Michael Shamberg
Encyclopedia
Michael Shamberg is an American former Time-Life
correspondent and current film producer
.
, 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 his wife, Carla Santos Shamberg, executive producer of the Brockovich movie.
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.
One example of this was Shamberg's work on In Hiding: A Conversation with Abbie Hoffman
, which was broadcast on public TV's WNET/13 in May 1975, despite its content and dealings with America's renowned radical fugitive.
Shamberg preferred the term Guerrilla television
(the title of his 1971 book), because despite its strategies and tactics similar to warfare, Guerrilla television is non-violent. He saw Guerrilla television as a means to break through the barriers imposed by Broadcast television, which he called beast television.
The group urged for the use of Sony
's Portapak
video camera, introduced in 1968, to be merged with the documentary film
style and television, and later pioneering the use of 3/4" video in their works. Shamberg will co-produce with Stacey Sher
the film adaption of the British novel Paul Is Undead.
Not to be confused with the producer and director, Michael H. Shamberg, who has a long history of association with the Manchester band, New Order.
Shamberg is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Time-Life
Time–Life is a creator and direct marketer of books, music, video/DVD, and multimedia products. Its products are sold throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia through television, print, retail, the Internet, telemarketing, and direct sales....
correspondent and current film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Life and career
His credits include Erin BrockovichErin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
, A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 crime-comedy film written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton. It was directed by Crichton and an uncredited Cleese, and stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The film is about a jewel heist and its aftermath...
, Garden State
Garden State (film)
Garden State is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman , a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies...
, Gattaca
Gattaca
Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law with supporting roles played by Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal and Alan Arkin....
, Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
and The Big Chill. His production companies include Jersey Films, with Stacey Sher
Stacey Sher
-Early life:Born in New York but raised in Fort Lauderdale, Sher is a graduate of University of Southern California's Peter Stark Producing Program.-Movie career:...
and Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
, and Double Feature Films, with his wife, Carla Santos Shamberg, executive producer of the Brockovich movie.
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
TVTV
TVTV was a San Francisco-based pioneering video collective founded in 1972 by Allen Rucker, Michael Shamberg, Tom Weinberg, Hudson Marquez and Megan Williams. Shamberg was author of the 1971 "do-it-yourself" video production manual Guerrilla Television. Over the years, more than thirty "guerrilla...
, 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.
One example of this was Shamberg's work on In Hiding: A Conversation with Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
, which was broadcast on public TV's WNET/13 in May 1975, despite its content and dealings with America's renowned radical fugitive.
Shamberg preferred the term Guerrilla television
Guerrilla Television
Guerrilla television is a term coined in 1971 by Michael Shamberg, one of the founders of the Raindance Foundation; the Raindance Foundation has been one of the counter-culture video collectives that in the 1960s and 1970s extended the role of the underground press to new communication...
(the title of his 1971 book), because despite its strategies and tactics similar to warfare, Guerrilla television is non-violent. He saw Guerrilla television as a means to break through the barriers imposed by Broadcast television, which he called beast television.
The group urged for the use of Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's Portapak
Portapak
A Portapak is a battery powered self-contained video tape analog recording system that can be carried by one person. Earlier television cameras were large and relatively immovable, but the Portapak made it possible to record television images while moving around...
video camera, introduced in 1968, to be merged with the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
style and television, and later pioneering the use of 3/4" video in their works. Shamberg will co-produce with Stacey Sher
Stacey Sher
-Early life:Born in New York but raised in Fort Lauderdale, Sher is a graduate of University of Southern California's Peter Stark Producing Program.-Movie career:...
the film adaption of the British novel Paul Is Undead.
Not to be confused with the producer and director, Michael H. Shamberg, who has a long history of association with the Manchester band, New Order.
Shamberg is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
See also
- Public access television cable TV
- Lord of the Universe (documentary), 1974, won a DuPont-Columbia AwardDuPont-Columbia AwardThe Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award is an American award that honors excellence in broadcast journalism. The awards, administered since 1968 by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, are considered a broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another...