At age 7, Richard went to his first movie in a theatre, the 1920s art deco Granada Theatre in Mt. Vernon, IL. He immediately knew he wanted to be involved with filmmaking. After high school, he attended one year at Brigham Young University. During a Star Wars movie, seeing the battle between good and evil, Richard chose to serve an LDS mission and delay his film career. He went to Mexico where he was thrown in jail for proselytizing. At the end of his LDS mission, his mission president advised him to go home and “build your own kingdom.” In an effort to begin his own kingdom, Richard married an LDS wife headed to Hollywood where he decided to create independent films. His first film caused him to re-evaluated his life and re-dedicate himself to his LDS faith. Grilling burgers for his family, he suddenly got the idea to blend his independent filmmaking with his Mormon religion. As he became the father of Mormon cinema, God worked on his heart.