Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill McAdams, Jr.
Hi Bill, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Where I started and where I am today seems a lifetime with many doors closed and a few open. Sports would be the first thing that comes to mind. My dad got drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1961 so for me as a 5-year-old it was baseball – ground balls and pop flies. Thousands over the years. This taught me endurance and confidence. A goal to be my dad. Someone who made it on dedication. Today I wonder if my dad would have preferred a good practice over a good grade. That’s how it all started. Discipline to get up and have somewhere to go and perform. I knew I had to build a structured day which turned into weeks then months. Football, winter track then baseball. I remember around 12, putting dance records on and play out the entire scene, stage, and crowd. I could dance. My college summers, I won many dance contests in DC at this club called The Dome. It was underground. I just went there to lose my dance mind with my buddy Ted this 6’3 black guy. So even if I slipped a bit off structure it was for the arts. Hip-hop ruled and I was a proud student. Maybe that was the road I should have taken. Broadway. Back to High School, my senior year I was honored Athlete of Year in 1988 only because the best athlete, Jason Palumbo, broke his leg early on in football. So, I ended up playing college football and baseball at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC and found they had a stellar drama department with graduates like Jon Voight, Susan Sarandon, and Ed McMahon. (You got to name-drop in these things, right?) Maybe I could be the jock that did drama? Tommy Lee Jones did it. Huey Lewis. That I did. With a double major in Drama and Philosophy which is a great combo if you want to be a Hollywood director. After my senior college baseball season, I heard they were filming Major League 2. I drove up to Baltimore’s newly minted Camden Yards (heated dugout seats) and gave my headshot to the casting director I tracked down. I pulled out my baseball picture and the next day I was sliding into home plate with many cameras rolling on me. That was my first film credit, and got me rolling. So – where am I now? A Hollywood director who writes and sometimes acts in his own films. What is a Hollywood director? I directed films in California, but also Ohio, and Texas. Living in Hollywood for around 20 years where all my struggle were. So yeah – Hollywood director. I have never had an agent – not because I never wanted one, but because I never needed one. I either found the money or was a director/writer for hire to pay the rent. I do want one. You can find me in Aledo, at the Willow Park Starbucks, writing my next adventure. My father is dying and his last days I am humbled to be with him. Help my mother take care of him. I am the father for now. Thank you, Dad, for all your love and support … for never giving up on me “getting a real job” and going for my dream. I am still dreaming. I will always dream.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A smooth road. What’s that? If things were smooth everyone would be smiling all day long. That’s just a weird drug trip and not reality. So – I have driven on rocks, around barriers, through concrete walls without a crash helmet. I have flown high above them and crashed landed on them. With many cuts and bruises the roads started to smooth out… my brother gets hit by a car on his motorcycle and dies on a road. Ironically, that’s when my film career took off. With Johnny’s wings. He never died. He is my invisible bodyguard. We go through this together. Gallows Road pretty much explains the philosophy of this smooth road question. The definition of obstacle is “a thing that blocks or prevents or hinders a process” … Hinder is too weak for this answer. Giant blocks. Without struggle you are a surface walker. Just floating in the middle. Fake. Things are just good enough. You don’t want it because you have been given it. I was a stand-in. Second Team. Not “the real actor.” See, we stand in’s set the lighting and camera angles for the stars while they are in hair and makeup getting fanned by a handful of people. Maybe that’s why I don’t like that on my films. “Let’s bring in the real actors.” ADs… don’t ever say that on a set at least right in front of the guy who’s been standing on a mark for hours getting no glory, just spilling guts. On the set of John Grisham’s, The Rainmaker, because I had the key. I slept on a ferny pad next to a small heater in the casting office (Old hangar) in Oakland during the interior courtroom filming because I couldn’t afford the 300 dollar a week cheap hotel fee was also the extras casting assistant. One month of this because I wanted to watch Francis Coppola direct Danny DeVito, Matt Damon, Red West (Elvis best bud), Jon Voight. Catholic University alum.
