I think I’m an unusual mix of talents and skills and experiences, that make me a very good
candidate to solve any problems. I have a double Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Theater
Arts from University of California Santa Cruz. A Master’s Degree in Interior Architectural
Design from the San Francisco Academy of Art University. A lifetime of creating Art and managing
artists as an Art Director in Television and Film. I have an Emmy Award for Outstanding Set
Design. I was a member of the effects team that won the Academy Award for Special Effects for
Star Wars “Return of the Jedi”. A world traveler, and like most artists, I have a great eye for
color, space, and proportion. Setting the stage for any show is not work, it’s a joy.
As a designer my use of color and novel shapes and combinations of materials made me an Emmy
Award Winning Set Designer. This same imagination produced a novel “The House of Pearl”.
Available on Amazon. These same skills will help me be successful with any project.
Bovill Creative sprang from award winning set design to include Art Direction, Storyboards, Illustration, Writing and Directing, to better serve our clients in the film and video community. Whether your need is to fill a creative gap or turnkey the entire project, a team of seasoned professionals can take you from conceptualization to delivery in record time.
Education:
Robert graduated from prestigious Lowell High School in San Francisco. He then spent two
years at Pacific University outside Portland, Oregon.
Surprisingly, thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation and his father’s medical research,
Robert spent the next year traveling around the world, starting from San Francisco, and
heading east through Hawaii to Asia. After passing through Japan, he lived in Hong Kong
for 5 months studying Mandarin Chinese at “New Asia, Yale in China”. From there,
traveling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for another 5 months stay. Then south to Indonesia,
back north to Thailand. Then northeast through India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iran, and
Turkey. Followed by southern and northern Europe.
While in northern Italy Robert and his family were invited by Eleanor Lambert as guests
to stay in her incredibly renovated 15th century villa. She was a world-famous Fashion
Publicist who amongst other things developed Halston into a fashion icon. Her interior
walls were a mix of original Veronesi frescoes from the 15th century and contemporary
pop art from her vast art collection.
Robert returned to the United States and obtained his double liberal arts degree in
Biology and Theater Arts from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1976. (14
years later Robert returned to UCSC and taught Art Direction for Film and Television, in
the same classroom he attended when he was an undergraduate) He followed that with
postgraduate design studies at the prestigious art school, Art Center College of Design
in Pasadena in 1976 and 77.
Robert’s television career began in San Francisco in 1977 as a production assistant on a
Paramount Television Movie of the Week called “Sharon Portrait of a Mistress” starring
Mrs George C. Scott. Trish then asked Robert to work on a “Columbo” episode with her in
Los Angeles. Trish Van Devere was Mrs George C. Scott’s stage name.
His working relationship blossomed with Trish, and he was hired for two additional years
as a reader and assistant producer with Van Devere Productions in Los Angeles. In 1979
Robert worked on “The Changeling”, a film starring George C. Scott and Trish Van
Devere.
In 1980 Robert was hired by producer Roger Corman to be a set designer on “Battle Beyond
the Stars”. Robert worked under Jim Cameron who was the Art Director on this Roger
Corman low budget film. After that, Robert assisted Jim Cameron again on another Roger
Corman film titled “Galaxy of Terror”.
That same year, Robert worked as a designer and production coordinator helping make well
known designer/decorator, Tony Duquette's dream of a special exhibit for the
bicentennial of Los Angeles, “Our Lady Queen of the Angels” a stunning triumph. Mr
Bovill then worked as Assistant Art Director, and helped establish the highly successful
television sitcom, “The Facts of Life”, in its first full season of 1981 to 82.
After living and experiencing six years of Hollywood, Robert returned home to the San
Francisco Bay Area and was fortunate to immediately begin working in the model shop of
Lucasfilm’s “Industrial Light and Magic” on the Academy Award-winning film “Return of
the Jedi” as a model builder. Robert was almost killed on his first day at work.
In 1984, Production Designer, Geoffrey Kirkland, (“Fame”,
“Midnight Express”, “Shoot the Moon”, “The Right Stuff”) called Robert to help him
design “BIRDY”, directed by Alan Parker. Robert worked for six months and drew over 100
sheets of production working drawings and helped supervise the bicoastal construction of
scenery for this very well received feature film. “Birdy” won the very prestigious
“Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival in the spring of 1985.
In 1987, Robert Art Directed “The Wash” for American Playhouse and in 1988 was the Art
Director of a three-million-dollar, ten-minute, HDTV short subject, for Lucasfilm called
“Sparky and Charlie's Amazing Adventure” shot by the well-known Director Hiro
Narita.
Another project came up in 1988 when touchstone pictures brought “Beaches” to San
Francisco. As the second unit Art Director, Robert was a member of the design team that
received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction.
