Production Designers // Rick Dennis

Rick Dennis was born in Flint, Michigan and was raised in the state’s northern Lower Peninsula. Rick attended the University of Louisville earning a bachelor’s degree in Theater Design. He left for New York City to attend New York University Tisch School of the Arts; receiving a Masters of Fine Arts. He has lived in NYC ever since with his wife and two teenage sons.

For the past 23 years Rick has designed sets for Guiding Light; the last 18 as Production Designer.  In that time, he’s had the opportunity to design almost every imaginable set, including every aspect of living spaces; mansions, palaces, cottages and cabins. restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels and motels; labs, offices, stores, banks game shows, talk shows, beaches, bridges, cottages, cabins, churches, temples, rooftops, cliffs, caves, baseball, football, and basketball fields, collapsed buildings, ledges, and beaches. Not to mention most disasters known to man, from avalanches and earthquakes, to fires, flash floods, and hurricanes.

This past year the show initiated a revolutionary new production model that required a complete redesign of all the GL sets. With a $1.5 million budget, Rick in collaboration with a team of 4 Set Decorators and an Art Director, designed 20 new permanent sets in two studios, 8 sets in offices of the CBS Broadcast Center and decorated 6 rooms in a house in Peapack/Gladstone, NJ, all of which were completed on schedule and on budget.

Although Guiding Light has occupied a major part of his professional career, Rick has also worked on a wide variety of other projects, including independent film, industrial film, TV specials and promos, convention installations, and theater. He is looking forward to the next phase in his career, where he will be concentrating his creative efforts on scenic design for television, commercials, and film.