Well, one day, after many failed auditions because I suck at them, I woke the fuck up and said I am making my own movie with my own saved money. On my own. And that is what I did. I knew the waiting game was not the game wanted. A couple of shorts, and then my first feature at 35. 10 years on a rocky road. That just got rockier. I remember after directing a half-a-million-dollar movie and my wife filing for divorce. (I wasn’t the greatest Husband) … I need money to pay the rent. I called my friend who is high up, and asked for a job. The next day I was in the post accounting office of the film Thor. Getting lunches for maybe 100 a day salary.
I can’t name anyone who made it on a smooth road. Rich. Poor. You still possess the talent. The execution. One day you wake up and you’re getting by and not worrying about money as much as you did. You have 10 films or so. Whose counting. I still wondering about the other 10 I wrote in my top drawer. When will they be born? A creator can’t live without creating. Ideas keep us breathing. Every film, in the beginning, is un-smooth, uncertain, and the more you get into the prep the pavement is dropped… the road gets chill. Like a Sinatra song; “That’s life and I can’t deny it. Many times, I thought of cutting out, but my heart won’t buy it.”
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the proud owner of multiple award-winning film company, Aledo Film Group, and have enjoyed making three films in the DFW area. The first being Jose Canseco: The Truth Hurts. I had just lost my little brother to a motorcycle accident and didn’t want to make movies anymore. I met Jose and he told me his story about his promise to his dying mother when he was only 19. We both loved baseball and Jose being one of the greatest but most importantly – my brother John’s favorite player growing up. John would have loved to meet his baseball hero. So, I made the film for Johnny. We shot the interviews at Fort Worth Cats LaGrave Field and Joe T. Garcia’s. It was healing for both Jose and myself, and this drove me into Gallows Road, which was written 16 years earlier on the set of Good Will Hunting. The film locations were the Fort Worth Stockyards, Aledo, Weatherford. All three cities were so helpful. We could not have made these films without their gracious pride.
GALLOWS ROAD – Director’s Statement
” This is the first script I ever wrote standing in for Matt Damon with my notepad and pencil sitting on an apple box during the filming of Good Will Hunting. The next 15 years was dedicated to independent filmmaking and learning from my mistakes. The screenplay was co-written with my mother, Grace McAdams, my inspirational sounding board. Gallows Road was finally made in “God’s timing…” something my sister and producer kept telling me during the filming process. This film reveals a piece of my soul and dedicated to my late brother, John McAdams, an incredible person and film producer.”
BULLY HIGH – Director’s Statement
What makes a person mean? What makes a person Judgmental? What makes a person hate? We are not born with this. We are taught racism and hate. Maybe through an unfortunate circumstance. Right behind hate is fear’s grasp. No matter what color the skin, what gender the preference is… we are all human. No one is above or below. We are all equal. We are all deserving of kindness and love.
When parents lose the communication tether to their children the breakdown begins. Traumatic events that happen to a child need to be addressed at that time and not muted for later in life.
As a director/writer, I have a responsibility to send a worthy message. Kicking open diversity’s door – welcoming all. It’s okay to be different. That is what makes the love stand out even more in all of us. Be a warrior of love. Not a killer of hate. You will never convince me that any human being is lesser than another. God is love” – Bill McAdams, Jr.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My family for always getting my back in the crazy rollercoaster of a ride the film business. I thank God for always keeping me in check. My cast and crews for having the patience to deal with my overdrive and perfectionisms.
Filmmaking is a collaboration and in no way did I make any of these films alone on pride or ego. I love everything about filmmaking. The good, The bad, and the ugly. Without those three you would never learn anything.
Contact Info:
- Website: bullyhigh-movie.com
- Instagram: billmcadamsjr – instagram
- Facebook: Bill McAdams Jr. – facebook
Image Credits
Kevin Sorbo
Ernie Hudson
Bill McAdams, Jr
Greg Gorman
Frank Yablans
Johnny
Monet Weir
Caroline Stella
Joseph Baena
