Gil Bettman

No one would ever see Gil Bettman as the retiring type. Bring Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis to his directing class and Bettman wades right in, challenging his old friend's point of view and sparking a good-natured debate about the best ways to tell a story using a camera. But that's Bettman's style. He has very definite opinions about how to block a camera or talk to actors from his days as a top action director for TV series such as The Twilight Zone and Knight Rider. Bettman learned the value of subjecting all film ideas to the acid test of a free-wheeling debate from Zemeckis himself while working as a screenwriter developing projects for Zemeckis at Universal and Warner Bros. It's a lesson Bettman wants to pass on to his students as well.

Bettman has directed a wide range of projects from feature films and music videos to corporate profiles. He directed the feature documentary The Long Road to Cabo about rock icon Sammy Hagar, and is the author of First Time Director: How to Make Your Breakthrough Movie (Michael Wiese Productions, 2004).

He received his BA in English Literature (with honors) from Harvard University and his MFA from UCLA.