Gary Shapiro launched his career in the movie business in NYC working for Columbia Pictures immediately after graduating from college in Los Angeles to the present where he has moved into the new digital technologies with several major Hollywood film studios. He spent the 70’s as a very young man thru the present in various executive marketing and distribution capacities at Columbia Pictures, MGM, Hemdale Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Beacon Pictures, initially specializing in the United States and Canada and later managing the marketing of major Hollywood studio films and independent films worldwide. In the early years at Columbia Pictures he created the prototype for a college/university program which was then adopted by most major movie studios. He also was one of the early developers of grass roots marketing which became a valuable tool in marketing movies and still is a valuable tool on the Internet.
In the mid 80’s Shapiro moved into the production arena and was Executive V.P. of Production and Marketing for Longstocking Productions which produced the first American PIPPI LONGSTOCKING movie along with legendary Swedish film company Svensk for Columbia Pictures. He designed the worldwide search for the new PIPPI which became a media sensation at the time. Shapiro managed worldwide marketing activities with Columbia Pictures and Svensk.
During this decade, Shapiro also was appointed Senior Executive Director Marketing of Hemdale Film Corporation which was one of the film industry’s most important independent companies in Hollywood and London producing award nominated and Best Picture Oscar winning awards from films like PLATOON, THE LAST EMPEROR, the first TERMINATOR and HOOSIERS.
During the 90’s Shapiro was a Senior V.P. at Sony Pictures Entertainment working in the Columbia Pictures division and shifting to Sony’s Triumph Films unit which developed, produced and marketed the studio’s specialized films. His duties included managing the studio’s marketing and production development. Triumph morphed into Sony’s Screen Gems which continues in a similar tradition.
Following that in the 2000’s he moved over to Beacon Pictures as Senior V.P. Worldwide Marketing. Beacon’s long slate of successful films were produced in conjunction with and distributed thru Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Co, and Time Warner’s New Line Cinema. Among the titles he guided thru the global distribution and marketing process for Beacon were SPY GAME, THIRTEEN DAYS, THE FAMILY MAN, BRING IT ON, THE EMPEROR’S CLUB and TUCK EVERLASTING all with major Hollywood stars.
Shapiro began consulting to various film and entertainment industry firms several years ago. In this capacity, he helped create the initial worldwide marketing strategy for Paramount Picture’s and Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS, managed the marketing and grass roots campaign for Anschutz Film Group’s /Walden Media GAME OF THEIR LIVES, managed the strategy and execution of the highly successful and controversial independent film A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN. He has been a U.S. special consultant to one of Europe’s most important publishing and media companies,
Among the major film makers and talent he recently arranged to appear at major film festivals are Robert De Niro, Danny Di Vito, Hillary Swank, Michael Douglas, Meryl Streep, Clive Owen, Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, Rene Zellweger, Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.
Shapiro is currently consulting with a number of film companies including the Canadian company Inner City Films, a major supplier of diverse film and TV content. Thru his association with Showbizzee, he has been engaging the Hollywood movie studios (Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony, Warner Bros, Dreamworks, Paramount, Amazon Studios) on utilizing a global digital platform and media player for extending the marketing value and e commerce revenue streams of their content. He has consulted with The Telluride Film Festival in the U.S., and with The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in The Czech Republic, The Berlin International Film Festival in Berlin and The Montblanc Company in Hamburg. He has advised The Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) in Havana on cultural exchange programs between the U.S. and Cuba. He has been a periodic guest lecturer at UCLA and is a longtime member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on The Foreign Language Film Selection Committee.