(written from a Production point of view)
William L. Asman (born 11 August 1943; age 80), mostly credited as Bill Asman, is a camera operator and cinematographer who worked as "A" and "B" Camera operator on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. He is the brother of Star Trek Nemesis supervising sound editor Bub Asman and sound re-recording mixer John Asman as well as stepfather of actor Tom Gianelli.
Among Asman's earlier credits as director of photography for director William Girdler are the horror film Asylum of Satan (1972), Three on a Meathook (1973), the thriller The Zebra Killer (1974), Abby (1974, starring William Marshall), Sheba, Baby (1975), and Grizzly (1976, starring Andrew Prine, stunts by George P. Wilbur, and stunt coordination by John Moio).
As camera operator, Asman worked on The Manitou (1978, with Michael Ansara, Felix Silla, and Joe Gieb), Gorp (1980, with David Huddleston and Lou Wagner), The Mountain Men (1980, with Brian Keith, Stephen Macht, John Glover, Seymour Cassel, and William Lucking), The Stunt Man (1980, with Adam Roarke, George D. Wallace, and James Avery), The Octagon (1980), the short family film Benji Takes a Dive at Marineland (1981), Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981, with Jeffrey Combs), Pandemonium (1982, with John Paragon and Jim Boeke), Brainstorm (1983, directed by Douglas Trumbull and with Louise Fletcher), Lovelines (1984), Loverboy (1989, with Robert Picardo and Kirstie Alley), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990, with John Glover, Robert Picardo, Zach Galligan, Dick Miller, Keye Luke, Leslie Neale, Ron Fassler, Time Winters, Kenneth Tobey, Jerry Goldsmith, Kirk Thatcher, and Frank Welker), The Rocketeer (1991, starring William O. Campbell), Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992), Matinee (1993), and Speed (1994).
He also worked as camera operator on Hart to Hart (1983-1984), Melrose Place (1993-1994) and its spin-off Models Inc. (1994-1995, starring Robert Beltran), and 7th Heaven (1998-2007, starring Stephen Collins and Catherine Hicks). On the latter two series he also worked occasionally as director of photography. Most recently, Asman worked on the drama series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, co-starring Steve Schirripa. First as camera operator between 2008 and 2010 and then as director of photography between 2011 and 2013.
Star Trek credits[]
- TNG:
- "Journey's End" – "A" Camera Operator (uncredited)
- "Firstborn" – "A" Camera Operator (uncredited)
- "All Good Things..." – "B" Camera Operator (uncredited)
- DS9: ("A" and "B" Camera Operator 1993-1999)
- "Crossfire" – Camera Operator (uncredited)
- "Return to Grace" – Camera Operator (uncredited)
- "Hard Time" – Camera Operator (uncredited)
- "Nor the Battle to the Strong" – Camera Operator
- "Trials and Tribble-ations" – Camera Operator
- "The Ascent" – Camera Operator
- VOY: – (2nd Unit "A" Camera Operator and "B" Camera Operator 2000-2001)
- "Concerning Flight" – Camera Operator: Video Camera (uncredited)
- "Demon" – Camera Operator: Video Camera (uncredited)