Biography

William Whittington, Ph.D. is the Assistant Chair of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he teaches courses in film and television history, genre studies, digital culture, audio culture, adaptation, film and Buddhism, and gender and sexuality in film, television and new media. His scholarly work includes articles and interviews on genre, audio and digital culture, new media and technology, and he is the author of Sound Design and Science Fiction (University of Texas Press, 2007). He currently working on the follow up title Sound Design and Horror (forthcoming). His film and video work includes the award-winning short “Fear,” based on a poem by Raymond Carver, which deals with one man’s fears of love and death.

Between 1993-1997, Dr. Whittington served as the curator of the USC Warner Bros. Archives, which houses over 15,000 boxes of documents, photographs and music scores from this legendary Hollywood studio, encompassing its history from incorporation to conglomeration. He provided research assistance for the film productions of The Celluloid Closet and LA Confidential as well as numerous books, musical scores, and television programs. His work also included restoration projects and curatorial duties related to exhibits at the Warner Bros. Studio Museum, The Hollywood Bowl, and the University of Southern California.

After completing his doctoral work, Dr. Whittington served as an editor for Time Warner Trade Publishing and is currently the Managing Editor of Spectator, the USC Critical Studies Journal of Film and Television Criticism. As an editor with Time Warner, Dr. Whittington edited and wrote scripts for the audio versions of numerous bestsellers, including Sex in the City (Candace Bushnell), City of Bones (Michael Connelly), and Raveling (Peter Moore Smith), which won the Audie Award for Best Abridged Fiction Production in 2001.

Dr. Whittington’s work with the journal Spectator has included collaborations with scholars in the fields of documentary, television studies, new media, popular culture, and film and television. Spectator is currently in its 29th year of publication and past issues have included: “The Instant” by editor Rene Bruckner, Ph.D., “Television Production” by editor Jennifer Clark, Ph.D., “Media Access--Preservation and Technologies” by editor Lucas Hilderbrand, Ph.D., “Ephemeral Cinema, Invisible Media--Sound and Image at the Edge of Awareness” by editor Dan Leopard, Ph.D., “Axes to Grind—Re-Imagining the Horrific in Visual Media and Culture” by editor Harmony Wu, Ph.D., “Get a Life—Fan Cultures and contemporary Television” by editor Lauri Mullens, Ph.D., and “Screening Southeast Asia” by editor Sophia Siddique Harvey, Ph.D.

Future projects include a new book on Sound Design and Horror as well as various conference presentations and lectures.