Michael Shamberg (born May 4, 1945) is an American film producer and former Time–Life correspondent.
Early life[]
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, as of 2015, 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 televisionstation 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.[citation needed]
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, MO. Shamberg is Jewish.
Filmography[]
| 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 |