Todd Wilson on vacation in Australia.

Todd Wilson on the set of Under One Roof, his second feature film.

Labor Day weekend, a close friend and colleague of mine, director Todd Wilson, passed on from complications of lung and brain cancer.

I met Todd in about 2001. Todd hired me to score his first narrative feature, Under One Roof, which was the first feature film I scored. The film went on to become a festival hit, was picked up by TLA DVD distribution, and sold over 20,000 copies. Recently Todd made a short subject for my musical composition, NYC Dilemma, performed by the Organic Sound Experiment. Todd filmed it when I was living in NYC. Todd finished editing it this June, and it is the last film he completed. NYC Dilemma is currently being submitted to festivals.

Todd grew up in upstate New York. He got his BS in Computer Science from RPI. Todd largely taught himself the art and techniques of filmmaking. He made several films and was always learning new techniques and buying new and better equipment. Two of his films are distributed nationally, and he won awards including "Best Foreign Film" from Mix Brasil and "Special Recognition of a Score" from Long Island Gay n Lesbian Film Festival for Under One Roof -- I guess I share in that one. Todd had experience in all aspects of filmmaking and dealing with distributors and film festivals, and he was generous in giving advice to other emerging filmmakers.

Todd had several films in development or production at the time of his death, just after his 42nd birthday. Todd had a very strong unique vision. Todd believed much of queer cinema suffered from deficiencies such as overall negativity, downer endings, and lack of emotional and physical payoff. Todd infused his films with positive likable characters, happy endings, and emotional and titillating payoffs.

Todd was an avid art collector and a computer programmer. He was a fun, witty, articulate, outspoken, generous friend. He will be greatly missed. He is survived by his Mom, his Dad, his siblings, Chris his partner of 14 years, his Shiba Itsu Taiko aka Ike, and friends world wide.

  Jack Curtis Dubowsky, San Francisco, 2005.

Links:
Todd's IMDB Page
Todd's NY Times Reviews
DVD Verdict's Under One Roof Review
Todd's SF Chronicle Obituary