Alan Shapiro

Biography: Writer/Director Alan Shapiro has been making movies since he was 12, influenced by the films of Chaplin and classics such as The Bicycle Thief and The Red Balloon.  At New York University Film School, his first student production, briefly...Brian, won acclaim, including Best Student Film at Cannes.  It was shown at New York's Museum of Modern Art and on PBS, and helped him raise enough grant money to finance a second short, Meeting Halfway, which was bought by Showtime.  Warner Brothers provided the balance of a college scholarship and summertime apprenticeship under Ken Russell on Altered States, and his career was off and running.
In 1982, he wrote Stonybrook for Warner Bros.  In 1984, he wrote and directed the Cable Ace Award-winning Tiger Town for Disney starring Roy Scheider, produced Disney's The Blue Yonder starring Peter Coyote and Art Carney, and penned the teleplay for NBC's Crossing The Mob.  Shapiro wrote, produced and directed Disney's The Christmas Star withWriter/Director Alan Shapiro has been making movies since he was 12, influenced by the films of Chaplin and classics such as The Bicycle Thief and The Red Balloon.  At New York University Film School, his first student production, briefly...Brian, won acclaim, including Best Student Film at Cannes.  It was shown at New York's Museum of Modern Art and on PBS, and helped him raise enough grant money to finance a second short, Meeting Halfway, which was bought by Showtime.  Warner Brothers provided the balance of a college scholarship and summertime apprenticeship under Ken Russell on Altered States, and his career was off and running.
In 1982, he wrote Stonybrook for Warner Bros.  In 1984, he wrote and directed the Cable Ace Award-winning Tiger Town for Disney starring Roy Scheider, produced Disney's The Blue Yonder starring Peter Coyote and Art Carney, and penned the teleplay for NBC's Crossing The Mob.  Shapiro wrote, produced and directed Disney's The Christmas Star with Ed Asner and Fred Gwynne, and soon thereafter caught the eye of Francis Coppola, who produced his writing and directing efforts on Fox's pilot of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.  In 1993, Shapiro wrote and directed the Warner Brothers feature The Crush, which marked the film debut of his young discovery, Alicia Silverstone.  In 1996 he wrote and directed the Universal Pictures feature Flipper with Elijah Wood and Paul Hogan. 
Current projects include "An Uncommon Man", a modern day "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", written for 20th Century Fox, and a TV series, "Koz", developed with Michael Piller.… Expand