In 1989 Robert began a four-year relationship with AMPEX Corporation, producing and
designing each year, they're very successful Beta Cam Demo Set and Live Show, for the
huge National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.
Then in 1990 he was asked to design the “Mornings on Two” set, for KTVU-TV. This won
Bovill a Gold Broadcast Designers Association Award and an Emmy Award for “Outstanding
Individual Achievement in Set Design. The sets conceptual design was so far ahead of its
time, that it lasted 10 years, in an arena where sets last three years if you're
lucky.
In 1989 Bovill trademarked “Vertical Video” trying to convince news directors to accept
an untried concept turning video screens on their side. Then in 1996 Robert shared his
idea with NBC Executives who took the idea and launched it for the first time behind
Brian Williams on MSNBC's primetime news show when it aired for the first time. Of
course, now the vertical screen is a ubiquitous element of contemporary television
scenery.
In 1992- 93 Robert was hired by KIRO-TV in Seattle to redesign the presentation of their
news. His innovative and unconventional ideas followed a design for an open newsroom
concept never seen before. He managed the two-million-dollar, 9000 square foot project
efficiently and timely. Incredibly the three-million-dollar project was completed in a
mere four months.
For a change of pace, Robert took time in 1995 to design a clothing boutique near Union
Square in San Francisco.
During this time, he also worked to develop, design, and construct, the first
computerized interactive public information kiosk for Pacific Bell.
Working with the Discovery Channel, Robert designed the sets for two very successful
long running shows, “The Next Step” and “The Know Zone”, again being nominated for an
Emmy Award.
In 1996 Robert designed and built a challenging, rule breaking, yet wildly successful,
newsroom centerpiece for the TEKTRONIX Corporation booth at the National Association of
Broadcasters 1997 convention.
Robert designed the set for “Uncommon Knowledge” a national Public Television talk show
produced by Stanford's Hoover Institution. Many of the conservative guests claimed it
was the nicest interview set they had ever been on. This set lasted an unbelievable 11
years.
In 1996 Robert designed the set for the first annual “CNET Awards Show” and had an
ongoing project with the Oracle Corporation’s in house channel, where he developed a
modular set system to enable different producers’ multiple variations on a common
home-based set. This was for Oracle's 24-hour information channel.
Also in 1996, for Ziff Davis, NBC, and Microsoft, Robert designed and managed the
miraculously quick construction of a prime-time news show called “The Site” that helped
launch MSNBC. Robert shared his “Vertical Video” idea with an East coast NBC executive,
and he took it back east and applied it to their anchor news program. After years of
trying to get it accepted it was now being copied everywhere. “The Site” was also
nominated for an Emmy Award.
For the New Millennium, in March of 2000, Robert executive
produced a pioneering effort to create 32 hours of live webcasting from Mardi Gras 2000,
in New Orleans. Broadcasting from a balcony on Bourbon Street and airing bands like
“Hootie and the Blowfish” from the famous Blues club Tipitina's. Robert’s production had
over 1,000,000 hits from the many satisfied browsers watching his pioneering effort to
stream entertainment over the Internet.
From 1998 to 2002 Robert developed a two-unit residential building in Sausalito that
literally had termites flying around in it when he purchased it. He then turned it
around within two years and made the eyesore of the block the pride of the block. His
neighbor’s loved him for improving their views by going underground with his overhead
utility lines, and by exchanging setbacks with neighbors, and so on. This address is 109
Filbert in Sausalito California.
Robert’s pride of ownership from 2000 to 2004 was 501 Bridgeway which was a 120-year-old
Victorian Cottage built by a sea captain circa 1890 on the waterfront in Sausalito.
Again, it was a project that was a mess left by a previous owner who for 25 years had
done very little, and what he did do, was horrible.
Three new kitchens, four new bathrooms, new walls, new floors, and Robert’s special
six-layer paint finishes, applied by himself, made this place magical. Robert wrote his
critically appreciated screenplay the “House of Pearl”, later novelized in 2012, based
upon the stories he heard from previous tenants who had lived in the building and from
his own historical research.
Robert has a deep respect for the past and a strong eye for the future. Over the years
Robert has maintained a reputation for having a phenomenal eye for even the smallest
detail that might help bring a project that much closer to perfection.
Wanting to participate in larger, more environmentally conscious projects, led Robert to
return to The Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2004, where he received an
MFA in “Interior Architectural Design”. He graduated with a 3.8 average and for his
Senior Thesis designed his conception, “Solamid”, a seven-sided pyramid, that was clad
with solar panels. In the end, it was a two million square foot, environmentally green,
elective surgery, and recovery resort.
During these last few years Robert became responsible for “end of life” family
responsibilities, while also making sure his kids navigated High School without too much
drama. During this time of isolation from work he started three more novels and one TV
Series teleplay.
