'Golden touch' producer at No. 1, 2 and 3
A pop video producer who recently worked on a Westlife video is being hailed for his golden touch by the US music industry after adding his magic to the entire top three singles in America.
William Green, 33, is one of the most in-demand figures in the pop promo world working with budgets of one million dollars-plus.
His lavish work with Outkast and Kelis has helped the acts command all three positions in the Billboard chart this week – thought to be a first.
LA-based Green – who will soon turn his eye to film production – is sought out by top record labels for major stars. He recently worked on the visuals for Kylie Minogue and Enrique Iglesias’s new singles.
Outkast’s Hey Ya! Has benefited from a glossy video featuring frontman Andre 3000 playing a variety of roles in a 60s pop show spoof and heavy MTV rotation helped it to the US top slot this week.
The band are also at number two with The Way You Move and Kelis is at number three with Milkshake.
Green, from Surrey, said: “It’s not going too badly at the moment. After doing this for a while the companies know that if they are doing something epic or big, they want someone with experience – I guess that’s when I get the call.”
His role as producer sees him with some creative input, liaising closely with the director, but mainly assembling the right team to put the video together - and ensuring it comes in on budget.
“If they’ve got 200,000 dollars and they want to throw someone off a cliff, I’m the one who will tell them that costs 300,000 dollars, but if they roll them down they could do it for, say, 250,000 dollars.”
Green’s video for Hey Ya! – which has also been a big hit in the UK – has landed a Grammy nomination for best music video.
He fell into video production after working his way up from a menial behind-the-scenes role with a film company.
“I got thrown out of school when I was younger and my dad was like ‘I’m not going to pay for any more education’.
“So I got a job and I started out making tea for a film company. I went on to become Mel Smith’s assistant and worked on films like The Tall Guy and Wilt.”
He went on to work on his first music video with British band Boys Wonder, whose drummer was a pal.
Green later moved to the US and through an actress friend met Winona Ryder, who was dating Dave Pirner of the band Soul Asylum. The connection led to him working on the video for the group’s hit Just Like Anyone and helped to get a toe on the ladder in the US.
“I‘ve been in LA for about eight years now but I still come home to work on a few videos. I did Westlife recently.”
A recent return found him watching the 100 Worst Songs on Channel 4 over New Year, during which he was mortified to spot two of his videos.
One of them was No Limits by 2 Unlimited.
“I actually thought it was quite an innovative video at the time,” he said.
He also helped to give Guy Ritchie a break many years ago when he paid him £50 (€72) to direct a video by a girl group.
Like Ritchie and many other of the big names in music video, Green has plans to move into film.
He has been in discussions with Working Title, the company behind Love Actually and Bridget Jones’s Diary, for a film about Formula 1 champ James Hunt and Lord Hesketh.
“You find that a lot of the techniques used in videos have now found their way into films so it is a natural progression.
“A few years ago videos used to be looked down upon by the film world but now they are seen as the most creative force.
“Now you find that feature film guys want to do videos because they can be more creative in three minutes.”
Although he has done videos for acts such as Oasis, Limp Bizkit and the Chemical Brothers, he finds some of his biggest clients are hip hop artists like Missy Elliot and 50 Cent.
“With hip hop they don’t tour as much so they use much bigger visuals to promote the music and they spend a lot of money,” Green added.
