Mesa, William (Bill Mesa)

PERSONAL

Brother of John P. Mesa (a visual effects supervisor) and Tina Mesa (a visual effects producer); married, wife's name Penny A. (a visual effects production manager; separated); children: two, including Arthur.

Addresses:

Office—Flash Film Works, 743 Seward Ave., Hollywood, CA 90038.

Career:

Visual effects director, director, producer, and executive. Introvision International, Inc., worked as creative director, visual effects director, and visual effects supervisor; Flash Film Works, Hollywood, CA, founder, 1993, producer, director, and visual effects director, 1993—. Also worked as second unit photographer; worked on award-winning visual effects for commercials, including General Motors Onstar ads featuring Batman, 2001.

Awards, Honors:

Emmy Award nomination (with graphic artist Tim Donahue), outstanding creative special achievement, 1982, for his contribution to Inside the Third Reich; Emmy Award (on behalf of Introvision International), outstanding special visual effects, 1985, for The Hugga Bunch; Academy Award (with others), technical achievement in film, 1988; Emmy Award (with special effects team), outstanding achievement in special visual effects, 1990, for Miracle Landing; Film Award nomination (with Roy Arbogast), best special effects, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1994, for train wreck sequence, The Fugitive; Visual Effects Society Award (with others), outstanding supporting visual effects in a motion picture, 2004, for The Last Samurai.

CREDITS

Film Visual Effects Director:

976-EVIL, New Line Cinema, 1988.

Fantasy sequence, UHF (also known as The Vidiot from UHF), Orion, 1989.

(As Bill Mesa) The Karate Kid III, Columbia, 1989.

Army of Darkness (also known as Army of Darkness: The Ultimate Experience in Medieval Horror, Army of Darkness: Evil Dead 3, Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness, Captain Supermarket, Evil Dead 3, and The Medieval Dead), Universal, 1993.

(And producer and director) Galaxis (also known as Galactic Force, Star Crystal, and Terminal Force), Turner Home Video, 1995.

(And director and cinematographer) The Darkening (also known as The Black Gate and Dark Encounters), Inner Sky International, 1995.

Film Work; Other:

Visual effects producer, The Waterboy, Buena Vista, 1998.

Executive producer, Colony 12, Storm Entertainment, 2001.

Cinematographer, Scene Stealer, 2004.

Film Appearances:

Tropical Snow, PSM Entertainment, 1986.

Television Work; Movies:

Producer, creative director, and visual effects designer, The Night They Saved Christmas, ABC, 1984.

Director, coproducer, and visual effects producer, DNA (also known as Genetic Code), HBO, 1997.

RECORDINGS

Video Games:

Director, Maximum Surge, Cyber Cinema Interactive, 1996.