Michael Shamberg

For over three decades, Michael Shamberg has been producing groundbreaking movies, while he has also advocated for the use of new technology to circumvent traditional media outlets. During the '70s, he produced and served as editor of several television documentaries before moving on to features. His '80s credits included "The Big Chill," in which grown-up baby boomers get back together and reflect on how their lives have changed, which helped popularize the "reunion" film genre. He was also a producer of the popular comedy "A Fish Called Wanda," released in 1988, and was even more prolific during the following decade. Indeed, his '90s credits included a number of independent movies that reaped huge profits compared to their costs, most notably Quentin Tarantino's 1994 crime film "Pulp Fiction," which became a sensation. During this time, he developed working relationships with other visionary artists who created films outside the traditional studio system, including Steven Soderbergh on "Out of Sight" and Milos Forman on "Man on the Moon." This led to producing Soderbergh's highly successful 2000 drama "Erin Brockovich," and the next year, the acclaimed independent comic book adaptation "Ghost World." Shamberg runs a number of production companies including Jersey Films, but as technology has continued to improve and creating films and television series has steadily become cheaper, he has turned his attention to "guerrilla television"--the idea of using underground media to inspire social change--and is writing a book on the subject.