He was hailed by two young people, film student Penelope Spheeris and her then-boyfriend, who recognized Richard from TV and asked him why he was on campus. “I’m looking for film students to do a movie,” Richard answered. “You just found them,” Penelope replied. She worked at the tech office of the film school—the first woman employed there—and could arrange to borrow some equipment for a while. It was the first of many acts of creative generosity that Richard received from a woman who later became known as the sharp-eyed director of offbeat music documentaries like The Decline of Western Civilization and mainstream comedies like Wayne’s World and The Beverly Hillbillies. Spheeris signed up to work the camera; her boyfriend, the sound recording. Soon after, Richard recruited the cast from the UCLA student body and his circle of friends, many of whom didn’t require makeup or costuming, according to Spheeris, “to look like pimps and whores.” Shooting began in February 1969 at a soundstage in Gayley Studios in Westwood and at a private home in Beverly Hills, where Richard staged the abduction of the white man by several Black Panthers.
