Lara Shapiro’s work as a writer includes the FX drama THE AMERICANS, the EPIX spy drama BERLIN STATION and the YouTube Premium drama IMPULSE. Current projects in development include STICKY FINGERS, a dramedy for Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Lara is also in development on projects with Alexandra Milchan, Jessica Chastain, Sony Pictures Television and Tomorrow Studios. She has written in film and TV for Paramount, NBCUniversal, USA, UCP, First Look Studios, Millennium Films and Fox Television.

Prior to becoming a television writer, Lara worked as a director in film, TV and commercials. She directed the USA dramedy ROYAL PAINS and numerous global commercial campaigns for companies including Verizon, L’Oreal, and Prudential, starring a variety of celebrity talent including Bono, Edward Norton, Matt Damon, Kevin Hart, James Earl Jones, Liev Schreiber, Marc Anthony and Don Cheadle. Lara directed and co-wrote the romantic comedy film LABOR PAINS starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Luke Kirby and Cheryl Hines. Her short films have been screened at festivals and globally on TV, including at the New York Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, Canal +, Channel 4, and ZDF.

Lara was elected to both the Directors Guild and Writers Guild councils, was selected to be on the Women’s Steering Committee of the Director’s Guild and the first Women and Diversity Initiative Council at the Writer’s Guild. Lara is an adjunct professor in writing for television in the graduate film schools of Columbia University and New York University/Tisch. She has been a fellow at the Macdowell Colony, a New York State Council of the Arts fellow, a Carla Kuhn fellow at Columbia University, and a recipient of the Sloan Filmmaker Fund Award.

Lara received her BA with honors from Cornell University, and her MFA in filmmaking from Columbia University.