After working with director John Singleton, a college classmate, on the groundbreaking film Boyz 'N the Hood, Bill sold his original screenplay The Clown Prince to TriStar Pictures. Years later he would get his Masters degree from USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program. A Stark summer internship at New Line Cinema turned into a story department position and he eventually worked his way up to the executive ranks.
After leaving New Line, Straus set up his own shingle with a deal at Sony Pictures-based Circle of Confusion. His first film, The Man, starring Sam Jackson and Eugene Levy was released in 2005. He also would serve as a producer on Weapons starring Nick Cannon and Paul Dano and Red starring Brian Cox, both of which were Sundance Film Festival selections in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Straus also produced The Last Rites of Joe May with The Steppenwolf Theatre’s film company, which starred the late Dennis Farina and was listed as one of Roger Ebert’s Best Films of the Year in 2011. Bill's most recent film Straight Outta Compton, a biopic of the rap group NWA, was released by Universal Pictures in August, 2015.
Straus returned to his hometown Brooklyn, NY in 2011 and moved into domestic sales of independent films. He has sold films out of Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, SXSW and many other major festivals and found a home for the vast majority of his clients’ titles. Bill’s company Bridge Independent will continue to focus on high end festival fare and exciting new voices.