UPDATE – 10/15/2022: A source close to the family of R.L. Scott with knowledge of his condition has informed us that the cause of Scott’s death this week, as reported on Wednesday, was attributed to a gastrointestinal issue caused by diabetes. A GoFundMe campaign is underway to help fund a memorial in his honor to be held by wife, Isabell.
Published October 12, 2022: Wednesday, I learned the shocking news that filmmaker R.L. Scott passed away at the age of 45. The cause of his death remains unknown, so this is a developing story, and I will update this post when I learn the facts in full.
Scott was born in America and raised in Salvador, Bahia in Brazil. He cultivated himself in martial arts from the age of seven and returned to the U.S. in 1992, when he began writing his first short film. He graduated from USC thirteen years later, just in time to commence his debut independent martial arts feature, Champion Road. That film, which starred Brad James earned a sequel which would further add to Scott’s growing repetoire over the years in film and webseries format, including projects like crime series “Touye Pwen,” pilot project “Option Zero,” and features like Call Me King with Amin Joseph, last year’s Tubi release, Lazarus, and gaming thriller Ready. Fire. Aim.. Scott also had a hand in choreographing the action for some of his work.
Scott and I had actually been in touch about three months after I launched Film Combat Syndicate on Google’s blogger platform in February 2013. We didn’t talk much, but when we did, we got along great, and when he had a scoop for me for some of his work upon inquiry, we remained in contact; Scott was also in long-term development with an adaptation of indie comic, “The Almighty Street Team” as of June 2013.
The first film our blog covered by the night of its screening was Call Me King, which starred Amin Joseph and Shaun Mixon. I personally hoped for a sequel to that one, and I’m actually long overdue for a look at Lazarus since it landed on Tubi. It’s just sad to see this director go, and my condolences go out to Scott’s surviving loved ones.