He was born in schenectady, near New York. After studying at William College in Massachusetts, he had jobs, started writing short stories and novels. He became a famous screenwriter. He wrote screenplays of Piranha and The Howling, of Joe Dante, Lady in Red and Alligator of Lewis Teague for Roger Corman's production company. In 1980, he shot his first feature film, Return of the Secaucus 7; it had a great success in the USA. His second film, Lianna, was shown at the Semaine de la critique. Matewan was shown at The directors' Fortnight. He made other feature films and also worked for TV, wrote various novels and essays. He performed in many films.