Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Gould.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Billy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been a filmmaker for as long as I can remember. I grew up obsessing over behind the scenes features for movies like Star Wars and Batman, and I was always blown away by the process of making a movie. When I was very young, my brother and I would come up with stories using our favorite characters and make little home movies about them. As I got older, I became interested in stop motion animation. I’d pour hours upon hours into videos that would come out to 30-60 seconds, but I loved every moment of it.
When I reached high school, I began making live action shorts with my friends and even won some student awards. I knew I wanted to move to LA and take my career to the next level, so my acceptance into USC’s School of Cinematic Arts was a dream come true.
Since then, I have helped bring dozens of student projects to life in a variety of roles. Although I love to write and direct, I am most fond of producing, which allows me to operate in a supportive capacity to bring together every element of a film into a cohesive final product.
I have also developed my skills and interests at internships for Ghost House Pictures (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) and Grandview/Automatik (Honey Boy, La La Land).
Has it been a smooth road?
Although I have been very fortunate in terms of opportunities and support, the path has not always been easy. When I was about nine years old, I was diagnosed with keratoconus in both eyes. Keratoconus is a degenerative disorder that deforms the corneas overtime and can lead practically to blindness. Although my left eye remained mostly stable, my right eye progressed aggressively until I became legally blind in it.
About three years later, an experimental treatment entered testing in the United States. At the time, I was one of the youngest people in the country to undergo the procedure, which was not FDA approved until years later. The treatment successfully arrested the progression in both eyes, saving my sight, but the psychological strain of facing potential blindness impacted me nonetheless. Losing my vision forced me to step back from sports which, although difficult, encouraged me to embrace movies.
The procedure fortunately remains effective a decade later, but there is no certainty whether it will hold stable forever. The ever-looming possibility of losing my eyesight only feeds my passion for films and filmmaking all the more, as I constantly have to reckon with the fragility of my ability to enjoy it.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The film industry is known for massive and unexpected shifts, particularly during this time. I believe the COVID crisis will lead to the large scale collapse of the theater industry (only sparing boutique and specialty theaters like Arclight or Alamo Drafthouse). This will push even more content into streaming services which could potentially concentrate power into a few companies who will control the development, production, distribution, and exhibition of their films. Or, it could contribute to the democratization of the market if small services give a platform to films made independently and are able to carve out a niche underneath the big streamers.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billygould/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/billygould4
- Other: https://letterboxd.com/billygould/
Image Credit:
Jenell Louissaint, Reanna Cruz, Annanlee Chang
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