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.