Bill Diamond Productions

Bill Diamond has been working in television production, puppet creation and animation for his entire career.  His love of production on every level has led him from his modest beginnings where he trained in film, television and live theater to many impressive venues and partnerships.  From live theater to television broadcast, Bill’s imagination and his creations have entertained hundreds of thousands of people.  The current studio in Cornwall, New York houses an impressive array of production capabilities to fulfill the life-cycle of every production from start to finish.

Bill Diamond Productions started over 25 years ago creating The Stuffin Puppets in the late 1970’s.  The Stuffin Puppets debuted in their own television program titled “Bill Diamond’s Land of the Moonshins” on local cable stations and was a comic strip in the local paper.   During that time Diamond Studios also worked on projects like the road tour of Marlo Thomas’ “Free to be You and Me.” Bill won a first place award at the Animation Festival in Albany, NY for a short film called, “Roscoe, The Cricket” and began a two-year program called “Television for Kids.”

In the early 1980’s the studios interests focused on working with Telecassette Services and NBC on shows like, “The Great Space Coaster.”   “Blue Mouse of Mouseville” was produced at this time.
 During the next decade the studio explored new and diverse fields working with IBM to produce training films used outside the United States.  In addition, our puppet characters appeared in communications pieces for Kodak, The New York Power Authority and Pepsi.  The studio was then commissioned by the State of New York to develop and produce a live show for the “Say No to Drugs” campaign in which a full size 12 foot character “Stuffy the Dragon” was used.

Stuffy also traveled through out the states entertaining children, promoting store openings, as a promotional mascot for businesses and joining the then Mayor George Pataki for a parade ride in New York. 

The growing success of Diamond Studios/Bill Diamond Productions prompted the move from a small production studio to a Masonic Temple in Peekskill, New York where a full television & stage production company was born.  The studio came alive with a magical exhibition of over 300 characters as well as numerous props and set pieces, including the enormous man eating plant, Audrey II, from Little Shop of Horrors. The Westchester Broadway Theatre has developed an ongoing relationship with Bill as he built and operated the puppets for “Little Shop of Horrors,” which continues to play at many theatres up and down the East coast.  Bill was brought aboard to create all of the masks and make-up for Albert Kitpit and Maury Yeston’s “Phantom.”  He was Director of Photography for “Singing in the Rain” and Produced and Directed, “Dragon, Behind the Legend” a Westchester Broadway Theatre musical employing his life size puppets.
In the mid 1990’s, Fox Television broadcasted Bill’s “Dr. Rock’s Dinosaur Adventure” to audiences of all ages in markets from New York to Canada to the Caribbean islands. Westchester Medical Center was fundraising for the new Children's Hospital and enlisted Bill Diamond Productions to create a mascot "Reach." It was during this time that Bill renovated the children's ward play room. What was once a stark, white, hospital waiting/playing area was transformed into a "tree-house" playroom.
Sadly, on January 20, 2001, a fiery blaze swept through the studio and burned it to the ground. The fire destroyed most of the 300 characters, all the television studio equipment and a lifetime of memories.  Audrey II and a few other characters were on the road in production at the time and escaped the fire. For the next year the studio was operated out of our garage. After 12 months of on the road productions, we located a new building and began rebuilding the studio.
In January of 2002, Diamond Studios/Bill Diamond Productions arrived at its current home not far from West Point Military Academy, just up the Hudson River from New York City. The new studio is located in Cornwall, NY.  It houses a 2800 sq ft sound studio, a 2400 sq ft workshop, a creative shop, makeup facilities, a full editing suite and 3 sound/vocal booths. With easy access via a freight elevator, this studio can accommodate most production needs.
Recently, the studio had the pleasure of working with Sara Karloff, the daughter of the memorable Boris Karloff, to create “Bill Diamond’s Monster TV” with one of the lead characters carefully modeled after Karloff himself. Bill is also working with the Italian American Network on "The World According to Rome", "Kidz in the Kitchen" and "Haunted Factory."

Mike Bennett On the Road

Spend an evening of entertainment with Mike Bennett (WHUD).  This thirty minute show includes original stories, on location shots of regional areas of interest and historical significance, lifestyles, celebrities, theater and much more. Now showing on Time Warner Cable; Tuesdays and Fridays, channel 6 at 6:00 p.m.

 
The World According to Rome

Rome is a mouse who lives in an attic above a Pizzeria.  He spends his days developing his projects and plans to find Mouseatopia. The stories are told through Rome’s eyes, and the interesting cast of characters surrounding him.  Each episode involves Rome and his friends as they learn about new worlds. This 30 minute series will be airing on the Italian American Network in the late fall of 2008.