Writer/Director Alan Shapiro's illustrious career began after studying at New York University film school, where his first student production, Briefly...Brian, won the prestigious NYU best student film award in 1978 and was selected to screen at the renowned Cannes film festival, New York's Museum of Modern Art, and on PBS, thereby securing enough grant money to finance a second short film, Meeting Halfway, which was subsequently acquired by Showtime.
The balance of a college scholarship and a summertime apprenticeship under the guidance of the esteemed Ken Russell on the film Altered States further propelled Shapiro's career, allowing him to write Stonybrook for Warner Bros. and direct the award-winning Tiger Town for Disney, starring the renowned Roy Scheider.
Shapiro's impressive resume also includes producing Disney's The Blue Yonder, starring the talented Peter Coyote and Art Carney, and penning the teleplay for NBC's Crossing the Mob, featuring Jason Bateman. His work on Disney's The Christmas Star, starring Ed Asner and Fred Gwynne, caught the attention of the influential Francis Coppola, who went on to produce Shapiro's writing and directing efforts on Fox's pilot of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, which debuted with the highest overnight ratings in Fox's history.
Shapiro's subsequent projects include writing and directing the Warner Bros. feature The Crush, which marked the film debut of his young discovery, Alicia Silverstone, and writing and directing the Universal Pictures feature Flipper, starring Elijah Wood and Paul Hogan.
In addition to his work in the film industry, Shapiro has also published articles in Premiere and Written By magazines, served as a mentor for the Writers Guild of America, and teaches directing at the University of Southern California's Cinema Studies program.
