Rick Draughon

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Rick Draughon majored at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1988 in Theatre. He began his career in the New York Theatre working as an assistant for the management, production firm of Gatchell & Neufeld (Cats, Starlight Express, Born Yestersday, Aspects of Love), followed by a job as a press assistant at Shirley Herz Associates (Gypsy with Tyne Daly, 3 Penny Opera with Sting, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Kathleen Turner). Upon arrival in LA, he worked as an assistant on Rosie O'Donnell/FOX sitcom Stand by Your Man, and Linda Lavin & Partricia Heaton's ABC sitcom Room for Two. After a stint at ICM, he landed a job as an assistant to the executive producers, Christopher Keyser & Amy Lippman on the television show, Party of Five (1994) from 1994-1997. During this time, he wrote several scripts for soap operas Loving (1983) (1994) and Another World (1964) (1996). He was then hired for Aaron Spelling's Sunset Beach (1997) where he served as continuity supervisor and associate head writer. After its cancellation, he moved on to become a website producer for Sony Digital's SoapCity.com in charge of all the web content on the official site of Days of Our Lives (1965). He was eventually hired by the show itself in 2001 and has since then served as script writer and associate head writer but also had a short stint as co-head writer. During his 2 year break from Days of Our Lives (1965) he created NBC.com's first ever streaming show, "Coastal Dreams," which lasted for 22 episodes. He also developed projects for FOX 21 which were subsequently sold to FOX and the USA Network.