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

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, he produced Rockumentaries on

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

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 one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

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

TV Land Confidential ''TV Land Confidential'' was a documentary show which took a look at favorite film and television shows discussing the near-miss casting decisions, pilots with different cast members, and the ongoing real-life drama behind the scenes. The show w ...

for

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

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

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

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

9/11 Terrorist Attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. 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. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, th ...

, and graduated from

Teaneck High School , motto_translation = To enrich the mind and improve the character , fundingtype = Public , schooltype = high school , grades = 9– 12 , district = Teaneck Public Schools , enrollment = 1,239 (as of 2021–22) , faculty = ...

. Levin attended

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

, 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,

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

and MTV. While at

, he produced several episodes of the " Rockumentaries" series, including

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

. Levin co-created the long-running, Emmy nominated series " MTV Uncensored" for the network. Later he went on to create "

", " The A-List", for Animal Planet, and the pilot for the comedy series "Take Two" which starred

Anson Williams Anson Williams (born Anson William Heimlich, September 25, 1949, in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor, singer, and director, best known for his role as gullible, well-intentioned singer Warren "Potsie" Weber on the television series ...

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

and Beth Littleford. 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 Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle pr ...

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 who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

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 People from Teaneck, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Teaneck High School alumni Television producers from New Jersey