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Steven Spielberg

I'm Steven Spielberg and I was born in Cincinnati on
December 18, 1947, but I was mainly raised in New
Jersey and Arizona. When I was 12 years old I used my
dads 8mm camcorder and made a movie. I continued to
make films with the camcorder for five more years until I
went on a trip to Universal Studios. I was 17 years old and
I broke away from the main tourist group to see the sound
stages. I bumped into the head of Universal's editorial
department, Chuck Silvers. We talked for about an hour
and he wanted to see some of my 8mm films. When I
showed them to him he said they were good but he could
only wish me luck. So the next day I put on a suit and
borrowed my fathers suitcase and walked in the front gate
of Universal Studio's like I did it every day. One reason I
got away with this is because the guard thought I was the
owners son. I bought some plastic name tags at a camera
store and I found an empty office. Then I put my name in
the building directory. Everyday that summer I hung out
with directors, writers, and editors. After talking to all of
these movie makers I found out that nobody really liked my
movies. The next fall I asked some of the executives at
Universal how I can get my films noticed. They said I
should put my films on 16 or 35mm film. So I did. I made a
20 minute movie about a boy and a girl hitch-hiking from
the dessert to the Pacific. The day after it was shown at
Universal, Sidney Sheinberg, the head of Universal's T.V.
production department, gave me a seven year contract to
work on T.V. series. The first few years of the contract
were fun, but after a while I didn't want to direct T.V.
shows. In 1971 I got a chance to make my first real movie.
It was Called Duel and it was about a salesman who was
harassed by a truck driver. Even though the movie didn't
make much money and wasn't popular, it was my first
movie and I had a lot of fun. During the next 10 years I
directed 4 of the top 10 movies ever made,...