Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Alan began his film-making career at fifteen when he produced and directed a half hour 16mm black and white comedy entitled "Keep Your Spirits High" while a sophomore in high school. Finding no one who would hire this aspiring director, he organized his own company, "Petite Productions," which was financed entirely by his fellow schoolmates. By the time he graduated from high school, Alan completed a total of 43 films, produced for such organizations as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, St. Louis Board of Education, The National Safety Council and other institutions which couldn't afford the high price of commercial film-making companies.
During the summer between high school and college, Alan came to Hollywood, and under the guidance of his mentor Dick Powell, studied film technique at the various studios—direction under Andre de Toth, makeup at the MGM makeup department with William Tuttle, photography at Paramount and Warner Bros. on the sets of currently shooting feature films, editing with the Warner's TV editing staff, etc.
A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Radio, TV and Film and minors in Psychology and Electrical Engineering, Alan had directed and/or photographed over 2000 hours of live and videotaped television around the world, and functioned as Director of Photography and Director for over 450 primetime network commercials before landing a job as Associate Producer at MGM. Since then, his directing credits have earned him a Cannes Film Festival Gold Lion, a Western Heritage Award, two New York International TV and Film Festival Grand Awards, two Clio Awards and several Silver Spikes. Alan has guest lectured on film-making technique at AFI, USC, UCLA, National Institute of Health, and Brooks Institute of Photography as well as numerous acting and film-making study groups.
Alan lives in Sherman Oaks, California with his actress wife of nearly 30 years, Sondra Currie, and their "kid"—a Persian Blue Point cat, Bleu.
