Richie Adams

When acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro González Ińárritu was fielding questions about his stellar cast in the summer of 2006, his film Babel was gaining early Oscar buzz the world over, and Baton Rouge native Richie Adams was anonymously designing the elegant credits and title sequence for the film on a laptop in his house off LSU Avenue.

Now he is building momentum for his own Baton Rouge-based design firm, River Road Creative. After attending the University of Colorado at Boulder where he studied graphic design, engineering and, unofficially, snowboarding, the Catholic High alum successfully transitioned from print work to film by producing videos of his snowboarding buddies in action. Those clips and a reel of his animation and typography resulted in a key position with legendary visual effects firm R/GA. There he art directed the title and credit sequence for Star Trek: Nemesis and designed the credits for Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Owner, River Road Creative, River Road Films

Hometown: Baton Rouge

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“Movie titles are a delicate and highly competitive business,” Adams says.

One titles project can completely consume Adams for a month, which has meant adding staff. Director of operations Scott Poche, photographer/art director Emily Whitaker and designer Ben Hill now help Adams develop his own slate of independent films on top of film and television title design.

“It can be a frustrating game, like a bake off,” Adams says. “Sometimes four or five design companies are competing for the same film, and most of those have 20 or 30 designers, so you know you have to do your best work every time.”

“He was incredibly responsive and professional. I’d work with him again in a heartbeat.” —Jonathan Lisco, creator/producer/writer, K-Ville