Biography

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Billy Savage

Los Angeles

Filmmaker

Tags: the documentary career  sports  screenings  music documentaries  music  history documentaries  filmmaker profiles  festival awards  documentary history  distribution  biographical documentaries  awards  

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Supplementary Information

Title/Occupation:  Director  Producer  Writer 

Gender: Male

Race: Caucasian/White

Citizenship: United States

Brief Message to Members: Happy to be aboard!

Biography: Billy Savage (Director/Producer/Writer) Billy grew up in northern California's Marin County. His first job after high school, just a few miles from his parent's house, was at SKYWALKER RANCH for the SKYWALKER DEVELOPMENT COMPANY. This was the construction company that built GEORGE LUCAS’ SKYWALKER RANCH. While there, Billy got his first taste of working on films and television projects such as EWOKS: THE BATTLE FOR ENDOR and HOWARD THE DUCK. Admittedly not Mr. Lucas’s finest works, Billy was undeterred. He left Skywalker in 1986 to work part-time for TOP MODELS and TALENTS in San Francisco as the booking assistant and he was also represented by the agency. It was during this period that he found work as a production assistant for VARITEL VIDEO in San Francisco and MAGNETIC IMAGE in Mill Valley. It was on this part of the journey that Billy truly discovered his love of visual storytelling. Working various productions in and around San Francisco eventually led him to work for rock and roll impresario BILL GRAHAM at various venues around the Bay Area. In an interesting coincidence, Billy was living at the time in BILL GRAHAM’S old ART ROCK poster factory, a converted warehouse on Sheridan St. in San Francisco’s South of Market district. Though not working on the video/film side of BGP, Billy enjoyed the short hours and big money of working rock shows. In the late 1980s through early 1991, Billy worked shows with such acts as THE ROLLING STONES, THE WHO, PAUL McCARTNEY, THE GRATEFUL DEAD and 100s of others. On the cold and rainy night of October 25, 1991, Billy took the night off work to have dinner and spend the evening with his parents in Novato. That evening Marin County natives, HUEY LEWIS and the NEWS, were playing the Concord Pavilion in the East Bay. After his parents had gone to bed, Billy watched television alone. Sometime after 11:00 p.m. that night the power went out. A helicopter had flown into an unmarked power line off of the side of Hwy 37, less than three miles from the house. It wasn’t until the following day that the names of the crash victims were revealed. In the Bell Ranger helicopter were BILL GRAHAM, STEVE KAHN (Bill’s pilot), and MELISSA GOLD (Bill’s girlfriend) returning from the Concord Pavilion. Billy moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter. After arriving in Los Angeles 1992, Billy landed a job working for SHAPIRO ENTERTAINMENT INC. in Beverly Hills. During his tenure at SHAPIRO ENTERTAINMENT, Billy has helped develop television projects for CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX. In addition, Billy has developed feature film projects for FOX SEARCHLIGHT, ARTISAN ENTERTAINMENT, BLOCKBUSTER ENTERTAINMENT and PALM PICTURES. In 2006 Billy and his wife, Floirie, launched PUMELO PICTURES, a development company for documentaries and low-budget feature films. The company is located at 6464 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood and currently holds the rights for half a dozen projects. Billy's first documentary feature, KLUNKERZ, looks at the hippie/athletes from Northern California in the 1960s were are responsible for the creation of the multi-billion dollar mountain bike industry. He wrote, directed, and produced the film, which has gone on to screen at festivals in more than 50 cities in more than two dozen countries, receiving multiple nominations and taking home several awards along the way. In February of 2009, KLUNKERZ received the "2009 Cycling Film of the Year" award at the 17h Annual Endurance Sports Awards. KLUNKERZ also received rave reviews, not only in every cycling magazine in the United States, but also in mainstream publications including USA Today ("Klunkerz is worth checking out, even if you're not a bike nut."), The New York Times ("Savage takes a fond glimpse at this international craze."), MovieMaker Magazine (Klunkerz is just as enjoyable for those of us who aren't cyclists."), STUFF Magazine (Klunkerz looks at the start of it all, way back in the hair-and-flair '70's."), MovieMagazine International ("A small but important film tracing the history of modern day mountain biking.") and just about every cycling publication on the planet. Billy currently resides in the Los Feliz section of Los Angles with his wife and two children.