Billy Corben

In a speech given to the Miami Media School in 2013, Corben is quoted as saying about the roles that the founders David Cypkin, Alfred Spellman, and Billy Corben play in their company Rakontur, "All of the creative decisions stop with me and all of the business decisions stop with Alfred. And Dave, he really runs our post-production."

In 2012, Corben produced Dawg Fight, a brutal exposé on underground backyard MMA fighting in one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods; Cocaine Cowboys: Los Muchachos, about the sensational Miami-based federal trials of Sal Magluta and Willy Falcone, the most successful Cuban drug traffickers in history; and Broke, a feature documentary project for ESPN examining the explosion of big money in sports and the epidemic of professional athletes who have gone broke.

In March 2011, Square Grouper: The Godfathers of Ganja, examining the free-wheeling pot smuggling era of South Florida in the 1970s, premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival. In April 2011, Limelight (2011 documentary), about the rise and fall of Peter Gatien, New York City's biggest nightclub owner, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, and premiered in NYC in September 2011.

Corben oversees the soundtracks for all of Rakontur's productions, assembling the ideal artists for each project and working hands-on throughout the music production process. For Cocaine Cowboys, Grammy-winner Jan Hammer (Miami Vice) composed and performed the original score; hip-hop artist Luther Campbell performed the opening titles song for The U; Miami music fixture DJ Le Spam wrote his first ever film score for Square Grouper; on Limelight (2011 documentary), Corben consulted with Grammy-winning electronic music pioneer Moby, while the original score was written by Fast of the Fun Lovin' Criminals. In addition, Corben has contributed his own original songs to the soundtracks of Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, The U and Square Grouper.

The U, a feature documentary about the championship history of the University of Miami football program, produced by rakontur for ESPN's 30 for 30 series, became the highest-rated documentary in the network's 30-year history, when it debuted on December 12, 2009, following the Heisman Trophy presentation.

After a limited theatrical release in 2006, Cocaine Cowboys became the highest-rated documentary ever on the Showtime cable network. The sequel, Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustling with the Godmother, was released in 2008.

His feature documentary directorial debut, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, making him one of the youngest directors in Sundance history. Examining the alleged rape of an exotic dancer at a fraternity house at the University of Florida, the film utilized extensive clips from videotape footage of the alleged assault. Anthony Miele of Film Threat said of Raw Deal, “Billy Corben has stumbled onto one of the most controversial films of the modern day,” calling it “one of the most compelling pieces of non-fiction ever produced”.

William Cohen (born 1978), better known by the stage name Billy Corben, is an American documentary film director. As a co-founder of the Miami-based studio Rakontur, along with producing partner Alfred Spellman, he has created films such as Cocaine Cowboys, Dawg Fight, and ESPN's 30 for 30 The U and The U Part 2.

Following Raw Deal, Corben and producing partner Alfred Spellman founded Rakontur, a Miami Beach-based content creation company, where they created Cocaine Cowboys. The New York Times called Cocaine Cowboys, “a hyperventilating account of the blood-drenched Miami drug culture in the 1970s and 1980s.” The film tells the story of how the drug trade built Miami through firsthand accounts of some of the most successful smugglers of the era and the deadliest hitman of the cocaine wars.