Rick Sebak

Rick Sebak
Born June 5, 1953 (1953-06-05) (age 58)
Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation Film director and producer
Known for Nostalgia documentary

Richard "Rick" Sebak[1] (born 1953) is an American film director and producer who lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Sebak is the creator of the "scrapbook documentary" genre,[2] many of which he has created for WQED and PBS.[3] Sebak attended Bethel Park High School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate.

Sebak's first foray in the nostalgia documentary is the 1984 documentary Shag for South Carolina ETV, about a dance popular in the region. Four years later at WQED, Sebak produced The Mon, The Al & The O, about the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers, which meet to form at Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle; and Kennywood Memories, about Kennywood, a historic local amusement park.

As of March 2006, 313,227 copies of Sebak's films had been sold or given away as pledge gifts by public television stations nationwide, which WQED credits with largely helping it become financially solvent.[4] Sebak's scrapbook documentary format has been copied by other stations, many of whom see record pledge drive numbers when their documentaries air at pledge time.[3]

Filmography

  • The Mon, The Al & The O (1988)
  • Kennywood Memories (1988)
  • Holy Pittsburgh! (1989)
  • Our Neighbor Fred Rogers (Two versions: 1989, 1990)
  • Flying Off The Bridge To Nowhere! And Other Tales Of Pittsburgh Bridges (1990)
  • Things That Aren’t There Anymore (1990)
  • Downtown Pittsburgh (Rick Sebak film) (1992)
  • The Pennsylvania Road Show (1992)
  • Pennsylvania Diners And Other Roadside Restaurants (1993)
  • Stuff That’s Gone (1994)
  • Houses Around Here (1994)
  • The Strip Show (Rick Sebak film) (1996)
  • An Ice Cream Show (1996)
  • Shore Things (1996)
  • North Side Story (1997)
  • South Side (Rick Sebak film) (1998)
  • Things That Are Still Here (1999)
  • A Hot Dog Program (1999)
  • Great Old Amusement Parks (1999)
  • Something About Oakland (2000)
  • Pittsburgh A To Z (2001)
  • A Flea Market Documentary (2001)
  • Sandwiches That You Will Like (2002)
  • Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh (2002)
  • Things We've Made (2003)
  • Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor (2003)
  • It's the Neighborhoods (2004)
  • A Program About Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff is a 2004 PBS documentary that showcases mimetic and novelty buildings across the United States.
  • A Cemetery Special (2005)
  • What Makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh (2006)
  • Underground Pittsburgh (2007)
  • To Market To Market To Buy A Fat Pig (2007)
  • Invented, Engineered, and Pioneered in Pittsburgh (2008)
  • A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway (2008)
  • Right Beside the River (2009)
  • Breakfast Special (July 2010)

References

  1. ^ See this source, which refers to Sebak as Richard; he is nearly always, however, credited as Rick.
  2. ^ WQED: Meet Rick Sebak
  3. ^ a b Happy history: At pledge time, is that all there is?
  4. ^ WQED: Financial picture getting brighter for public television pioneer

External links