I was one of those names on that endless list of credits at the close of blockbuster movies. From Star Wars to Star Trek, Back to the Future to Forrest Gump, Roger Rabbit to Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan to Jurassic Park, from Gangs of New York to others I sometimes forget, I was one of those interminable people thanked as Oscars are collected by dazed winners, clutching that surprisingly heavy gold statue as they try not to leave out anyone that helped them.
I was an employee at Lucasfilm, and not an especially important one. The supervisors of projects like my boss, Ken Ralston, or Dennis Muren and many others were the stars. I did, however, work at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) for twenty years, and ran a department for almost a decade.
This book is not a history of ILM or Lucasfilm, nor is it a biography of George Lucas. It represents my own personal views and experiences from a life in the movie business and is told in a narrative of vignettes that, like a script, sometimes flash either forward or back.
When I started at Industrial Light and Magic, the receptionist answered the phone saying, “Lucasfilm.” Later that changed, but I refer to them both interchangeably in this book. Also, when I write “we” I mean the company, which may or may not include myself.
—Bill Kimberlin, California, 2016