Michael Shamberg (born March 22, 1944)Michael Shamberg Biography (1945 - 2020) is an American film producer and former Time–Life correspondent.
Life and career His credits include Erin Brockovich, A Fish Called Wanda, Garden State, Gattaca, Pulp Fiction and The Big Chill. His production companies include Jersey Films, with Stacey Sher and Danny DeVito, and, , Double Feature Films, with Stacey Sher.
In the 1960s and 1970s, counter-culture video collectives extended the role of the underground press to new communication technologies. In 1970, Shamberg co-founded a video collective called Raindance Corporation, which published a newspaper-magazine called Radical Software. Raindance Corporation later became TVTV, or Top Value Television. Shamberg and his first wife Megan Williams were founding members of TVTV. The collective believed new technology could effect social change. An example was Shamberg's work on In Hiding: A Conversation with Abbie Hoffman, broadcast on Public-access television station WNET/13 in May 1975.
Shamberg described his approach as "guerrilla television" (the title of his 1971 book) because, despite its strategies and tactics similar to warfare, guerrilla television is non-violent and he saw it as a means to break through the barriers imposed by broadcast television, which he called beast television.
His TVTV group's documentary Lord of the Universe, 1974, won a DuPont-Columbia Award in 1975. The group urged for the use of Sony's Portapak video camera, introduced in 1967, to be merged with the documentary film style and television, and later pioneer use of 3/4" video in their works.
Shamberg is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he became a brother of Zeta Beta Tau. Shamberg is Jewish.
Filmography He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
Film Year Film Credit 1980 Heart Beat 1981 Modern Problems 1983 The Big Chill 1986 Club Paradise 1988 A Fish Called Wanda 1989 How I Got into College 1994 Reality Bites 8 Seconds Pulp Fiction Executive producer 1995 Get Shorty 1996 Sunset Park Matilda Feeling Minnesota 1997 Fierce Creatures Gattaca 1998 Out of Sight Living Out Loud 1999 Man on the Moon 2000 Drowning Mona Executive producer Erin Brockovich 2001 The Caveman's Valentine How High 2003 Camp 2004 Along Came Polly Garden State Executive producer 2005 Be Cool The Skeleton Key 2006 World Trade Center 2007 Freedom Writers Reno 911!: Miami 2010 Extraordinary Measures 2011 Contagion 2012 LOL Django Unchained Executive producer 2013 Runner Runner 2014 Wish I Was Here A Walk Among the Tombstones 2015 Freeheld Burnt Executive producer 2016 Get a Job 2017 Wetlands Executive producer 2019 Cold Pursuit
As an actor
Year Film Role 2000 Erin Brockovich PG&E Lawyer 2004 Along Came Polly Van Lew Executive 2010 Extraordinary Measures Renzler Venture Capitalist #1
Thanks
Year Film Role 2002 The Good Girl Special thanks 2018 A Futile and Stupid Gesture Super Troopers 2
Television Year Title Credit Notes 1972 Four More Years Documentary 1974 Lord of the Universe Documentary 1976 Super Bowl Documentary TVTV Looks at the Academy Awards Television special 1977 The TVTV Show Television film 1998 The Pentagon Wars Executive producer Television film 2000 Celebrity Executive producer Television film 2001 Kate Brasher Executive producer 2002 The American Embassy Executive producer The Funkhousers Executive producer Television film 2001−02 UC: Undercover Executive producer 2003 Other People's Business Executive producer Television film Karen Sisco Executive producer 2015−19 Into the Badlands Executive producer 2004−20 Reno 911! Executive producer 2021 Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon Executive producer Television film 2022 Meltdown: Three Mile Island Executive producer Documentary The Devil in the White City Executive producer
As an editor
Year Title Notes 1974 Lord of the Universe Documentary 1976 Super Bowl Documentary TVTV Looks at the Academy Awards Television special
As writer
Year Title Notes 1977 The TVTV Show Television film
References
External links