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Will Hess

William Lawrence Hess (born April 4, 1972) is an American documentary film maker from New Orleans, Louisiana best known for his work directing, producing & writing on With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story which is a feature length biography released in 2012 documenting the man whom founded Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, and created over 500 of Marvel's most beloved characters including: Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Silver Surfer, Hulk, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, etc.

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story played the film festival circuit between 2010-2012 playing in 26 festivals and winning 8 awards. It was initially released domestically on cable via Viacom's ePix (premium cable) channel, as well as VOD outlets like Netflix, I-Tunes, Amazon, etc.

Documentaries take time and between 2006 and 2010, Will invested 4 years into creating Stan Lee's biography which was his first documentary. Since 2012, Will has been producing, directing & writing his second documentary King Cake: A Big Easy Story which is a history of Mardi Gras and the city of New Orleans. As of the writing of this article, this project is in post production with a projected release date of 2016.

EARLY LIFE

Will was born in Dallas, Texas in 1972. He is the son of Richard Arnold Hess and Juanita Floyd Hess. He has an older brother named Bruce, a younger brother named James and a younger sister named Alicia. Will's father, from Baltimore, Maryland, is of German descent, while his mother is from Oklahoma and has a mixture of both European and Cherokee ancestry.

At 2 years of age, Will's father moved the family from Dallas, Texas to Sullivan, Missouri where Will attended school up through the 4th grade before his father moved the family once again, this time for good, to New Orleans, Louisiana where his father had taken a job in the booming oil industry New Orleans was enjoying then. His father worked the barges on the Mississippi River earning a blue collar wage to support him and his 3 brothers and sister. Will attended the 5th grade at Belle Chasse Elementary School in Belle Chasse, Louisiana before moving on to middle school (6th-8th grades) and then high school (9th-12th grades). In May 1990 Will graduated receiving his high school diploma from Belle Chasse High School.

EDUCATION

PERSONAL LIFE

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INFLUENCES