Rich Celenza

Rich Celenza is someone who was born into the fashion / entertainment industry. His father’s family can claim almost a century in the fashion industry. Originating in the town of Vasto in Italy, they came to eventually own and operate the largest garment shop in the city of Chicago. As a little boy Rich spent a great deal of time at his aunt and uncle’s clothing factory learning about the garment industry, in fact, most of his immediate family members were tailors, designers and models.

Rich’s father didn’t have an interest in the garment industry so he went out and opened his own restaurant / nightclub, getting Rich involved in his business from a very young age by teaching him how to book talent (musical acts, comedians). Rich grew up checking out acts of the likes of Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Madonna, Prince, Lionel Richie, Barry Manilow, Carole King, Tower of Power, Bernie Mac, Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay and hundreds of others. As he grew into his later teens, Rich decided to follow in his families’ footsteps into fashion, going into modeling and graduating from Barbizon Modeling School in Chicago. After graduating, he soon made his way into acting, writing, directing and eventually producing full feature films, shorts and commercials.

Rich has been the creative force driving SoreLoser Productions since 1997 when he began writing what would eventually be his first film, "SoreLosers" about the underground world of gambling in Chicago. “Sore Losers” was screened at both the San Francisco Independent Film Festival (2001) and the Hollywood Underground Film Festival (2001).

Having gained a lifetime of knowledge writing and directing “Sore Losers,” Rich began to write his second feature film “Insanity” about the murder and government corruption surrounding the creation and theft of a revolutionary forensic device.

In addition to writing and directing “Insanity,” Rich was intricately involved in the creation of original songs by various local artists who were included in the film and significantly contributed to both the development of the “Insanity” website, as well as the marketing campaign for the film. As a result of all of his creativity and efforts, “Insanity” received a number of positive reviews, including a four star review by Film Threat magazine and was accepted into a number of film festivals including: The Miami Underground Film Festival (2007), The Big Bang Film Festival (2007), and The Festival of Fantastic Films (Manchester, England 2007) where it was entered into the Independent Film Competition and recognized as one of the “Commended” Films of the festival. Finally,

Rich also worked with a team from Full Sail Real World Education to develop a video game prototype based on “Insanity” and has worked with Knight Shift Studios to develop a graphic novel based on the movie, as well.

He has written a number of projects for SoreLosers Entertainment currently in development, including a kids TV pilot, a comedy pilot (cable), a number of feature film treatments for a variety of genres, and numerous reality show pitches. He recently optioned one of his scripts, “Film Students” to Haxan Films ("The Blair Witch Project") as the potential third film in their Raw Feed videos series deal with Warner Brothers.

In 2008, Rich created “SoreLoser Wear,” a clothing/apparel line from designed for “people who hate to lose.” The line currently contains more than 20 t-shirts and polos and 15 hats. He also wrote and directed two internet-based mock promotional spots for “SoreLoser Wear.”

Rich co-developed (with Kevin Kachin) an online yellow pages/directory for the entertainment industry () designed to help provide information to those interested in film, modeling, and/or the performing arts.