“I’ve 
loved writing since junior high and high school. My first interest in film was when I saw still pictures move. ‘How do they do that?’ I asked myself.” That’s how J. Rickley Dumm decided to get into the entertainment industry, and if you’re of a certain age and watched action shows on TV, chances are you have seen his name as a writer or producer on shows like Magnum P.I., Riptide, and Silk Stalkings. He and legendary TV showrunner and producer Steven J. Cannell became fast friends as Sigma Chi brothers at the University of Oregon, and together they sold their first script to the popular series It Takes a Thief and entered the WGA. In 2019, J. Rickley and his youngest son, Innis Casey, went to visit tv production colleague Tony Lawrence and his wife Madi, residents on MPTF’s campus, and it seemed to like the perfect place to move. “It was fortunate I was here during COVID-19, which hit less than six months after moving in,” he says. “I finished one novel and wrote another two, one more following that period. I was safe, fed, and surrounded by good humans. MPTF helped me finish the novels I’d planned.”
Rickley stays busy on campus every day, including multiple projects with MPTF Studios, working closely with the team including Jennifer Clymer, Allegra Leedom, and Paige Thompson. That includes the weekly panel show Cinephiles he created in the early days of Creative Chaos’ live programming to celebrate film and TV. Right now, he and Allegra are working on an epic project called “What An Ending,” which has already had three parts air on our closed-circuit channel with another three or four being assembled. “It’s a treat working with Allegra — she’s as calm as Lake Tahoe at dawn,” he says. “I regularly attend the wonderful, often amusing memoir-oriented Grey Quill Society each Thursday morning, brilliantly managed by Victoria Bullock. Those who attend are incredibly astute and terrific writers. It’s such a pleasure to hear about their work lives and personal adventures.” We’re honored to have J. Rickley call MPTF home, and you can find out more about what’s in store living on campus by clicking here >
