[7] After completing his postgraduate studies at NYU in 1953, he served in the United States Army for two years.
He also packaged a number of specials for Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing.
[1][3] Shapiro left William Morris to become a personal manager and producer along with his partner and friend, Howard West.
They formed Shapiro/West Productions and executive produced the Emmy-, Peabody-, and Golden Globe award-winning series Seinfeld.
He was executive producer with West on the Universal biopic Man on the Moon (1999), starring Jim Carrey in the role of Andy Kaufman and Danny DeVito as Shapiro, and had a cameo in the movie as Mr. Besserman.