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Award-winning trailer producer Michael J. Shapiro changed course mid-career to become a prolific and prestigious filmmaker with a specialty in the use of archival film footage.
After attending the School of Film and Television at Miami University, he followed classmate and friend Andrew Kuehn to New York and later honed his editing skills at Kuehn's Kaleidoscope Film. Another start-up job in New York was being a NBC page at Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, a post he remembers with much affection.
As a studio executive, Shapiro served as MGM's Creative Director, Worldwide Marketing Promotional Film Department, during the release of such landmark films as "200l: A Space Odyssey," "The Dirty Dozen," "Ryan's Daughter," and "Blow-up." After a stint in the same role as Columbia Pictures, he formed his own trailer company, Saraband Films, and personally produced campaigns for such films as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Deep," "The China Syndrome" and "9 to 5." In l982, he formed Skyfire Productions, which developed campaigns for films including "Romancing the Stone," Predator," and "The Fly." In l986, Mike Shapiro was awarded the first Key Art Award ever given for a trailer, "The Jewel of the Nile."
In the early '90s, Shapiro began his work as a segment producer for the Academy Awards Show, contributing powerful film portions to 13 of the famously "live" international broadcasts. Three times he has produced the opening of the program: "From Outer Space to Steve Martin; " "Oscar's Diamond Anniversary" and, in 2006, "Oscar City." Other segments that displayed his use of archival footage include: "Kirk Douglas Lifetime Achievement Tribute," "Shakespeare in the Movies," "Women Who Shaped the Movies," "The Great Cinematographers," "Physical Comedy in the Movies," Cowboy Heaven," "Oscar's 70 Best Pictures," "Vintage Special Effects," and "Sidney Lumet Lifetime Achievement Tribute." Mike Shapiro is widely credited with refining and perfecting the Academy Award's "In Memoriam," an annual tribute which he has produced nine times.
In addition to being the Creative and Editorial Supervisor (Director) of "Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer," he was co-producer of Warner Home Video feature documentary "The Great American Song Book," broadcast often on PBS. While at MGM, he had produced the hour-long PBS documentary "David Lean: A Self Portrait."
For his most recent project, Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer (2009), he was able to combine both areas of expertise. The feature documentary produced for distribution to film schools and institutions worldwide has garnered rave trade reviews and much attention in film and television circles.
