Bill George



William "Bill" George was a model maker whose earliest recorded professional contribution was as an uncredited model maker for. Later on, as an employee of Industrial Light & Magic, one of his first jobs in that company was as model maker for, and. He subsequently became the visual effects art director for two other Star Trek films, and, and an art consultant on. Apart from the features, George was also a member of the team that built the six-foot model of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) for the 1987 television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, refurbishing it seven years later for Generations. George was interviewed for the special feature "Industrial Light & Magic: The Next Generation" on the DVD release of.

George was responsible for the design of the USS Excelsior and constructed the prototype for the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, as well as the orbital shuttle studio model. He was also credited with being the "co-inventor" of the design of the phaser used in on the design patent issued for it in. According to Michael Okuda, George built the model of the SD-103 for The Undiscovered Country which was later modified and reused as the USS Jenolen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episode.

In his teenage years, George used to forage through the dumpsters outside the Van Nuys, Los Angeles facility of ILM, hoping to find souvenirs. In 1979, he began his career in earnest, building miniatures for Greg Jein in Los Angeles, The Motion Picture being his first professional assignment. He managed to join ILM two years later, Wrath of Khan being one of his earliest projects. He was hired due to the fact that he brought along a home made Y-Wing fighter model from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), that was eventually used in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) as the new Y-Wing "hero" model when the original two versions proved unsuitable. This was not unlike his privately build USS Pasteur, or rather USS Olympic, a hobby project, which ended up being filmed for the TNG series' finale,.

George has never left ILM and is as of 2011 still in that company's employment, contributing to the majority of its productions. Having started out as a model maker, he has risen to the position of visual effects supervisor. While George, an avid Star Trek fan and having contributed to most Star Trek movie features, never did receive an award nomination or win for Star Trek, he has received two Visual Effects Society Award nominations (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-2004 and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue-2011), one Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards nomination (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-2002), one Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards nomination (Galaxy Quest-1999), two BAFTA Film Award nominations (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), four Saturn Award nominations (Innerspace-1987, Galaxy Quest,  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), and finally two Academy Award nominations for Innerspace and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the former one he won.