VISUAL EFFECTS FOR FILM & TELEVISION – 2D/3D CGI
Scott’s first paycheck came from veteran ski movie legend Warren Miller who payed the 16 year-old Billups $20 to ski off a cliff with a camera.
Scott fell in love with filmmaking and put himself through college with his camera, shooting for documentary legends such as MacGillivray/Freeman, Wolper Productions and National Geographic Explorer. As a junior stringer with WNET he covered Woodstock; at least until the acid kicked in.
After college Scott headed west. Hired by Oscar winning cinematographer James Wong Howe, Scott continued to work on several of Mr. Howe’s commercial accounts after Howe’s death, parlaying that into his own ad agency (85 employees in 3 states). Scott sold his agency and retired in 1983. His retirement lasted a whole 4 months!
Best known for the hundreds of zany commercials he wrote and directed in the 70’s and 80’s, and more recently for the darkly compelling SONY PlayStation commercial that he shot for noted director David Lynch, Scott is widely regarded as one of the preeminent authorities on Digital Cinema production. A very popular speaker, Scott is quite often featured at industry events such as Digital Day at the DGA, the Producer’s Guild, the Hollywood Post Alliance, the HD Summit at Universal Studios and has Keynoted NAB, Seybold Seminars, DV Expo and Mac World … twice!
His most recent book, DIGITAL MOVIEMAKING is considered by many to be the definitive guidebook to Hollywood’s digital age.
In the past several years Scott has shot seven motion pictures; five of them digitally. Except for two that were studio projects, all were featured at major festivals like Sundance / Slamdance, Toronto and the HBO Comedy festival in Aspen. All have sold, gone into distribution and made money. In that same time period Scott also worked on more than a dozen award winning shows for Discovery Channel, History Channel and HBO and contributed to both of this year’s non-fiction, Prime-Time Emmy winners. Scott’s collaborations include projects with David Lynch, Mario Van Peebles, Randal Kleiser, Matt Dillon, Spike Lee, Bob Saget, Ice Cube, Marlon Brando, Chris Rock, Faye Dunaway, Adam Rifkin and Russell Simmons.
In addition to being a cofounder of AFI Media Lab, and a frequent speaker at conferences worldwide, Scott has served as both a consultant and developer for Apple, Sony, Ikegami, Matsushita, and SGI, as well as a consultant for The Artists Rights Foundation & The National Science Highway to The White House. In 1989, Scott’s Emmy-acknowledged “A Day In The Life of Melrose” was the first TV show entirely shot, edited & broadcast from a computer, leading Scott to design & codevelop the first digital direct-to-disk camcorder – the Ikegami HL-57/AVID CamCutter. In 1995, in a joint venture with GTE, Scott created the first virtual, photo realistic, synthetic actress (Marilyn Monroe) utilizing the first full body cyber scan.
Scott has also designed the methodology for creating the visual effects which have appeared in seven of the top ten motion pictures of all time. Often referred to as “the only Amish kid in Hollywood”, Scott reflects his Quaker/Amish upbringing in his ongoing participation in projects that promote individual rights and equality. In addition to the main industry organizations such as DGA, WGA, ICG Local 600, SMPTE and the VFX Society, some of the organizations that Scott is currently working with include: National Educator’s Association, NAACP, National Urban League, 100 Black Men of America and The Twenty-First Century Foundation.
Here is a partial list of some of the hundreds of clients & projects Scott has created digital magic for:
Clients: Discovery Channel, HBO, Sony Games, Samsung, ILM, Mattel, CBS, ABC TV, GTE, Pioneer Electronics, Showtime, Phoenix Pictures, Xerox, Texas Instrument, Oxygen, Concorde Films, Apple, ESPN, Amgen, EMI, Giorgio, Hemdale, ABC, Ikegami, Propaganda Films, Miramax, Saban, Republic Pictures, CBS, FOX, Kodak, Universal Picture & Studio’s, Panasonic, Kia Motors, House of Blues, Rysher Entertainment ,The History Channel, Hyundai.
Features:Mid-Century (Writer/Director), Muholland Drive (VFX Super), Homo Erectus (Director of Photography/VFX Super), DragonStrike (Director of Photography/VFX Super), Bend it Like Beckham (VFX Super), Farce of the Penguins (Director of Photography), Closing Escrow (Director of Photography/VFX Super), “A” Game (Director of Photography/VFX Super), Red Riding Hood (Director of Photography: Additional photography), The Fantastic Four (VFX Super), Shredder (VFX Super), City of Ghosts (HiDef DP/VFX Super), Larceny (HiDef DP/VFX Super), The YellowBird (2nd unit DP/VFX Super), T-2 Terminator, Jurassic Park, Switchback, Weels in Motion (Director/Cinematographer), The Roswell Incident (VFX Super), Barb Wire (VFX Super), A Smile Like Yours, Man’s Best Friend (VFX Super), Precious Find (VFX Super),Pterodactyl Woman Of Beverly Hills (VFX Super), Hell Raiser:Bloodline, Tin Men, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Baby Geniuses, LArceny (HiDef DP/VFX Super).
Television: “Moments in Time” Discovery Channel (segment director on 1 show)(VFX Super on 6 shows), “The Conquerors” History Channel (Director on 2 shows)(VFX Super on 8 shows)(Director of Photography on 2 shows), “Brief History of Time-2” Science Channel (Director of Photography), “FX The Series” (Writer, Tech Consult/VFX 44 shows), Misery Loves Company (FOX), Ripley’s Believe It Or Not (TBS), State of War,(Acclaim), Jack & The Beanstalk (Global), Pistol Pete (Castlerock), ECO Spies (Discovery), Maybe This Time (CBS), Secret Missions of the CIA (History Channel), Saturday Morning Kids & “The Big Blast” (ABC), “Big Comedy Monday” (CBS).-directed/shot /composited “Oxy Morons” for Oxygen channel Commercial & Music Video: Sony Playstation2 (commercial – directed by David Lynch, Scott was DP and VFX Super), Wii/Pirates of the Caribbean (Director of Photography), 1-800-CALL-ATT (commercial), Nissan (commercial), Giorgio (commercial), Van Halen (music video), System of a Down (music video), 8Ball/MJG (music video), Coolio (music video), Tu-Phat (music video), The Cooler (DVD interface/design), CUBE2 (DVD interface/design), B-Witch (DVD interface/design), Rod Steel (DVD interface design) Linksys, Ghiradelli, Hyundai, Kia.