| Won a 1992 CableACE award as a producer of the HBO comedy series Dream On. |
| Worked in the 20th Century Fox mailroom after dropping out of high school. |
| Directed the groundbreaking 14-minute video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in 1983. |
| Made his feature directorial debut with the 1973 low-budget monster-movie spoof Schlock. |
| While filming his segment of the 1983 sci-fi anthology Twilight Zone—The Movie, star Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed when a special-effects explosion caused a helico |