Resume
.jpeg "Rudy Childs profile photo")
Rudy Childs is an award-winning documentary filmmaker/producer, a rock photographer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, a producer of boxing programming and a married father of four. He lives in Rockland, Massachusetts, although he spent his formative years in the suburbs of Washington, DC.At 15 he developed an interest in photography, as the darkroom was a respite from neighborhood bullies. By 18 he toted his camera to rock concerts, shooting the likes of Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Tom Petty and Judas Priest, fighting his way to the front row in pursuit of up-close and personal images. He honed his craft for over a decade, capturing iconic bands from their infancies to their primes.Feeling it sacrilegious when the city of Boston banned Led Zeppelin, 1979 in protest Rudy left Massachusetts, going to California to expand his portfolio. After some time, he hitchhiked back across the country, meeting a bevy of characters along the way (think Pee Wee’s Big Adventure) ending up in Washington, D.C. where he landed a job on the railroad. He took advantage of his free travel pass to photograph epic concerts such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall in New York and the US Festival ’83 in California.1984 was a huge year for Rudy, now age 23. Billboard magazine recognized him by printing one of his photos, and he also began managing a metal band called Forcer. He actively booked gigs for them as he pursued and landed a record deal for the talented, all-original metal act. He also purchased a video camera with which he documented the 1980s rock and metal scene, and this vintage footage eventually led to his documentary work. By 1987 after a decade of concert photography and swimming in the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, he switched focus and took college courses in video production. He then started an event recording company called Spero’s Video. Always pursuing his greater human potential, in 1989 Rudy accepted a two-year internship on the cable sports show, Centre Spotlight.In 1991 he created a public access television show called Boxing Spotlight. For five years he grew the show, winning awards and increasing distribution along the way. Boxing Spotlight was eventually picked up by the Washington, D.C. area regional sports network, Home Team Sports. In 1996 his extensive production skills in boxing lead to him being hired as the producer of the award-winning show Ballroom Boxing. Rudy would take this regionally broadcast show to international audiences by increasing distribution to 93 million homes and winning a Telly Award 2003. In 2004, after a decade of success with the Baltimore-based show he would step away from the ballroom and create yet another show called Ringside Boxing, that continues today. Rudy has increased distribution to 133 million homes, producing boxing shows across the US and ultimately in The People’s Republic of China.In 2010 Rudy incorporated 80s vintage video footage into his first documentary, Heavy Metal Picnic, co-produced with Jeff Krulik as a prequel to Jeff’s cult classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot. The doc premiered at the AFI in Silver Spring, MD, also screening at the Nashville Film Festival and Sydney Underground Film Festival.In 2011 Rudy released Tension: 25 Years Underground, his second documentary that chronicles the band Tension (aka Deuce), their rise to fame and release of their only album Breaking Point as they stuck to their guns and refused to bow to the demands of record companies. Although the band arguably were the pioneers of modern speed metal, the film examines a band not “selling out” and indeed the definition of success itself. Of the many festivals that accepted the film that year, it won Best Documentary at the Desert Rocks Film Festival and World Music & Independent Film Festival. It scored a 12 out of 12 in German publication Heavy, a 9 out 10 in Power Metal magazine, 5 out of 6 skulls in Metal Provider magazine. In addition to producing several music videos, in 2012 Rudy opened his extensive and unpublished photography portfolio to author Martin Popoff who has written over 100 books on various bands. That year he used several of Rudy’s photos for the tomes Epic Ted Nugent and We Will Be Strong: Thin Lizzy 76-81.In 2013 Martin released Scorpions: Top Of The Bill, a massive book on the German rockers that includes several of Rudy’s shots of the band. Also that year, Rudy produced and directed two notable heavy metal videos for the bands Steel Assassin (Blitzkrieg Demon) and Alloy 20 (Silent Calls). In 2014 Backbeat Books published Steal Away the Night: An Ozzy Osbourne Day-by Day, using Rudy’s photos to document the crazy 30-plus-year career of rock's most prescient madman. Additionally, the book Heavy Metal Movies by author Mike McPadden is released. As an “ultimate guidebook to the complete molten musical cinema experience,” it lists Heavy Metal Picnic and Tension: 25 Years Underground as two of the 666 “most heavy metal movies” of all time.Rudy released another doc in 2015 called 1984: Riding Into Hell which follows the rise and fall of Forcer, and the woes of their manager Rudy as he negotiates with record companies for a contract, while at the same time standing at the edge of the dark abyss of addiction. It captured the Best Documentary award at both the WMIFF and Desert Rocks Film Festivals. Additionally, Rudy’s photos were used in the books Kick Start My Heart: A Mötley Crüe Day-by-Day and 9:30 - A Time and a Place, 1980-2015: The First 35 Years (to commemorate 35 years of the 9:30 Club, Washington DC's preeminent music venue).In 2016 Rudy’s photo was chosen for the cover of the publications Metal Heart: Aiming High with Accept, and his shots were also used in Rock The Nation: Montrose, Gamma and Ronnie Redefined.Rudy stepped outside of his comfort zone in 2018 to produce 21 Years - A Folded Flag, the story of a Vietnam Special Forces hero who perished in Laos in 1968, and his son’s cathartic journey to discover who his father was. Rudy worked with first-time director and son of the soldier Richard A. Fitts, Jr. The film screened in several US cities, and won Best Documentary at the North Beach American Film Festival.In 2019 Rudy released 1985: Indestructible, the sequel to 1984: Riding Into Hell. The film won Best Documentary at the WMIFF.Shortly after the untimely death of Eddie Van Halen in 2020, the mammoth hardback coffee table book Van Halen: A Visual Biography is released by Wymer Publishing. Rudy was honored to have over 50 of his photos (1978-1984) chosen, two of which were used on the back cover and center spread. In 2021 collaborating with Viva Live, Rudy created a linear streaming channel called Boxing Spotlight, which broadcasts his complete library of historic boxing shows, available through Roku.Martin Popoff honored Rudy by using his photo of the metal gods on the front cover of 2022’s Judas Priest: A Visual Biography, while using over 80 of his photos inside. Furthermore, Rudy used vintage footage to direct and produce the documentary short Stoned to the Bone. It premiered as the opening film to the Hammerjacks: A Rockumentary (that Rudy also provided footage for).In 2023 Rudy’s sixth feature-length documentary, The Dogmatics: A Dogumentary is set to premiere. It’s the saga of the garage rock band the Dogmatics, a group that might very well be the most emblematic Boston band of this half-century, that too-few people know about. Most recently, Rudy is shopping the manuscript of his memoirs to book agents and publishers, in hopes that Riff-Raff and Rock ‘n’ Roll will become a New York Times bestseller. It’s the subject of the DISCovery podcast with Eric Senich (episode 106, 12/18/20).