LEONARD SHAPIRO

Since 1996 Leonard has functioned as the President of Rootbeer Films, Inc., an independent production, finance, acquisition and marketing company. As an Executive Producer he arranged for the international financing and the domestic distribution deal with MGM for the movie entitled, Trigger Happy, starring Richard Dreyfus, Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne. Most recently Leonard has served as an Executive Producer for the film entitled, Dahmer in partnership with DEJ Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Blockbuster, Inc. He currently also serves as a worldwide sales and marketing consultant for Echo Bridge Entertainment.

Rootbeer Films also acts as a producer’s exclusive worldwide representative on independent films. Two films represented by Rootbeer were recently sold to Showtime as domestic pay television exclusive premieres and most recently Rootbeer concluded a deal for the film entitled, The New Swiss Family Robinson with ABC, as a network premiere on the Wonderful Word of Disney.

From 1982 to1996 Leonard served as President and CEO of Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment (SGE). He was responsible for the day-to-day operation of SGE, an independent production company with its own internal sales department as well as an exclusive arrangement with MCA/Universal Home Video for domestic distribution. He also supervised production, marketing and distribution of SGE’s 14 in-house productions as well as distribution for over 100 motion pictures attained from outside producers.

Prior to forming SGE, Leonard was the Vice-President of Acquisitions and Marketing Services for Avco Embassy Pictures. There he was responsible for the negotiation and acquisition of films for theatrical distribution. Additionally, he assisted and advised with respect to theatrical marketing campaign plans and was responsible for all Prints and Advertising (P & A) budgetary planning and controls. These responsibilities required his close involvement with the entire corporate management team as well as various producers, filmmakers and creative personnel. Leonard was responsible for the acquisition of Time Bandits, Prom Night, Phantasm, The Exterminator as well as many other films throughout his tenure. He was also involved in the marketing and distribution of more than 25 films including, Escape From New York, The Howling and The Fog.

In addition, Leonard has been a faculty member of UCLA extension for the past twelve years, where he has taught independent film production and distribution. For the past four years he has also been an instructor at the Producer’s Summer Program at UCLA, which attracts film students from all around the world.

From 1992-1998 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Film Market (AFM), an association of over 100 international companies including ABC, NBC, Miramax, New Line Cinema and Artisan Entertainment. He is also currently a voting member of The Motion Picture Academy.