David P. Levin (born August 5, 1958) is an American producer, director, writer and editor. In the early days of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, he produced

Rockumentaries A concert film or concert movie is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert, by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history One ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

, and later went on to help create and develop the "Uncensored" brand for MTV. Later on he created, produced and directed TV Land Confidential for

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite’s TV Land as a spinoff of Nick at Nite programing block consisting e ...

, and also produced and directed '' When Pop Culture Saved America'', Which ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' cited as one of the 10 specials to watch on the tenth anniversary of the

9/11 Terrorist Attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. He is the founder of BrainStorm Inc., a video production company with a focus on television projects.

Early life

Levin was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. He grew up in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. The town is know for their pancake throwing contest held ...

, and graduated from

Teaneck High School Teaneck High School (known as The Castle on the Hill) is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the ...

. Levin attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, where he created Knight Time Productions in 1979, the first student-run television production group at the university. Prior to the establishment of RU-TV in 1999, this group was responsible for all the student television on the New Brunswick Campus of Rutgers.

Career

Upon graduation, Levin began as an editor, and later worked as a director/producer/writer for a variety of companies, including

American Movie Classics AMC (an abbreviation of the channel's original name, American Movie Classics) is an American basic cable television channel that is the flagship property of AMC Networks. Launched in late 1984, the channel aired classic films prior to the 197 ...

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

and MTV. While at

, he produced several episodes of the "

" series, including

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

and

. Levin co-created the long-running, Emmy nominated series " MTV Uncensored" for the network. Later he went on to create " TV Land Confidential", " The A-List", for

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

, and the pilot for the comedy series "Take Two" which starred

Anson Williams Anson Williams (born Anson William Heimlich; September 25, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as gullible, well-intentioned singer Warren "Potsie" Weber on the television series ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984), a role for wh ...

Don Most Don Most (born August 8, 1953) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ralph Malph on the television series ''Happy Days''. Early life Most was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City. He lived in Flatbush, Br ...

and

Beth Littleford Elizabeth Littleford (born July 17, 1968) is an American actress and comedian known as an original correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show'' from 1996 to 2000. For performing on ''The Daily Show'', she won a Peabody Award in 2015. Ou ...

. In 2011, Levin wrote, directed and produced "When Pop Culture Saved America", a documentary commemorating the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The show dealt with the impact of pop culture on the country in the aftermath of the attacks, and how they helped to heal the United States. The documentary premiered on A&E's

The Biography Channel FYI (stylized as fyi,) is an American basic cable channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Entertainment subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle p ...

without commercial interruption on the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Levin has also written several books: two children's story books featuring

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

as well as ''MTV Uncensored'', a coffee-table book released for the twentieth anniversary of MTV. Levin was also the writer of what is thought to be one of the rarest Superman comics ever published, titled "This Island Bradman" (artwork by

Curt Swan Douglas Curtis Swan (February 17, 1920 – June 17, 1996) was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 195 ...

), a comic book that was privately commissioned in 1988 by real estate tycoon Godfrey Bradman as a Bar Mitzvah gift for his son. He also wrote one of the issues of

DC Comics Bonus Book DC Comics Bonus Books were 16-page comic book stories inserted into issues of existing DC Comics series to showcase new writers and artists. Running from April 1988 to February 1989, they consisted of a front cover, 14 pages of story, and a back c ...

, for issue #24 of ''Justice League International'' in February 1989.''Justice League International'' #24
at the Grand Comics Database Levin is also the host and executive producer of "POP GOES THE CULTURE TV", a YouTube channel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, David P. 1958 births Living people Television producers from Massachusetts People from Framingham, Massachusetts Mass media people from Teaneck, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Teaneck High School alumni Television producers from New Jersey