promax Award and a Lambda Legal Liberty Award. In 2004, he directed and co-wrote the snuff feature "Communication Breakdown," a film co-produced by John Edmonds Kozma (producer of the Nick Cassavetes' film ''Kentucky Rhapsody''). In 2009, he shot numerous segments for the NBC Universal, Inc.-owned digital channel, New York Nonstop, and for the New York Yankees' YES Network (Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network). O'Sullivan also shot footage on former WBA junior welterweight champion Vivian Harris' boxing comeback for a syndicated reality series. In November 2009, it was reported by such media outlets as ABC News, IMDb.com and PopCrunch.com that Lindsay Lohan was in talks to play the lead in the O'Sullivan-scripted ''One Night With You." Lohan later told GossipCop.com that she hadn't yet been offered the role. After almost two years of attempting to launch the project as a vehicle for the troubled Lohan, O'Sullivan announced that he was attaching newcomer Castille Landon in the role. In 2011, it was announced that Dale Alexander Carnegie (executive producer of 2010's "Clash of the Titans" remake, which grossed some $500 million worldwide) would produce a dark comedy/horror film written and directed by O'Sullivan called "Hallows," as well as a crime drama developed by O'Sullivan called "Crossface" about Chris Benoit, the wrestler who killed his wife and young son before hanging himself in 2007. "Crossface," which O'Sullivan serves on as a producer, is based on the book "Ring of Hell" by Matthew Randazzo V (creator of the Fox TV series "Breakshot," produced by Oscar winner Robert Moresco, of "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash" fame). On January 17, 2012, actor Liam Neeson denied that he was in talks to play wrestling promoter Vincent Kennedy McMahon in "Crossface." Also in 2011, O'Sullivan optioned the Random House novel ''The Wizard of Seattle'', written by New York Times best-selling author Kay Hooper, and the acclaimed novel ''She-Rain'' by 27-time Emmy winner and national Edward R. Murrow recipient Michael Cogdill (whose work has appeared on NBC's Today Show, MSNBC, CNBC, and CNN). In 2012, O'Sullivan went into production on "The Genesis of Lincoln," a film based very loosely on the book of the same name by James Harrison Cathey, which claims that Abraham Lincoln wasn't born in a Kentucky log cabin, but was, in fact, the illegitimate son of a North Carolina cattle rancher. The film made headlines when The Huffington Post, AOL, Radar Online, and IMDb reported that controversial actor Doug Hutchison ("The Green Mile," "Lost," "24," "The X-Files") dropped out of the film over concerns that people would confuse his character (a filmmaker who has sexual relations with a 16-year-old pop star) with his real-life persona (he married 16-year-old pop singer Courtney Stodden that same year).