Faculty

Writer Richard Rayner has published 10 books, including L.A. Without a Map, which became a 1998 film written by Rayner, starring David Tennant, Julie Delpy and Johnny Depp; and A Bright and Guilty Place, a history of true crimes that occurred in Los Angeles in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller has been optioned by director Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Inception).

Rayner’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Esquire, GQ, The Guardian and numerous other publications. He is the co-creator of the History Channel drama Knightfall and has sold pilots to Fox, FX and Channel 4 in London. In 2020, AppleTV+ audiences will see Rayner’s “The Rift,” the first episode of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories reboot, co-written with Don Handfield.

In addition to UCLA TFT, Rayner has taught at Cambridge University and the University of Southern California.