Bill Lae is an award winning film-maker. He wrote, directed and produced the critically acclaimed (Daily Variety) mockumentary, SuperGuy: Behind the Cape. SuperGuy and Bill’s Young Merlin both went into development with Paramount Television. Bill and his production partner, Mark Teague, wrote the pilot episode. Inspired by the original Ghostbusters, his scripts are typically comedy meets fantastical. SuperGuy-super hero. Crossing Over-supernatural. U.F.OH!-science fiction/extraterrestrials. Magi-fantasy/wizards.
Bill is typically tough on films. Not simply to be a hard-ass, but because “if you’re spending that kind of time, money, and resources” and have a huge audience, why not have an actual story? Afterall, movies are the “modern day campfire tales.” What an opportunity for sharing a message (without preaching...like here). [“Here's a tip. When telling a story, have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener.” ~Steve Martin in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.] SuperGuy is as much a social commentary as a comedy-fiction. Early on, Bill decided to funnel some of his frustration with movies into a movie review show.
Bill produced, wrote and directed the Couch Critics, a television series that analyzes and criticizes films in a comedic, hip environment. The show is like At the Movies meets Saturday Night Live. Five episodes aired in the Los Angeles area. Outside the realm of production, Bill is a stand-up comedian and has performed at the World Famous Improv in Hollywood. He also entertained at the California Comedy Conference.
More recently, he's been writing, directing, and producing short form comedy for the internet. His Cooking with Carmine campaign for Lyco-Red went viral and garnered over 9 million dollars in earned media. The Champions of Greatness series won the "Best Marketing Campaign" at ExpoWest, the leading trade show in the natural, organic and healthy products industry.
Having been inspired by the original Star Wars films, Bill became a visual efffects artist and worked extensively in VFX for TV (Buffy, X-Files, Outer Limits). Currently, he’s launching The Fanverse Games, a parody-sketch-comedy show meets Jeopardy-like game show for fans of SciFi, fantasy, and super heros.
Bill is an expert at "sizzle" and a master at bang per buck. After producing and directing his Indie film SuperGuy: Behind the Cape (wherein an entire world had to be created) he was contracted by the TV GUIDE NETWORK to helm their UP-FRONTS (network demo reel to TV sponsors) for an unprecedented 3 years in a row. Bill can take a project from scratch to polished product.
Writing:
Comedy: Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Steve Martin, Terry Gilliam.
Science Fiction: Arthur C. Clarke, James Cameron
Satire and Social commentary: Mark Twain, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Aaron Sorkin
Comedic actors: Bill Murray, Rick Moranis, Melissa McCarthy, Steve Martin.
Movies: Network, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Aliens, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, King Pin, Slum Dog Millionaire, What About Bob?, Tootsie, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, Sixth Sense, Pump Up the Volume, City Slickers, Galaxy Quest, Star Trek, Raiders of the Lost Ark, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek
Visual Effects: John Dykstra, Douglas Trumbull, Richard Edlund, Phil Tippett, Ken Ralston
Bill Lae is an award-winning visual effects artist and graphic designer. He formed LightForm Productions in 1996 when he was one of Hollywood's busiest digital effects experts, having worked as a graphic designer and visual effects specialist for all the major networks and nearly all of the Los Angeles special effects houses. Some of the top shows in television including, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Showtime's The Outer Limits have all received Bill's magic touch in effects. He has also created and executed visual effects for music videos, including Michael Jackson and Madonna, and has designed on-air promotion graphics and network I.D.s. Bill was the designer and digital artist for on-air graphic design for NBC, ABC, Fox Family, ABC Family, and has also worked closely with other designers creating packages for CBS, MTV, FOX and TNT. He has worked for Pittard Sullivan Design, LimeLite Video, Editel, Varitel, View Studio, Digital Magic, 4MC, Pacific Ocean Post, Colorado Effects, Hollywood Digital, Action Video, GRFX Novocom, The Magic Room at NBC, and various other post and graphics facilities. Past clients include Tony Kaye Films, British Airways, David Copperfield, Michael Jackson, Beyonce and many others. Projects include: in feature film (Frequency), music videos (Sound Garden, Rod Stewart); television (“Home Improvement,” “The Chris Rock Show,” “Nova,” "The Academy Awards", "Barbara Walters Special," "Miss America," the "Grammys" and the opening of the Super Bowl XXXIII); theme parks (Universal Studios in Japan, Caesar Shops in Las Vegas, and Wonderland in Dubai); and playback at top artist’s concerts (‘N SYNC, Beyonce, and Britney Spears).
Bill brought his collection of talents and “from scratch to in-the-can” abilities to bear on writing, directing, designing, producing, and delivering the upfront network presentation for the TV GUIDE NETWORK an unprecedented three years in a row. Bill can take any project from scratch to polished production.
Bill has created images used throughout the entertainment industry. His footage is represented by Corbis Motion in New York and appears around the world in TV commercials, music videos, sitcoms, documentaries, awards shows, and concerts.
“Bill has a fresh take on growing up with strangers -- his family. His material is full of funny twists on familiar problems.”
~Ellen Sandler, Emmy Nominee, Co-Executive Producer of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Coach”
In Hollywood: Bill studied comedy with Judy Carter, acting at Naked Angels, the Actor’s Journey, and the Actor’s Workout in North Hollywood, writing at the Writer’s Workout and Creative Mastery, TV Show Hosting with Marki Costello, Comedy Improv with Mindy Sterling.
Screenwriting: Studied screenwriting with Richard Walter. Graduate of the Writer's bootcamp. Personally coached by Michael Hauge, Michael Ray Brown, Mike Cheda, Ellen Sandler
Engineering: Bill received both a BSEE and MSEE from Purdue University. Some writers start out as doctors, some as lawyers, Bill chose Electrical Engineering as he wanted to use the technology for creating visual effects. SciFi, after all, is science meets fiction. Fear not, while in grad school, he founded CreaTech productions doing commercials in central Indiana (Bank One). He also penned the popular “Far Side” meets “Popular Science” comic titled Jocular Science. The local bookstores couldn’t keep them in stock. Bill’s favorite science fiction author and futurist, Arthur C. Clarke, wrote Bill from Sri Lanka, praising the cartoons.
Back then, technology was expensive and computers were very slow; so, all of the visual effects for CreaTeach were done old-school: models, lights, cameras, pyrotechnics, bubble-gum, smoke, and whatever trick or cheat one could think of. It was “the best of times.” Bill pressed his Commodore 64 into action, both for writing scripts (printing them out on a daisy wheel printer) and controlling camera moves for visual effects scenes.
Before CGI, kids, actual, physical models were used in science fiction for visual effects.