Biography

Will Gates is a veteran film director that hails from the south side of Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Growing up in this tough environment of drug dealers and gang violence Will found his true love and passion for film after seeing the movie Belly, at this moment in his life there was no doubt on what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. After graduating from high school, he studied film at Columbia College Chicago where he majored in film with a concentration in directing. While attending Columbia College he was mentored by Ron Pitts the first African American cinematographer in Chicago. With the traditional teachings of college and the great mentorship of Mr. Pitts he was now confident to begin his journey into the world of the entertainment and film industries. In 2003 Will started a boots on the ground style DVD magazine called the Chicago Version which was produced, filmed and manufactured under his film production company Open World Films. Using the DVD magazine as a launchpad he utilized his newly gained insight and access into the hip hop world to connect and work with hip hop heavy weights such as Kanye West, The Game, Common and R&B acts like singer John Legend. Taking advantage of the capital gained from the now independently successful DVD magazine selling well over 10,000 copies, he invested in himself and further developed industry relationships to acquire advanced equipment and produce higher profile projects and become a house hold name in the Chicago music scene. Since then Will Gates has directed in excess of 800 music videos featuring the likes of Chance the Rapper, Rick Ross, Gucci Maine, Meek Mill and more. Several of Will Gates' videos have been nationally televised on BET, MTV and 106 N' PARK. Besides being a well-known video director, he has also made his transition into television by producing several episodes of DRUGS INC. for the National Geographic channel, as well as producing for German television a show nominated for a German television award (Deutscher Fernsehpreis 2018). But most recently Will has produced for a new series on Netflix called Dope, so it's only natural that Director Will Gates is more than ready to direct his debut feature length film Secrets of A Sides Chick based off best selling novel .
- IMDb mini biography by: William Gates