William Scaff was born in Austin, Texas in 1947. He began making Super 8 films as a child. His family moved to Southern California in 1960 where he became involved with the folk music scene centered around The Paradox, folk music club in Orange County, and he played in a jug band. He attended Chouinard for a short period before being drafted to fight in Vietnam. He served in Vietnam for 14 months in the Public Information Office as photojournalist and earned the bronze star. He moved to Pasadena, CA in 1975 to attend Fuller Theological Seminary, but quickly learned about Pasadena Filmforum and entered an extremely active period making Super 8 films that screened regularly at Filmforum as well as other regional venues. In 1983 and '84 he was awarded the Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship. Scaff lives in Nevada City, CA.