Bill Desowitz
Bill Desowitz, the Awards Editor, Craft & Animation at IndieWire, specializes in below-the-line, tech, and animation coverage, with a special emphasis on Oscar and Emmy Awards season predictions and analysis. Aside from in-depth making of features and influential state of the race perspectives, have additionally contributed to the site's "Influencers" and "25th anniversary" series. These include profiles of "Wolfwalkers" co-directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, and VFX guru Rob Legato on the future of the industry. Additionally oversaw the launch of the site's "Sketch to Screen" behind-the-scenes animation series with "The Mitchells vs. the Machines” . Honors include sharing third-place prize with IndieWire colleagues for the Influencers TV series Multimedia Package, awarded by the Los Angeles Press Club at the 63rd annual Southern California Journalism Awards in 2021.Prior to joining IndieWire, the Los Angeles native was founder of the "Immersed in Movies" blog devoted to crafts and animation coverage. Career highlights include serving as editor of Animation World Network (www.AWN.com) and sister site VFXWorld (www.VFXWorld.com), assignment editor at Below the Line (www.btlnews.com), and staff reporter for The Hollywood Reporter. Have contributed film features to The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Popular Mechanics, and Premiere Magazine. Author of "James Bond Unmasked" (Spies LLC), chronicling the 50-year evolution of the franchise's superspy, and featuring exclusive interviews with all six Bond actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. Have moderated numerous craft and tech-oriented Q&A discussions, including the ADG Previs Summit and several at the RealTime and FMX Stuttgart conferences. Received a BA in Journalism from California State University, Northridge, and an MA in Film and TV Studies from UCLA.Can be found on Twitter (@BillDesowitz) and Facebook.
Latest by Bill Desowitz
Getting Animated
Director Chris Sanders tells IndieWire about his 2D-looking sci-fi adventure, in which robot Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) embraces kindness to survive in the wilderness.
VFX
The "Furiosa" VFX team leaned on CG to enhance the stunt-driven action and signature Wasteland environments and AI to help Alyla Browne more resemble Anya Taylor-Joy.
Getting Animated
Netflix also announced Timothy Olyphant will be the voice of the upcoming "Terminator Zero" during its animation slate preview event.
Pulling the Strings
Stitches and Glue tell IndieWire about turning Benedict Cumberbatch into a puppeteer for the new Netflix series.
Getting Animated
Director Mark Dindal and DNEG tell IndieWire about capturing the 2D aesthetic of the concept art while still offering a fresh look at Garfield's origin story.
SOMETHING TO PUT STOCK IN
Kodak premiered 33 movies shot on film at Cannes, including Sean Baker's Palme d'Or winner, "Anora," and Yorgos Lanthimos' "Kinds of Kindness."
DOWNEY THE SHAPE SHIFTER
Inside the creation of Downey's fifth and final character on the HBO drama.
Shape Shifter
Costume designer Mekel Bailey scoured London thrift stores to put together an anachronistic wardrobe of mismatched colors and prints to convey Martha's roller-coaster of emotions.
Getting Animated
France's prestigious June animation festival will spotlight the partial use of AI to fuel discussion about the process, most prominently in the Japanese zombie feature "Who Said Death Is Beautiful?"
What If
The Framestore animation and VFX team used Esther Williams and "Fleabag" to help inform Blossom's sassy performance, which includes a Busby Berkeley-esque swimming sequence.
Getting Animated
First-time director Shannon Tindle tells IndieWire that he was inspired by the birth of his daughter and "Kramer vs. Kramer" in re-imagining "Ultraman" as a personal story.
Chic Chameleon
Dressing Moss' chic, chameleon-like British spy began by creating a powerful black silhouette, which costume designer Anthony Unwin echoed in her Paris street fight with a femme fatale theme.
