Bill Breithaupt:
A Short Biography
Written by Ashly Reynolds

Inspired by Star Wars at a young age (as many of us were), Bill had the realization that filmmaking was what he wanted to do in life. By age 10 he was enrolled in classes, and made his first film "Trick or Treat", a disturbing portrait of one child’s hallucinogenic-induced homicidal rage on Halloween night.

With a competitive streak ever-present in his character, as well as a high level of energy, Bill was involved in many sports including swim team, soccer and skate boarding. Skate boarding became his passion. As his skills grew, followed by his trophy collection, he decided to attract the attention of sponsors by renting a home camcorder and filming his incredible tricks, which no one was doing at the time. His brilliant idea worked, and under the sponsorship of such companies as Independent Trucks, Skate Rags Clothing Co., Stylized Sun Glasses and Walker Skateboards, Bill went on to win more skate competitions, bigger trophies and even more sponsors.

One fateful day in the summer of ‘91 at a skate competition in Pompano Beach, FL, Bill attempted an ollie over a 12’ box. His back foot slipped off, resulting in a painful wrenching of his knee, which had suffered previous injuries. Although he placed third in the competition, his career as a professional skate boarder was over, and that was the end of a very beautiful thing.

He then returned to his earlier passion of filmmaking. Apprenticing under the photographer Mike Voorhees in Newport Beach, CA he improved his framing techniques. He studied graphic arts at the Art Institute of So. California, film/audio techniques at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, FL, computer animation under Jimmy Hayward at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and 16mm filmmaking at San Francisco State. He has an Associate’s Degree in Film and Audio Recording, and is working toward a B.A. in Computer Animation.

He began his career making videos: music, modeling, wedding, corporate and extreme sports, you name it, he has probably caught it on film. None of that compared to the footage he began capturing in 1999 when he was invited to by a friend to attend and film the annual Burning Man Festival held in Black Rock City, Nevada. What started off as fulfilling a friend’s request for a souvenir video of the event became a passion for Bill. He passed out the edited footage to friends, who passed it to friends, who gave it to their friends, etc. Stoked by the floods of compliments, Bill began his own tradition. It was in the year 2002 that he made his breakthrough film "Aqua Burn". At the Santa Cruz Film Festival showcasing films about Burning Man, only one month after the festival itself, "Aqua Burn" was premiered and garnered a standing ovation from the 300+ crowd. "Aqua Burn" later went on to take 1st place in the Coney Island Festival.

Bill continues his filmmaking, and is currently working on a project which is under wraps, although we hear it has something to do with his most recent Burning Man film "Burning Karma" from the 2003 festival, and a DVD collection of years 1999-2003. He is also gearing up for this year’s Burning Man Festival.

When he is not making killer films he can be found tearin’ up the slopes in Lake Tahoe with his friends and girlfriend. Although he retired from pro skating some time ago, you might spot him ripping over the newbies at the local skate park. The SCUBA Dive Master, with over 100 dives under his belt, is also fond of taking trips to Monterey, CA to catch a few shots of the "locals" with his underwater camera.

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1999

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2001

2002

2003

Jawa Costume 1977

Skater Daze 1988

Walker Skateboard Ad 1988

I-5 Ditch 1988

LA Photo Session 1988

Stop Motion Animation 1988

Brawley Film Location 1997

Grand Canyon Location 1991

Animation 1997