F. X. Feeney
F. X. Feeney (September 1, 1953 – February 5, 2020) was an American writer and filmmaker. Education and early career After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts in 1976, Feeney worked for several years as an inker and painter at Hanna-Barbera Studios. By 1980 he became a film and book critic for LA Weekly. Jerry Harvey, chief programmer for the pay TV service Z Channel, noticed a tribute to Warren Oates that Feeney wrote after the actor's sudden death in 1982. Harvey had been the last person to speak to Oates. This led to Feeney serving as a resident film critic and creative consultant to Z Channel between 1983 and 1989, directing dozens of commercials for the service. The ads promoted a number of premieres of director's cuts and "lost films" that were the trademark of Z Channel, most notably Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, John Ford's Up the River, Karel Reisz's The Loves of Isadora, and Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. After Z Channel After Z Channel folded, Feeney worked alternately as a screenwriter and freelance journalist. His work has continued to appear in L.A. Weekly, as well as in American