BILL WEAVER
Bill Weaver is a filmmaker, producer, cinematographer, photographer, Peabody Award-winning television journalist, and a former newsanchor /reporter. Since moving to Canada in 1990, he has produced and directed ten award-winning documentaries and numerous interstitials for Canadian television. Using his years of journalism experience, he’s developed an eye for authenticity and a nose for a good story — traits he infuses not only into his documentaries, but also into the web-based shorts he creates to promote the missions of values-based businesses and social/environmental initiatives.
Over a forty-year career, Bill has navigated a lot of changes in the media business, and continues to pay close attention to today’s radical shifts in the art of storytelling. Amidst all trends that come and go, he remains focused on the DNA of narrative, looking for simplicity, value, and potency amongst what can be a confusing and sometimes ineffective train wreck of technology and techniques.
“All effective media takes us back to the most elemental forms of messaging: the stories that we already have within us, and the face-to-face communication we have with others, in real time. Good films unlock the potential of both of these. There’s a tendency to be seduced by overly complex and expensive solutions — so sometimes I find myself advising a client to just bypass the time and expense of a film project, and go straight to the simplicity of a well-crafted pitch, conversation, or print campaign.”
Bill is founder and co-facilitator of Media that Matters, a yearly conference and initiative dedicated to sparking new ideas, broadening collective wisdom, and building a stronger, smarter community among media professionals from all disciplines of conventional and unconventional media. In addition, he is an advisory board member for the Reel Youth Film Festival, and is a trustee of the Power of Hope, an organization that encourages teens to become creators — rather than consumers — of culture.
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photography: Jan Vozenilek
