![WILLIAM WEDIG [director/editor]](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5395d5fee4b04553a429538f/1590329838304-J94EL7BB69ZQ15N7UJEF/WW+WRITER+DIRECTOR+EDITOR+LOGO-alpha+cropped.png?format=750w)
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![FORGED [feature film]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5395d5fee4b04553a429538f/1403047024355-V7WE5MYG5I5426L83DNO/forged7.jpg)
NYC/LA Based Filmmaker
Having written, directed and edited features, television and commercials, William Wedig is an award winning, bi-coastal filmmaker in all phases of production.
As the youngest of six boys, and coming from an Academy Award winning family (Geoff Wedig, 2017), Will grew up obsessed with films, watching “popcorn flicks” late into the night. This is where he found his inspirations: the style of Ridley, the movement of Boyle and Bigelow, and the heart of Singleton. The off-kilter worlds and characters of the Coens alongside the stylings of Liman and Tarantino and the comedy of Smith and Linklater. These were his mentors and these films became his school books.
BACKGROUND
Wedig was born in Marietta, Ohio, a town of less than 13,000 residents, nestled between some of the poorest counties in the Mid-Ohio Valley. His family had a modest life to say the least, keeping three cars in the driveway, two of which ran and the third used for parts.
Starting at age 11, Wedig began to scrape together short films, borrowing cameras from his “rich” friends and cutting them linearly VCR to VCR. Through grit and determination, he moved to New York City where he lived in a one-bedroom apartment deep in Queens with four roommates, surviving off a daily budget of $3.50 a day and care packages sent by his mother.
Through a series of debt solutions, his parents put all six boys through college. Wedig graduated from The School of Visual Arts with a BFA in Film Editing in 2006.
From these experiences, a strong sense of empathy burned in his heart for those who struggle for something more. Through his vision, his films have featured underdog characters fighting for a better tomorrow and a world a little less cruel to those with less.
Director William Wedig
THE WORK
Wedig’s work has included feature films like Forged and Rise of the Dead, Doc TV specials like Exposure: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2011, and television work such as Team Toon.
Recently, his script, The Devil’s Chasing Me, was a semi-finalist in the International Screenplay Associations Table Read my Screenplay Contest, placing the top 1.5% of over 6,500 submissions, made it to the Second Round of the ISA Fast Track Contest, and was a semi-finalist in the Final Draft Big Break Contest. Additionally he’s had work place in the top 20% of the Nicholls Fellowship, the Tracking Board’s Launch Pad and more.
His films have won festivals like The Coney Island Film Festival (Bygones, Best Comedy Short) and the HBO New York Latino Film Festival (Forged, Best Feature Film).
He’s a proud member of the Motion Pictures Editor’s Guild and has moderated panels with the Oscar-winning teams behind films such as Materialists where he interviewed writer/director Celine Song (Past Lives) and Wolfs where he spoke with writer/director Jon Watts (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Spider-Man: No Way Home). Other panels have included A Real Pain, Goosebumps: The Vanishing, The Better Sister, Inception, True Romance, Capote, Daddio, Étoile, La La Land and more.
With extensive commercial experience, Will has directed commercial and digital content for brands like Coca-Cola (featuring singers Monica Brown & LeToya Luckett), Smirnoff (feat. Lance Gross), AT&T (feat. St. Beauty, Chevy w/artist Ron Bass, Walmart, and Geico.
WORKED SHOWN ON / AVAILABLE WITH:
“Mr. Wedig is sure of his material. Relentlessly unsentimental, ‘Forged’ is nasty, brutish and short, in all the best ways.”
William's feature film Forged (which he wrote, directed and edited) won the HBO Latino Film Festival and the Providence Latin American Film Festival. Forged stars Emmy winner Margo Martindale (The Americans, August: Osage County, Cocaine Bear), Jaime Tirelli (Girlfight, Carlito’s Way), and Manny Perez (Homeland, Pride and Glory, Blacklist, the La Soga trilogy).
Variety’s Ronnie Scheib writes of Forged: "The film’s powerful ending builds kinetically," and lead actor Manny Perez is “frighteningly convincing as a man ruled by desperation.”
William's single-camera kids show, Team Toon, was produced for Cartoon Network and FremantleMedia, and is now on Netflix (US) and Amazon Prime (UK). As the series director, William Wedig directed 24 of 26 episodes of Team Toon starring Disney/ABC star Meg Donnelly (American Housewife, The Broken Ones, Zombies).
The shoot consisted of 145 shooting days, 550 script pages and over 5,000 individual shots.
William Wedig on the set of TEAM TOON.
William directed and edited the show Exposure: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit which starred Kate Upton, Brooklyn Decker, Irina Shayk, and 14 other supermodels. The show is available on the Playstation Network and DVD.
William Wedig directed the feature film Rise of the Dead distributed by Lions Gate Home Entertainment. The film has been described as a "smart and original take on an equally old genre" (Fangoria) and William's directing as "a breath of fresh air" (C.H.U.D.).
In short form comedy, William directed the short film series Jack Link’s Sasquatch Watch with NFL star linebacker Clay Mathews III of the Greenbay Packers, Boomer Esiason, former-NFL star Amani Toomer, and the popular Jack Link's character: Sasquatch.
As series director on Sports Illustrated’s Funniest People in Sports, Will directed sports figures as then Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, award-winning female pro hockey player Hilary Knight, and professional surfer Anastasia Ashley.
William also directed the slick mockumentary for Russell Athletics entitles Russell Dadletes.
William Wedig directed the Essence Festival: Prince Tribute which screened in the Super Dome for tens of thousands of people.
William Wedig was the director on the music series Noisemakers on Noisevox featuring world-renowned music journalist and former-MTV VJ, John Norris. The show featured bands such as Warpaint (who were produced by John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), Temper Trap ("Sweet Disposition", "Need Your Love"), and Lady Gaga.
Although directing is William's primary focus and goal, he is also a professional editor with recognizable credits that include the Smithsonian series On The Fly: Adventure at Altitude, the PBS/Time Inc. Studios TV Special The Life a House Built, The Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project, Yahoo! Mail with Nicole Richie, Chevy Malibu with Isaac Mizrahi, The World Sports League shows for J-BAY, TRESTLES and U.S. OPEN for air on ABC and CBS, and TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHS and TIME'S ONE DREAM. His work was shown to over 12 million people during the 2023 Grammys, and he edited promos on CBS during The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the last episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden.
He graduated with a degree in film from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and spends half his time with his wife in Brooklyn and half in Los Angeles.
