Arthur Shapiro is a semi-retired marketing and business consultant passionate about telling stories. He considers himself a storyteller above all else, whether it’s marketing and brand building, blogging, playwriting, filmmaking, or writing books.
The Big Apple Bites Back: Short Stories about Life in New York City is Arthur’s second book. His first is Inside the Bottle: People, Brands, and Stories, an intimate and informative behind-the-scenes window on the global spirits and wine industry.
His work life began in the marketing and polling industry, but most of his career was in the alcohol industry. Most notably, he spent fifteen years with Seagram Spirits and Wine, including ten years as head of marketing for the Americas. After Seagram was sold, he launched a marketing and communications consultancy,initially focusing on major spirits companies as clients. Gradually, he turned his attention to startup ventures, craft distillers, and mergers and acquisitions, which became the focus of his practice.
In 2010, he turned his storytelling efforts toward writing about the industry and launched his popular blog, Booze Business. In 2016, he published Inside the Bottle: People, Brands, and Stories based on his experiences in marketing and brand building in the industry.
Arthur’s journey has taken him to writing and storytelling. He says: “I finally figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up.” The journey began with stage plays and screenplays.
As a filmmaker, he has written and produced a short film called Bereavement, starring Mark Linn-Baker, Michael Mastro, Lizbeth McKay, and Lauren Ashley Carter. The film was selected for five short film festivals.
As a playwright, Arthur has written many short plays. One of which, Stuck, was a winner at the Short Play Festival, Players Theatre in New York. That play was the inspiration for Chapter One of this book. His work-in-progress one-act play, Brooklyn Moonshine War, was stage read at the Manhattan International Film Festival.
Arthur is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America(DGA) the national, professional membership trade association of theatre writers, including playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists. He has taken several courses in playwriting at the Dramatis Guild Institute (DGI), which is the educational arm of the guild.
Among his classes at DGI, he had the good fortune of attending several courses run by Gary Garrison, who served as Director of DGA and DGI and is a world-renowned author, playwright, and educator. Mr. Garrison is particularly well known for his short plays and their role in playwriting. Arthur credits him as an outstanding educator and the inspiration for short-form fiction, plays, and stories.
Arthur was an adjunct faculty member at Fordham University Graduate Business School - Marketing Management and Marketing Research. He was Chairman of the Marketing Committee, Distilled Spirits Industry Council of the U.S.
He and his wife, Marlene, have two daughters and three grandchildren. They recently moved to Ranch Mirage, CA, where he writes for the community newsletter.
This book is his attempt to capture the spirit of New York City, with stories about how things occasionally go awry and how even the unexpected can enliven life there. It is also his homage to where he grew up, got educated, became a reasonably successful businessperson, raised a family, and had the time of his life.
Based on the play by that title, Arthur’s third book, Brooklyn Moonshine War, will be coming soon.
Read more
Read less