BACK IN 2006, FRED RISKIN DECIDED TO DISASSOCIATE FROM
PHOSPHORUS ALIGHTS. HIS CURRENT POSITION APPEARS TO BE
THAT HE DISAGREES WITH MOST ASPECTS REGARDING HOW THE
COMPANY OPERATED AND HOW THE MOVIE, “THE EMPIRICIST,”
WAS MADE. HE HAS HAD NO PARTICIPATION IN PHOSPHORUS
ALIGHTS ACTIVITIES SINCE 2006.

Fred was raised in Passaic, New Jersey, to a family of bankers and lawyers. As a result of his experience growing up, by the time he was in his early teens, he knew he didn't want to be a lawyer, nor work for a bank. He went to college after high school, focusing on anthropology. After leaving college in his early twenties, he worked in a variety of jobs: in a corporation in the finance department, as a carpenter and a painter, in a bagel store, and as a chef in a natural foods restaurant. Then in his mid-twenties, he came to the conclusion he wanted to be a fine arts photographer. He went to photography school for three years, and, then, began to work on his own projects. He eventually exhibited in several galleries: at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in both New York City; and at the Tartt Gallery Washington, D.C.; along with several museum exhibitions; receiving approving reviews by the major media in both New York and Washington.

After exhibiting his second work, entitled ÒSub RosaÓ, he realized motion picture making was his real interest. So, he attended film school at New York University (the 12 week program). Shortly after finishing that course, he was invited to be a screenwriter on a movie that was being developed in Nashville, Tennessee. He finished that script, but the movie never got made. He was then invited to write another script, this time on a movie that was being developed in Miami, Florida. On this movie, he traveled with the producer to the Cannes film festival, to the Sundance Festival in Park City, Utah, and numerous times to Los Angeles (where they visited with major agencies and film producers). But, again, the movie never was made.

He then put much effort into getting employed by movie production companies, both in New York City, and in Los Angeles. During one of his extended trips to Los Angeles, he sat next to a person during a dinner party. And that person told Fred, if you want to be hired in the movie business you have to move to Los Angeles. Somehow, people who visit the city for a few weeks at a time, but who never move here, don't get hired. Fred heeded that advice, and promptly moved his family from the New York City area to Los Angeles.

Soon after he arrived he got a job as an assistant picture editor. But after that job was over, he wasn't able to find additional movie employment. After months of trying, he decided to get other work, and found a job in landscape maintenance. After a while he left that company, and began to represent a company that made a variety of engine lubricant products. While working for the landscape company, and the engine lubricant company, he continued to focus on practicing his screen writing and studying cinematography. This continued until he and Warren, during lunch one day, developed the idea to co-write a script. See the link: The history of Phosphorus Alights for the rest of Fred's work journey.

Fred's responsibilities in the company are many. He consults with Warren on the writing of all the scripts which originate in Phosphorus Alights. He designs the sets for the movies, and is responsible for dressing them when the movies are made; conducts most of the location scouting; designs and sets up the lighting systems for the movies (on the stage sets, and on the location scenes); determines the gross staging of the actors for all the scenes; acts as cinematographer for all the movies Phosphorus Alights makes; and is responsible for supervising all of the post-production film laboratory processing.