David Alan Saperstein

Economics inspired me to attend CCNY. I grew up in the Bronx, and because I was in the special placement classes, I picked up two years in elementary school and junior high. I went to The Bronx High School of Science and graduated when I was sixteen. My parents were unable to afford an out-of-town college. CCNY was free in those days if you had a certain GPA, and I did. I got accepted with a major in chemical engineering; math and science were a major part of Bronx Science's curriculum. I also made the CCNY varsity lacrosse team. However, when I was 18, my dad died. I had to go to work. At the same time, a friend was getting out of the Army and asked me to look into the CCNY Film & Video Program for him. I did and really liked what I saw. The classes were at night and on weekends because all the teachers had day jobs in the business. I switched my major to the CCNY Film & Video Program. I worked full-time while I finished college, even if it took a few more years. I worked in the CBS mail room, then for Edward R. Murrow's 'Person to Person,' and I graduated from CCNY in 1959. After two active tours in the Army, I started my own film business making documentaries and TV specials. I wrote, produced, and directed films all over the world for twenty-two years. I then began to write fiction. Some of my novels have been bestsellers, and movies I've written have won Writers Guild nominations and Academy Awards. I've also written and directed some feature films, TV series, TV specials, librettos, and lyrics. I was honored to receive the CCNY Townsend Harris Medal in 1998. Looking back, having had the opportunity to attend the CCNY's Film & Video Program was a most fortunate discovery and the beginning of what has been, and continues to be, an exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling career writing, directing, and producing documentaries, feature films, TV series, novels, librettos, and lyrics.